Seoraksan National Park

One of the highlights of my time here so far was definitely my day trip to Seoraksan National Park, 2 hours East of Seoul. I was given the Friday off on the 1st of April because it was the anniversary of the building of my school. The hills are incredibly busy at the weekends as thousands of soulites don their dayglo hiking gear and literally march up some of the peaks.

So I got to experience a relatively quiet and peaceful (by Korean standards) outing, the weather was fantastic and I did get a little sun burnt. One of the highlights was having a meal with a Korean hiking group. We had loads of food, some Makgeolli and on the way down one of the guys bought me a tea towel with a map of the park on it as a gift.

The only foreigner I met hiking was a French girl who was on holiday from her job in Shanghai. She had only been in Korea for a couple of days but she couldn't believe how friendly Koreans are! I think it's especially true when you get out of Seoul. This was my first trip outside the city and I'm sure the weather, the scenery and not working on Friday all had something to do with it, but everyone was so friendly...it was a great first trip! Here are some of the photos.

Morning prayers.

Refreshments.

Great view if I was looking the right way.

Looking out towards the East Sea.

One of the many Korean temples.

Plenty of snow in the background.

Ulsan-Bawi.

A lonely tree.

Looking onto the cragged peaks from the temple complex.

The sunset and the last remaining light.