Turtles and Korean temples
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.
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Posts tagged Nikon D600
Corona – Mexican Food in Gwangju
Corona – Gwangju ROK
My second visit to Corona was as pleasant as the first. This time I ordered tacos (mild spiciness) and an Indica IPA from Eureka, California. The owner seems to be ordering his imports based on the ratings they receive on beeradvocate.com. I was chatting with him about this when his latest shipment came in. Included in the shipment were a number of beers from Anderson Valley Brewing Company. He comped me a bottle of their Belk’s ESB. Corona also has something called Red Rock (on tap no less) that is supposed to be made by OB, but I can’t find out anything about this beer, and the owner of Corona says it is hard to find in Korea even though it is about the only decent Korean beer.
Hours now seemed to be fixed at noon to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. If you are coming from a distance (or with a large group), you may want to call first (062.251.7221) as they do close the place from time to time for private parties. Corona had two different groups reserve the place for different times on Friday evening.
Here is a photo of Corona from the outside:
Corona location near the back gate of CNU down the street with Dunkin Donuts on the corner
Hike up and over Mudeungsan and then back into Gwangju
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.
Park talk
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.
Gwangju panorama
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.
Mudeungsan National Park (무등산국립공원) Hiking – so many choices…
Signs in Mudeungsan National Park pointing hikers in various directions
My first time on Mount Mudeung was confusing, to say the least. I didn’t have a plan, and there were so many trails, taking me who knows where, that I knew I needed to come back with a better plan. Near the bus stop where Bus 1187 drops you off, you will see the above fork in the road. The trails are pretty well marked but for some of them they are only marked in Korean.
The map below can be viewed in much more detail if you click on the image. This large map with hiking trails and key locations clearly listed in Korean and English can be viewed near the bus stop as well.
Large map of hiking trails on and around Mount Mudeung (Gwangju, South Korea)
My plan for next time is to begin at Wonhyo-sa, climb up to Seoseokdae and Ipseokdae, pass Jeungsimsa (증심사) and Uijae (Art Museum), and then walk to the Hakdong-Jeungsimsa subway station (학동·증심사입구역). Supposedly this takes about six hours.
Note that guidebooks usually refer to Mount Mudeung as Mudeungsan Provincial Park, but the name was changed to Mudeungsan National Park in 2013.