Thursday, November 09, 2006

Teacher field trip

Very often, things happen and I have no idea why. Kind of par for the course here, and I'm starting to (at least try) to go with it. For example, yesterday we had a strange schedule so that teachers could go on a field trip. I was invited along, and getting paid to go for a hike? No question about it.

So we pile into a bus and head out near a small town (Hadong, for folks in Korea) in a neighboring province. There were "treat" bags that contained dried squid, random strange fish... things... crackers, tangerines and persimmons (which are now my favorite fruit). Once I removed as much strange fish as possible from the fruit, it was tasty.

I had asked a co-teacher if this was a "running shoe" hike or a "hiking boot" hike, and he told me that it wasn't very steep. Well, it wasn't very LONG (only about 30 minutes to the top) but was darn near straight up at times. Like, needing to use the rope handrail at times steep, and with the fallen pine needles, a bit tricky. I ended up on my butt once on the way down, and wish I had been wearing the boots, just for more stable footing, but whatever.

After the hike, we went to a small village that had been the set of a movie based on a book that was based on a folktale (something like that, from what I've been able to gather - the information one of the teachers gave me was in Korean) and it was interesting to see the model of a traditional Korean village.


fortress
Originally uploaded by recklesswater.
This is the view from the top of the hike looking towards the mountains.


me at the fortress
Originally uploaded by recklesswater.
Me at the top.


me in the village
Originally uploaded by recklesswater.
After the hike, we visited a village that was the set of a movie (and maybe also a tv show - not 100% clear on that) and one of the people thought I should have my picture taken.


buddha
Originally uploaded by recklesswater.
This Buddha was next to the trail on the hike down, but situated in a way that I wasn't able to see it until I was back on the ground.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

AHHHH ....its beauHHHtiful!!
lovely pics..im sure uve had a lovelier experience!!

MUD said...

On a trip to Washington D.C., one of my fellow officers bought some dried squid. He left it in the rental Van overnight and it stunk up the van so bad that we got charged extra by the rental car company. It tasted as bad as it smelled and had the consistency of a rubber eraser. I do enjoy your pictures. I find that boots are good for hikes on any surface.
Thanks for the great posts. MUD

MUD said...

I just ran into another teacher in Korea his site is:
http://justinwwg.blogspot.com/ Sounds like you have a lot in common. Look him up
MUD