january was a stranger to me this year. maybe even a newly reasoned foe, i can't say i recognized the month. it seemed lightening fast, a calm and silent rage, ice cold... a chilling but not exhausting encounter this year. essentially not a joyous meeting, because lets all be serious, january (in certain hemispheres) can't been seen as a joyous month really. but february has spat itself out into the open with a warm front and a vacation that i had known about for nearly a year... did i plan, no not really.
my best friend-world-traveler-great job!-awesome-guy, colin landed on a very dreary semi-mild 4am february 3rd, first morning of the vacation, good stuff there. an enjoyable presence, even if i was stressed because of the eminent new job/moving date only weeks away. we had a day before the great vacation, the epic journey, the c.o.a.s.t.
the day was upon us. stephen arrived that morning.. err afternoon... early evening? either way.. we traveled. first by subway, then by the stink-bus (this title given with no pleasure thanks to my seat partner on the bus... hehe). so we took the entire evening to get to seokcho. the hostel presented itself to us in the normal way that only benefits those who never plan (ahem!). without the swaying of the bus lulling us to sleep, hunger claimed us as did some 탕수욕 and 짜짜명. there wasn't even a question of what we were eating that evening after i spied the resturant. no hesitation about walking the steps to the chinese restaurant, which is something stephen and i laughed about. when you want 탕수욕 and 짜짜명, you want it.
the next morning was lovely. a vault of blue, the diamond speckled east sea bay, towering mountains. 5am wake up breakfast and go.
[note] a good amount of these pictures are scrounged from colin's flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dieselsilvia/sets/72157626042353310/, i'm almost certain he won't mind at all.
n.a.v.i.g.a.t.e?
the wobbling rock... uuugggghhhh!
hermi-tage
(last five) - so many stairs
windy
of course i'm in a hole where else would you keep warm on the top of a mountain?
how's that work?! #@^%$&??!!
huurrr..
mountain temple
after a day of hiking, the next thing you need to do is have your visitation with the resident giant octopus. i touched it. oh my, i touched it. it was big. it had it's own tank, but with all the food below and around it i don't see why it stayed there... hmmm.
lunar roman candles.
keep those northies away
i think i see it.. yes, that's it! NORTH! HEY-O!!!
meh
these shore borders are guarded, fenced and stationed. no northies. plz. kthx. what??!!!@#$%^%$#*@())&*$%! That's insane! How is that normal or even reasonable. gave me chills.
thus concludes the end of january and the start of february with a vacation much needed.
