Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The evil penguin]

But i have now discovered somehting even more obnoxious than a drunken spitting subway ajoshi or a "puk you"-ing giggling spotty faced clutch of school-boy clones. Something even more exasperating than an impact in the back of the legs by a shopping-trolley piloted by a pink tracksuited adjuma with a varnished and lacquered perm. Something more annoying than a finger-poke in the arse by a student who's mother calls the school everyday to complain about the defective fruit of her loins not being able to speak fluent english.... despite the kid in question not even being able to use the correct end of the pencil without continual supervison.... Something even more....... ahhh i digress... getting off topic here.... To end the suspense: Korean hikers.

Went hiking today. I'll call it hiking. "Walking up a large hill" just doesn't seem to sound as glamourous. Anyway, one of the advantages of living in this part of the kimchi kindom is the easy access to some very beautiful and scenic non-developed mountain/hill areas. Parked the bike early morning at a previously untried track beginning and went upwards. Beautiful. Reached the summit after and hour or so and just sat for a while apreciating the sunshine and the panoramic view. (while ignoring the little piles of trash left from previous visitors) Bird calls and the scurrying of squirrels. Even saw a deer crashing through the undergrowth on the way up. Korea's suddenly a nice place and i started almost regretting this weeks resignation from work. After 20 minutes of peaceful solitude however, I'm interrupted by the approaching sounds of loud conversation. A couple come into view. Both wearing the obligatory "Star Trek planetary expedition" hiking clothes. The female of the middle-aged pair decides to forego all other available vantage points and decides to stand on "my" rock and clap her hands. Loudly and continually. Her hawking and spitting ajoshi partner then wanders off to the far side of the cleared area, whereupon the two commence a loud squabbling conversation over a distance of about 40 metres.
Time to leave. I'm going down as more groups (generally in loud packs of 3/4) are on their way up. More clapping adjumas. Loud squabbling conversations heard from far ridges. The squarking sounds of hiking radios. Oh, and a seemingly new trendy hiking fashion item: the little bell clipped onto the backpack. The regular tinkling and chiming sounds merge with the raucous outputs of the hiking radios and the periodic loud yahooing of the walkers. The astonished looks on the faces of the space-man uniformed climbers as they encounter the astonishing sight of a person from *gasp!* a different country. The little deposits of gum wrappers and chip packets that were not present on the way up.
On reaching the bike, it was back to the apartment. The high moods obtained at the mountain peak back down to low levels.

Fair enough, it's their country. and they all seem to be fully enjoying themselves. Good luck to 'em i suppose. Who am i as a foreigner to criticise their actions and recreation. I'm just guessing however that the works of Thoreau (Henry) wouldn't exactly be on the best selling reading list here...

[VanIslander]

Your resignation is accepted.

[Demonicat]

well, I thought it was a funny piece.

[ChimpumCallao]

surprise, surprise...i quite enjoyed it too.

[weatherman]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[zappadelta]

First time I've actually LOLed in a while

[Hollywoodaction]

Well, considering the population density of this country, should it really be a surprise that you'll encounter many very obnoxious people, even while hiking?

[joe_doufu]

When I went to see the fall foliage at Yu Myeong San, supposedly a less-known mountain, the crowd was unbelievable. Literally it seemed as if an army was invading... the people were a single-file snake with almost no breaks for 2 hours going up the mountain, and with no breaks at all coming down. It must have been an eight or ten kilometer loop of human beings.

And yet, I didn't see so much as a single candy wrapper or cigarette stub anywhere on the trail, except possibly in the clearing at the very summit. I was actually impressed with their self-regulation of littering. Americans don't have so much restraint, that's for sure.

[JeJuJitsu]

haven't gone hiking yet here, but what's with the ajummas clapping while hiking? some religious thing, or what?

teehee...hiking radios...

[joe_doufu]

Don't forget the guys yelling "ya-ho" at the summit. That's kind of fun though.

[SPINOZA]

Yes, fascinating stuff, Joe.

[cruisemonkey]

I'd heard about K hikers, but was not sufficiently prepared for the shock of hoards of 'fully equiped' (K-2 gear... right down to the socks) 'mountaineers' climbing the local rock pile - Hawangsan (it's 1 hr. to the top). LOL.

The object of the exercise for Ks seems to be to outfit yourself for an expedition to Everest, travel in herds that dwarf those of wildebeast on the Serengetti, while making as much noise as possible and wonder why you do not see any wildlife.

I used to work for the BC Parks Branch and am just blown away by the Korean wilderness experience.

[manlyboy]

Yes, the clapping thing can be very annoying.

Last Spring, the wife and I were by a stream feeding some ducks. We were getting them to come closer and closer with aim of having them eat out of our hands. Just when success was imminent, along came one of those lime green polyester dragons who proceeded to scare the lot of them off.

[joe_doufu]