As Promised...

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's good to be back. And it's time for an October re-cap.

At the beginning of October, I went camping in Paju with a whole slew of Village-dwellers:


One of the highlights was being driven to the campsite in the large bed of this truck. What is it with South Korea and cramming too many people into vehicles?


This is what the campsite looked like. It was actually adjacent to a grape farm, believe it or not.


We had lots of campfire fun...


And what campfire would be complete without roasting marshmallows?


This is the potato and onion that I cooked in the fire the next day. They came out deliciously. Seriously people, cook onions in the fire, you will be well pleased.


We also went for a nice afternoon hike on one of the surrounding hills. We found some pretty cool army bunkers...


And some lovely views.

The following "weekend" (I have Mondays and Tuesdays free) I trekked out to Soraksan, a national park on South Korea's east coast. It's a very popular spot for hiking and enjoying the autumn leaves.


I had a truly beautiful hike. Soraksan may be my favorite destination in SoKo thus far. The trail was super tough, though. I'd say it was more difficult than either trail that I hiked on Hallasan on Jeju Island.


Due to slightly poor timing and negligent planning on my part, I wasn't able to complete the hike to the highest peak, but I managed to get 8 very vertical kilometers (in each direction) under my belt.

And, as if that weren't enough Octobery goodness, my brother, Chris came to visit. He was in Seoul on business, so we only got to see each other for a few days, but those few days were indeed fun-filled.


Chris got a chance to meet young Mr. Dylan Thomas.


And of course we all conducted ourselves like the mature adults that we are.


We had the chance to visit the DMZ, the highlight of which involved exploring one of the tunnels made by North Koreans. Unfortunately, one is not allowed to photograph anything worth photographing in the DMZ.

And of course, no October would be complete...


Without a Halloween celebration. We had a raging Halloween party in the village, and...


I tied with one of my lovely compadres for "Best Costume!"


I went as "Blue" and Nadia went as "The Bird Flu." We were awesome. I love Halloween and I always will. You can quote me on that.

And, in much less festive news, our dear Dylan Thomas and I have parted ways. Our hopes and goals and certain aspects of ourselves as individuals are just too different for us to have any kind of sustainable future and it didn't seem right, knowing that, to continue being together. It was really the most amicable ending to an incredibly fun and worthwhile relationship that one could wish for. I will miss him terribly :( but it really is for the best. And as the poet himself said, “Though lovers be lost, love shall not.”