Last weekend some friends and I decided to go on a hike at Geumsung fortress. The day was clear and bright, and about 12 of us took the bus to Damyang and then taxis to where the hike started. We have not had snow for a while, but we could see there was quite a bit of snow on the fortress, and as we found out later, a lot of ice. The hike started out fairly easy, with a few steep inclines, but nothing too difficult. We stopped at one of the gates for pictures and to take in the views and then visited the house that is in the fortress. There is one family, who practice Shamanism and Buddhism, that live there, but unfortunately they were out. Apparently they often make tea for passing hikers, and their children often practice martial arts outside, so we were disappointed not to see them.

As we continued to hike the conditions stared to worsen. The path got much steeper; with high drops either side of us, and the snow and ice coverage was much more intense. I spent much time moving on my bottom, as it seemed the safest option. Luckily in most places there were many trees to keep grabbing hold of every time I slid too fast down the hills. However, things were to get much worse, when we realised that we had lost one member of our group. At the same time, we had reached a point where the path just stopped and the only way down was to take a risk and slide down a very steep snowy hill, and use the trees at the bottom to stop. After much debating about other possible options, one member of the group slid down, and broke her arm!! So, eventually, after some people went the same route and others climbed further along, we all got down, but there were times when I didn't all think we would make it.

Once down, we spotted the lost member of our group and managed to find a short cut out of the fortress, but it still meant hiking another couple of kilometres, with one of our group with a broken arm. Once we reached nearer to the edge our guide called for an ambulance which arrived at the nearest access point at same time as we did. All in all it was quite an adventurous day, but still great fun.

The next day 8 of us took a trip to Namwon. This is a nearby cultural city which is famous for a love story, so has been named the city of love, and is full of big plastic hearts everywhere. There are many different things to see there, but we started with a lunch of loach soup. This is a spicy broth made with ground fish, and was very tasty. We then went to Gwanghalluwon, which is a beautiful park where the two lovers first met. There is also a small gallery depicting their story, as well as a swing, which is where the man first saw the woman on. We could have a go on the swing, and there were other old games to play too. There were also some gallows, which the woman was put in and beaten, in the story, as she would not marry another man. Whilst in the park we mat an old man in costume, who was more than happy to post with us all, then got his camera out to take pictures of us!

Next we went to Chunhyang Themepark. Chunhyang is the name of the woman, and this park shows the story through various buildings and plastic figures. From here we could see a Ferris wheel in the distance and so headed there afterwards. It was in Namwon Land, a very old and run down looking amusement park. We all went on the Ferris wheel, and then a couple of people went on other rides, but to be honest they didn't look that safe! Usually I like rides, but after the excitement of the previous day, I was happy to watch.

Maggie x