Subject: Weekend update 27 Feb 94

Date: 27-Feb-94 at 11:28

From: Roger White

I visited Sorok Mountain (Soroksan) Saturday. Sorok is reputed to be the most beautiful mountain in South Korea. It's located at the north end of South Korea's East Coast region. The East Coast is a major resort area located on the opposite side of the peninsula from Seoul.

The East Coast area is beautiful. It reminds me of the Big

Cottonwood/Little Cottonwood areas on the Wasatch front in Utah. In both cases there are high granite mountains rising from a flat plane, and there are scenic canyons that cut into the mountains. Weather was unsettled, and, as in Utah, that meant snow in the mountains and partly cloudy weather in the lowlands. The differences are that Korea's East coast gets more water during the summer, and the moutains start at sea level rather than 4000 feet up. The forest is thick from base to top, and a mix of pine and deciduous.

Sorok is a large complex of mountains, valleys, temples, and hotels--with a couple rides thrown in. There are good walking trails to twenty or more sights. These trails are much wider and slightly easier to negotiate than easy hiking trails in US national parks (well, in good weather they are). The temples are active Buddhist temples that are scattered around the mountain sides. There's a cable tram to one of the waterfall complexes, and there are some Mongolian ponies to ride, but not on the trails, just around the entrance complex.

Sorok isn't the only busy place in this area. The East Coast looks like it turns into a zoo during the summer. It's got the best mountains and the best beaches in Korea, and one road to service both. Think of servicing Yosemite and Fort Lauderdale from A1A, and you've got a feel for the East Coast. This time of year, it isn't too crowded, just crowded.

The locals, though, are friendly, and excited to see an American. They went out of their way to help me find the right bus, and food when I was looking for a restaurant.

The school kids walking up and down Sorok treated me like school kids all over Korea do. The kids like to walk by me or near me, but not in front of me, and spout some phrase in English such as "Hello" or "Good Morning", and see if I react. Up until I reply, they have no idea if they're saying anything meaningful. If I turn to them and reply, there are squeals of joy. Until they meet a foreigner, these kids half-think English is some sort of big joke that Korean school teachers have made up just to harass them.

So I wander around Korea feeling like Micheal Jordan. I've even signed autographs--one of the boy scout projects in the Seoul-Suwon area is find a "Migook" (American) or other foreigner and get his or her autograph. Out in East Coast country, this assignment is Mission Imposible.

This trip was a day trip for me, but just barely. I started from the apartment at 6:00 AM and got back at 1:00 AM. Most of this was travel time. There's a main road cutting through the mountains headed straight east from Seoul, but by US standards it's a narrow, winding road.

I spent only a couple hours at Sorok. The paths were still snow covered, and in places that snow was polished by thousands of footsteps into a slick sheet. I had intended to stay late into the night and shoot full moon pictures, but by late afternoon it was clear that I'd spend most of the night falling on my ass if I stayed after sundown and the trails froze up completely.

So, instead of spending the night in a Sorok hotel, I decided to return to Suwon. But accomplishing this return wasn't straightforward: bus and subway service shuts down around midnight throughout Korea, and I couldn't get one of my connecting buses from Sorok to Suwon, it was full. So I took a bus to Seoul instead, but I arrived too late for the subway(11:30), so I took a taxi from Seoul to Suwon. The cab ride cost me forty dollars, which is about the same as an inexpensive room in Seoul. Total cost for the trip, about sixty dollars.

This week I started a class teaching mid-level government officials. All but two of them are going to America this year or next year, so they're boning up. Friday I gave them a course in voice mail. Telephone answerers are still rare in Korea, and most of the messages I recieve on mine are comical. The experienced callers know enough to talk, but only one in ten can leave an understandable phone number.

I'm teaching these government officials "high tech" English techniques such as when you start a phone conversation give your name and title, then tell the person who you are trying to reach and why, and finally be sure to tell the other person how you can be reached.

So between traveling and new courses, it's been a busy week.

More later, Roger