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Stream near Jeungsimsa (증심사)
Along the side of Juengsimsa and the Uijae Museum of Korean Art (의재미술관) runs a lovely, small river near the edge of Mudeungsan National Park. I was too tired to check out the museum, but I hope to go back before my time in Gwangju is over.
Korean temple near Mt. Mudeung
This temple was locked up by the time I was finishing my hike on Mudeungsan. The location is on the Gwangju side of Jeungsimsa Temple (증심사), just inside Mudeungsan National Park.
Panorama of Gwangju from the side of Mudeungsan
I did the “six hour” hike on Mt. Mudeung (무등산) a couple days ago. Today’s photo is from about an hour in. Believe it or not, after taking this photo I made it to the top of the mountain and then all the way back down into the city pictured below where I took the Gwangju Subway for the first time to get back to my bike. The hike actually took me about eight hours, but I took lots of photos along the way and got slightly lost once as well. Note if you ever plan to do this hike (especially in summer when it’s in the 80s or 90s and humid) that you can fill up your water bottles at Jangbuljae Pass. My guidebook (2010 edition of Lonely Planet Korea) says restaurant shacks can be found along the way, but they have all been cleared out since this became a National Park. In other words, bring your own food. Also note that if you ask the ranger at Jangbuljae how much farther it is to the Hakdong-Jeungsimsa Subway Station (학동·증심사입구역) and he tells you two hours, don’t believe him. Even on fresh, running legs I couldn’t have made it that far in two hours. As it was, my legs were already spent, and the last few hours were rather difficult even though it was all downhill.
Old Korean ladies chatting in the park
With summer in Korea being as hot and humid as it is, it is not surprising to find these old ladies in the park every day. Perhaps they don’t have AC at home. Usually they are sleeping in this little pavilion in the park, but on this occasion they were actually conscious.
Panorama of Gwangju
This time of year in South Korea, good weather moments are few and far between. When this bit of sky looked like this last week, instead of its normal rainy-season gray, I decided I needed to find a way to the roof of my 7-story building. The doors at the top of the stairs were locked so I ended up climbing out a window and up a 20-rung-or-so ladder to reach the roof. This photo is a photomerge of many photos and covers more than 180 degrees of my view at the time. I haven’t seen more than a few minutes of blue patches in the sky since.
If you are hungry for some kimchi (김치), and some other pickled side items then Yangdong Market in Gwangju, South Korea is sure to satisfy your every craving (and then some).