To the Top of Mt. Munsu

Last Tuesday, most of the English schools in Korea closed in order to support a strike that was going on in Seoul...we're not really sure what it was about, but we were just excited to have an unexpected day off! We decided to go hiking up Mt. Munsu, which is a mountain down the street from our apartment. We went with our friend Eliza, who is a new teacher here from Toronto, Canada.

Exploring the temple:

To get to the base of the mountain was actually about a 45 minute walk from our apartment and led us to a beautiful temple.

The outside of the temple

Inside the temple

Dragons under the roof

This is the cutest dog that was running around the temple! We thought about taking him home and just returning him when we leave Korea...do you think they'd notice? :)

Prayer papers are usually found outside of the temples

Hiking to the top: After exploring the temple for a while, we began the actual hike up the mountain. In order to reach Mt. Munsu, we had to first climb over another small mountain. The weather and views were gorgeous, so we were loving every minute of it!

Frank and Eliza making their way up the mountain.

Eliza and Melissa about half way up the mountain

After about 3 hours, we made it to the summit!!!

This is a view of our city from the top of the mountain with the ocean in the background.

Another view from the top.

Cell phone tower on top of the mountain...seriously?

Frank on the highest point

We were dying for water by the time we made it down...resorted to drinking temple water

We made our way back to the city and enjoyed a big bowl of Pork Spine Soup (Hae-Jang-Gook) for lunch. The food was great, but why we chose to go to a restaurant where you take off your shoes after a 5 hour hike is something we're still pondering!