At 7 I was picked up by the Korean GSE Teamleader Kim SonTae in pouring rain. We drove to his hometown where we exchanged vehicle and joined 10 other happy trekkers on a bright yellow bus. After 2 hours we reached Jinan and the bottom of the mountain ....
The light rain stopped after 5 min of walking as we crossed the stream on a big bridge. Next started the climb, short steady steps, not too fast but also always making progress. Short breaks each 15-30 min, some of them including Makgeolli service - others just Tomato, paprika or Korean pizza ( kind of vegetable omelette). The weather was cool and the clouds hung low.
After 2 hours of walking we reached the top at 863 m. After the group photos by the peakstone the group started to open up picnic from the backpacks. We had a real feast: fermented raw rayfish, sushi and kimchies just to mention some of it. Washed down by herb teas, water or Makgeolli. The sky cleared and the sun came out. The view was magnificent. There was an extension to the trail to the highest local mountain which rose to about 1050 m. The head of the trekking group told me it would take another 5-8 h to reach it and its very hard. The trail went down quite a bit several times in between.
Next we walked down. First over a few side peaks and then down a rock scree for a very long time. There were some irrigation pipes that they said was for the trees. At the bottom of the slope we found a set of beehives.
For dinner it was agreed on sashimi.... Restaurant 소도횟집 should be renamed "Seafood Heaven". 4 of the 6 different sashimi's simply melted in the mouth after the first bite. The others two gave a nice chewing resistance especially with the skin which had been cut to make it easier.
Next came Monke (a sea squirt) and Sea cucumber - the first soft as sea urchine on sushi and the second chewier than octopus but real tasty. All of the fish tasted extremely fresh and I ended up using soy sauce and wasabi for most, to avoid covering the delicious but refined tastes with Korean redsauce + wasabi which was the locally preferred choise.
The owner of the restaurant came out after I had sang 2 or 3 snaps songs to get the mood going. My host Kim SonTae kept telling me not to worry, his wife will drive me back to the university as he had drunk a little too much.
Next came mussels that were again very soft in taste. The owner was taken by my honest appreciation for the food. He a told me he had come a cross some abalone and asked me if I had ever tried them raw. When he was told no he offered two as a gift from the restaurant.
Heavenly!
The day ended with a 60 min ride back to the university together with JoonHwan, SonTae and his wife. Back home at 2130 in time to give short accounts of the days happenings to the rest of the team.
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