Cable car up the mountain
Then when we got off the cable car it was about a 15-minute walk up some stairs to get to almost the top.
View from almost the top
It was a popular place up there
After that, you could choose to climb to the very top of the mountain. It was very steep and had built in hand/foot holds, so it was like rock climbing without ropes. It was scary because it was so crowded, and only one person could use the foot/hand holds at a time.
Rock climbing up the mountain
The scary climb was worth it though because the view from the very top was amazing.
Top of the mountain
The waterfall was cool too, I'll put more pictures up on facebook...sometime. The second day we had a choice of an 11-hour hike or go hang out at the beach. I chose the beach while my 3 coworkers went on the hike. It was a little bit too cold to go swimming, but a few people on the trip and I jumped in anyways. I met and hung out with some really awesome people. We hiked up to a temple that was close to the beach and had a great view of the city, the mountains, and the beach.
On the way up to the temple
The view of the beach from the temple
Something that I noticed while relaxing on the beach is that a lot of Koreans were all bundled up. They were walking down the beach with winter coats and winter hats on, while we were suntanning in tanks and going swimming. It really wasn't that cold out!
The next day we went for a hike straight from our hotel, up a mountain to a waterfall. It was a very beautiful, relaxing hike. At the beginning there was a place to get drinkable mineral water. It gets filtered coming up through the rocks. It's called Osaek Yaksu, or five-color mineral water, and it tasted like I was licking an old iron pipe. It was also carbonated for some reason which was strange. It's supposedly good for different illnesses...I'm not so sure about that haha. Anyways, that was a really fun weekend and I really want to go back to Seoraksan, maybe tackle the big hike next time:)
