Trip to Jirisan National Park

A few months ago, on a long weekend, me and my 'team' set out for one of the more famous national parks in Korea. The park's name is Jirisan, and has South Korea's tallest mainland mountain, CheonHwangBong (roughly Heaven's Royal Peak), just under 2km tall. Here we are at the entrance of the park.

We started our day pretty early, getting on a bus at around 7am, bringing us to the starting point around 8am. It was pretty cold, but of course walking upwards rapidly warms one up. Here's some nice scenery from the hike:

This last picture is on the way down. Notice how perky Jon and Justin are, and how worn out the guy sitting down looks. From the base to the peak it takes about 3 or 4 hours, and the incline is quite relentless. The path often has sections of stairs or big rocks that you have to gingerly scramble over. Death to all leg muscles, knees and ankles.

As it happened, we didn't make it all the way to the peak. After hiking vigourously we reached a rest point, where it was REALLY REALLY COLD due to howling winds. We had some food, looked up at the peak behind us, and decided against going the rest of the way. We figured we might have the energy to make it up, but maybe not to make it down again! Here's Team Glute* with the peak behind us:
By the time we got back down we were thoroughly worn out. Thankfully, at the base of every popular mountain in Korea there's food and drink aplenty. One of the best drinks is unrefined rice 'wine' called makkoli, or dongdongju. Here we are enjoying a bowl along with the remnants of our snack. Yum.

After our big hike we were ready for some serious relaxation. We took a taxi (yes there are taxis in the middle of the mountains in Korea) to a nearby spa. We checked into the adjoining hotel and proceeded to soak for several luxurious hours in the lovely baths.

The next day we went to the southern part of the park known for its green tea cultivation. We visited the first site of tea cultivation in Korea, which was basically a patch of overgrown tea bushes.
We then had to get ready to embark on a series of bus trips to make it back to Busan. Unfortunately, due to a local marathon, the first bus we had to take was very late. Here's Jon and Justin waiting at the 'bus stop'.

* Team Glute: Composed of members Anninator, J-Dog Justin and Strapping Jon. United in the common goal of activiting the glutes as well as partaking in the many gastronomic delights of Korea rounded out by many bawdy and nerdy jokes.