Yesterday, we went on a field trip with Adam’s photography class to Dobongsan Mountain. It’s just south of Uijongbu (not that that means anything to you– I just like saying Uijongbu), about 55 km/36 miles southeast of where we are in Paju. Dobongsan is an interesting and beautiful place. It’s the Korean Aspen or Boulder, Colorado.
We rode our motorcycle through neighboring towns, soggy rice paddies, and blooming mountains out to Uijongbu, enjoying the wind in our hair and the fresh smells of spring. As we pulled up to the Dobongsan subway station to meet our group, we swam upstream in a river of middle-aged Koreans wearing clone NorthFace outfits: windproof pants and shirts, hiking vests, hiking boots, hiking poles, hiking backpacks, sun visors. The current of clone Korean hikers swept our group through the foot of the mountain that was occupied by shops and stands selling what we needed to be clone Korean hikers too and restaurants providing sustenance for the hike and drinks for the post-climb buzz.
We picnicked in a creek bed, finding an unoccupied boulder to eat our sandwiches and take photographs of the masses of families eating their kimbap and playing in the creek. I enjoyed getting to know Adam’s photography teacher and her husband, an upbeat and funny couple from Italy named Georgia and Luca. We continued back up the mountain, among the stream of other hikers, stopping a few times for photographs. Then, our group split, and we continued the rocky hike up with Georgia, Luca, and Jenine from South Africa.
The masses of hikers thinned a little as we got higher until we reached a tiny Buddhist monastery at the first peak. We took a rest at the monastery, listening to the chanting, drumming and swaying in the strong wind, like the lanterns that were strung along the perimeter. We looked out across the city below and up at the steep peak above us. Even that peak was crawling with hikers and their climbing ropes. We drank cider and ate tortilla chips then began our descent.
At the bottom, we found a Korean restaurant with a patio overlooking the creek. The five of us happily ate our dinner as the table of men beside us celebrated their day of hiking by getting totally blasted on beer and soju, laughing and singing loudly with the sappy ballads playing through the speaker. Something about the moment reminded me of exploring San Jose del Cabo, Mexico with Adam on our honeymoon.
We jumped back on the bike and braved the evening chill for the much quicker ride home. I felt like a bear coming out of hibernation.
-Jessica
