Trekking Seoul with Alex (last day)

     The morning after art, outhouses, and 막골리, was one spent on mountains~ Around 8am the next day, Alex and I swung our throbbing, heavy heads and lurching stomachs to the subway and groggily rushed to meet mama Beats and 이모. The final Sunday was to be spent in the mountains to overlook the old homeland of our Korean family.
     Going on maybe four or five hours of sleep, we were ready to trek up hills, but my stomach was NOT feeling game for anything. Ugh, sloppy gal~

puppy! (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     We all met up way North of Seoul, past 안국 (Insadong area) to 인왕산 (Inwangsan mountain) and clambered onto a bumpy bus ride (where again my gut was not having any of it). Being unorganized and too pained to pay attention, I followed while my family was a bit lost and zipping around like a blind and dizzy cluck of chicks. We got to our general destination~ only to be bumbling around clueless of where the mountain actually started.
     I downed coffees and struggled to not vomit at every step, stay classy, focus. While summit searching, I snagged some pictures of the quaint town mama Beats grew up in...almost like an expansive, ornate, and life-size dollhouse; vintage toys and antique art sprinkled the streets. I felt like Strawberry Shortcake was going to pop out of a corner, every cafe was heart-gushingly cute. This could just be the pang in my stomach talking, but I would have been more than down to sit and chill in a cafe and study this new area!

telephone booth~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     After some time we did discover the mountain entrance and my 이모 found a 떡 house that she used to frequent as a child. While she was squealing, I struck up the courage to poke around the store to see if anyone was around, there was!!

떡 house~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     The original owner was there, I don't know if she recognized my aunt but in child-Korean I explained why her place was important and why my 이모, was so damned giddy~ Of course, my 이모, bought some 막골리떡 and when she offered it to me, I nearly keeled over...not my classiest performance.

assortment of 떡~(photo taken by VeganBeats)

     We started to wind up a road and as the sun beamed in our faces, I was feeling better, more sprite, awake even! Alex and I were in the same zone, one foot in front of the other...chug along~

love this~ photo taken by VeganBeats

     I forget Seoul isn't Korea, it's a mere section, position, and part of this country. Seeing so many man-made structures, and wooded areas reminds me that this place hasn't always been snuggled up with skyscrapers, bars, and plastic surgery. There are still people living off of and with the land. Somehow, Vermont started to seep in~

man-made tree holders~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     So the hiking crew included 이모, mama Beats, Alex, myself, and one of 이모's friends (who also happens to be one of MY friend's mama!) She was super cute and brought a whole tea party with her! She prepared a tea set, rice snacks, rice cakes, and cookies! My hiking trips back in VT were NOT planned like this...we brought a totally different assortment of jazz!

Tea Top Spread~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     She packed a nifty tea thermos where you could sift and strain the tea fresh~ ahhh Chinese lotus tea~

Tea prepping~(photo taken by VeganBeats)

     Fresh hot tea on with a mountain view, family surrounding, and finally feeling clear. The hike combined with family and the tea quickly healed the groggy disposition, bumpy tummy, and pounding headache...막골리 has nothing on 차!

Mountain Top Tea (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     After our tea break, off to more trekking, more exploring, and eye spoilings!

photo taken by VeganBeats

photo taken by VeganBeats

     Out of somewhere all this energy struck me and Alex and I both were running and jumping around and discovering! We found a temple, and while the ladies grew tired, we played mountaineer!

temple bows~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     After several hours we stumbled into 인사동 and watched some traditional guards doing their thing in front of the Blue House. I may have been an ass, I was full of energy now and one of the main guards was trying hard to keep his lips pressed while I goofed around and intentionally challenged the space bubble. Andre a while ago told me a while ago to 'get right up there' for a photograph...I was trying to, everyone was getting embarrassed "for" me....meh~

stay cereal (photo taken by VeganBeats)

photo taken by VeganBeats

     Post mountain finds, Blue House ceremony observations, and 인사동 explorations, Alex's final full day was spent being productive~

ahh, welcome to my temple! (photo taken by VeganBeats)