Chosen Together: Burkasan Mountain Hike

Hiking is a popular thing to do here and there are plenty of mountains around for it. We drove to a nearby town one Sunday to check out a mountain trail that's tucked away in the middle of the city.

The weather here has been stuck at very hot and humid for weeks and hiking day was no different. We dressed in shorts and t-shirts and took a backpack with water and lunch. I was sweating 10 minutes into the hike between the weather and steep incline. Many of the locals that were hiking were sporting long pants, long sleeves, hats, and face masks...strangely reminiscent of the beach at Busan. :)

While we walked along with Asia I was surprised to see how many people were out. I was more surprised to learn how fast Koreans hike! Everyone seemed to be on a mission to get to the end and then get back. It's true that there wasn't necessarily much to see along the way; a lot of the hike was heavily covered in tall trees but there were spots where you could see through to the surrounding city. Still...for me half of enjoying a hike is taking in the surroundings.

We walked up this lookout and in the center of it was a raised platform. There were two Korean ladies laying on it, resting. Mike, Asia and I walked around the narrow outer edge. As more people came up I stepped onto the center with Asia to allow people to pass. Luckily I understand the Korean word for shoes, as the ladies laying on the platform quickly told me to get down as I had stepped up while wearing my shoes (go figure). Removing shoes is such a big tradition here of it makes sense they aren't allowed, even in the middle of hiking. It still caught me off guard and was another lesson in cultural differences.

Exercise parks can be found all around Korea...even in the middle of a mountain hiking path! It's funny to me...here are all these people on turbo hiking mode who stop to exercise some more before carrying on.

Despite the heat we enjoyed ourselves. Asia had a lot of fun and got to greet some other dogs. On our way back we let her off leash which she enjoyed. We're not quite sure yet if her being leashed or unleashed is scarier to people here. With time I have unfortunately become less patient with people who find her terrifying. She is typically walking on a loose leash next to my side, mouth relaxed and open, and often panting. She makes no move to pull or veer off course to see people or even stray animals. Yet she is surely bound to maul them at any given second despite me reassuring people, in Korean, that everyone is fine and going to survive our 5 second encounter while we pass each other. At least she proves them wrong time after time...maybe someday they'll come around! (And no, not everyone we pass is terrified but way more than I would have thought!)