Camping at Jiri Mountain

We are so thankful for Justin's co-teacher Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim is his main co-teacher and she is just the sweetest thing and has done so much for us. Poor Justin has a total of 5 co-teachers. He has one Mr. Kim and three Mrs. Kim's and one Mrs. Lee. We have started referring to them as car Mrs. Kim because she has driven us a few places, young Mrs. Kim and regular Mrs. Kim.

In mid- September Justin mentioned to Mrs. Kim that we wanted to go camping and she was all over it like wildfire. She found a place for us to go and gave us directions on how to get there for that very weekend. Not only did she plan our whole trip, her and her husband let us borrow their camping gear and even brought it over to our house. Like I said we just love her. It was quite an adventure getting to Jiri Mountain. We first had to catch a taxi at 6:30 to get to the bus station. From Sasang bus terminal we took a bus to Namwon, about 3 hours away. From Namwon we had to take another bus up to the mountain. Thank goodness there were some Korean girls at the bus terminal that spoke some English and were able to help us get our tickets. Mrs. Kim said to get off at the last stop but I guess we missed it because the bus suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and the bus driver got up and told us to get out and walk back to the campground. We were a bit confused and not even sure we were where Mrs. Kim had intended for us to go but it turned out to be correct!

There was a small town on the other side of the river. We ate dinner and lunch at two different restaurants. Nobody spoke any English so it was a guessing game. For dinner the first night we ended up with some really fatty pork and for lunch the second day we had bibimbop and it was pretty bad. We were just thankful there were places to eat because we just had a few carrots, apples and some other small snacks. We were banking on finding a place to eat since we were not able to have a campfire.

Before we could even get our tent set up a group of Korean men in their 50's and 60's called us over to their picnic. They were all college buddies and were on a business trip together. We sat down with them and must have been given four shots of soju with 10 mins. They just kept pouring of dixie cups full. They spoke a little English but it was just fun hanging out with them as they all had so much personality!

After we sobered up we set up our tent! Mrs. Kim has a family of 5 and I am not too sure how they all fit in this tent. She said they bought this tent in the 70's and have used it maybe 5 times.

Our campsite was right along the river. We were the only ones camping in the campground until at 2:30am. We were both were woken up to headlights beaming into our tent. A family decided to set up camp in the middle of the night! That was a tad frustrating!

Saturday afternoon we went for a short hike along the river up to the "Waun Thousand Year old Pine Tree". I think they meant "One". This was a really cool tree along the river.

The "Waun Thousand Year Old Pine Tree".

There was a small village up near the pine tree. A lady had a whole bunch of red peppers drying out. On the bus ride up to the mountain we saw a ton of red pepper plants and lots of peppers out to dry. They do like to add red peppers to everything so I am glad there does not appear to be a shortage of those.

Justin took some really cool photos of a praying mantis. It appeared to be missing part of one of his legs.

Below is a series of stretches they suggest you do before heading up the mountain. I thought that was funny!

Saturday we ended up getting a late start. We wanted to hike up to the peak of Jiri Mountain but we did not want to miss our bus back. We ended up just hiking for a few hours and it was just stunning. Jiri Mountain is a really beautiful place and I am so happy we were able to take a camping trip up there. The weather was outstanding as well.