November 2nd 2008 - Munzu Mt.
November 2nd 2008
Back from Japan
And so we are back again from our little getaway in Japan. Jakob has left and it's back to normal again. Even if the week didn't start out too normal. Paula's car needed a little care and attention when the front shock drew it's last breath on Monday. Luckily there are a lot of Hyundais on the road and it is almost free to get your car repaired here. Our agent was very worried about the cost of the repair ... but at 200 dollars I thought it was a steal !
Peo is finding it hard to sleep without a nice soft pillow now!
We haven't really been very busy this week. I guess we are still winding down from Jakobs visit. Yesterday I went biking with our Korean friend Mr. Kim. He wanted to show me a route near his house, so the bike went in the car and off I went to Ulsan Uni on the other end of town. When I was taking the bike off the rack, I befriended a small Korean girl.
Imagine the conversation we had !
She was happy to chat to me in Korean, even though I understood nada ! She was also happy playing around with my helmet and try to call who-knows-who with my cell phone ! From the university Mr. Kim and I rode around to the back side of Munzu Mountain, before slowly making our way up the mountain. At 600m (599,8m!) it is almost three times higher than the mountains we normally ride, but I didn't really feel that the climb was all that difficult. Long, but only steep in short sections at a time.
An advanced fishing pond. The pond is tiny and still there is probably room for over 50 people fishing.
Me in front of the fishing pond at the beginning of the climb up to Munzu Mountain
Mr. Kim vs. Munzu Mountain!!
But the view from the top is fabulous ! You can see all of Ulsan and all the way over to Tongdosa and the "Alps".
The view out over Ulsan from Munzu Mountain. We live in the horizon on the top right corner.
As always, the mountains are full of people.
You can't really blame them for coming up here for this spectacle, can you ?!
The first part of the return trip was not so nice with a lot of steps and a lot of carrying the bike. But the second half was a very nice descent on tarmac with good curves and a little jump over a bridge (if you hit it at high speed!).
Saturday afternoon Paula and I went shopping. Her MP3 player is in need of a replacement, so we bought her an iPod and two pairs of trainers !!
Today I went to play volleyball with the Russian/Ukranian "mafia". It was nice not to play 9 against 9, as we did last week when we played against the Koreans !! Other than that we have just stayed in, baked bread and chilled out. Paula is walking around with a big smile on her face, earplugs in and singing all day ! I think she likes her new iPod !!! I have also written about our trip to Japan and Jakob's stay here. You can read that here. I might not get around to posting the pictures today though, so check back later if there are no photos.