bamboo hill

Yesterday I decided to go on my first jog in Korea. Since I'm overly well fed, I half-expected to be out of shape. The cold weather here is so dry my eyes watered, my throat dried out, and my lungs burned through most of the run. However, the scenery from Mokpo's port side was a good enough distraction from most of it. I also had my lovely i-pod strapped to my arm. It was quite an experience! Jogging along the harbor with a backdrop of mountains across the skyline, old fishing boats trudging through the port, all while listening to Sigur Rós on my i-pod... and in just in my opinion, Sigur Rós is the perfect tuneage to jog to!



Heima : Sigur Rós

I jogged in the opposite direction of Mokpo city. It only took about a mile to get to the undeveloped part of the "New Mokpo". It was beautiful. No cars, no people, no buildings... just me, the road, and the landscape. When I decided I needed a break, I turned around and headed towards a hill that was along the way (Koreans call their hills "mountains"). It didn't seem like a very big hill, until I trekked up to the top. It took a good 20 minutes and it was very steep. Most of Korea's hills/mountains have stairs all the way to the top, this particular hill just had a trail. At the top was a large pagoda. It was beautifully painted like most traditional Korean pagodas. The view from there was wonderful. Now I know partly why mountain climbers are so eager to get to the top! Obviously, I haven't been up too many hills... or mountains for that matter.




I soon realized that the city was developing around the hill. Looking down, I saw what seemed to be the makings of a city park. And judging by how fresh the coat of paint on the pagoda looked... I think the trail I trekked up was the beginning stages of a stairway that will soon be placed along side of the hill. So now I know, for at least a while, I'll most likely be the only person using that hill for recreation. (Koreans don't really like to exercise... their definition of hardcore hiking is walking up stairs. They don't jog either... which is why my little cousin points and shouts "Miguk!" whenever he sees someone jogging in the distance.)

So, today, I returned to the hill to stretch out my out of shape/sore leg muscles. Only this time, I walked. Today was colder than yesterday and windy. Most of the vegetation on the hill is bamboo, which is why it looks smaller than it is. The bamboo looks like grass and bushes from afar... but really... it is grass, just really really tall grass. When the wind blows, the hill looks like it's shivering from the cold because of the way the bamboo grass sways. Its neat walking through the trail because the larger stacks of bamboo sound like wooden wind chimes.



(bamboo)




(moat)


(trail)



On the way back to the apartment I saw what I thought was a stray cat running around. When I got closer I realized it was just a small plastic bag blowing around on the road. Then I got to thinking... besides birds and my uncles poodle, I haven't seen a single animal since I've been here. No stray dogs or cats, no squirrels, no land animals of any kind, not even roadkill.
On that same train of thought, I realized that there are no homeless people here either! Well... at least not in the public eye... I asked my aunt about this later and she insisted that there are no homeless people or stray animals in Korea. I'm not really sure if it's worth noting... but to me, interesting.



Sigur Rós


muggin at the top of the hill