Blue Skies and Rotating Blades

We had quite the weekend in this crazy little country and I thought I needed to tell you all about it. It started off on a sad note actually, with a friend of ours leaving Korea to return home to Canada after deciding another year of this, was not what he actually wanted. We headed out to a little town called Hyeon-ri, which is pretty much like any other little town in Gangwon-do, except that it has a "German" pub in it. Well, this isn't completely true because the only thing German about this pub is the name - inside they serve the usual and boring 'Cas' and 'Hite' beers along with soju and other Korean drinks that you have heard so much about. We had a good evening with good conversation and one broken finger (which I had nothing to do with) but we had to head home because we were making a trip to the infamous DMZ (demilitarized zone) the next morning, so we grabbed a taxi just before the clock struck pumpkin.

Saturday morning we woke up 30 minutes after we were supposed to meet our tour guides and panic set in... This was short lived though because when we opened our windows we were greeted by the first rains of the season - which were much deserved by the very dry land and shallow rivers! Needless to say, the DMZ trip was cancelled and we spent most of Saturday lazing around, editing photo's and jailbreaking my iPhone (because I am feeling like a prisoner in Apple jail after recent online discussions - thanks PK). Saturday evening arrived and we had just settled down for bulgogi (beef stew) in this quaint little restaurant when my phone rang with some good news - news I didn't get because I ignored the call from our new friend Mr Kim.

Let me quickly give you some background on Mr Kim. He is a Korean man with decent English, who is a co-pilot for a company called Helikorea. He is not a usual Korean man as he is outspoken, loves baseball and can be a little annoying, but overall he is an ok guy.

Second call, I pushed myself to answer and he was quick to inform me that the following day (Sunday), there would be space on the helicopter and we should come - we agreed, thanked him and went on with our meal... Later that evening we started to second thought our decision as we had heard so many negative things about Mr Kim from our foreign friends about his tendency to become a stalker, his brash and outspoken views of people and his hate for the gay community (a story for another time...). Anyhow, we decided it was an experience we wanted to have and pushed on.

Sunday morning arrived and after waking up at sparrows fart, Mr Kim knocked on my door 10 minutes early. As I opened the door he invited himself in, had a good look around, noticed I was eating cereal, commented how much he likes cereal and demanded a bowl. This grated me a little, but I obliged... he was giving us a free helicopter ride!

Once he had finished his sugar coated cardboard flakes, we took a bus out to the foot of Seoraksan mountain range and made our way to the Helipad... It is a beautiful area with very little in the way of houses or any sort of development and the skies were so blue and clear that it almost seemed painted. We arrived at the helipad to find that they were performing a sky-worthy test on the helicopter and so we had to sit around for a good three hours. We were under the impression that they were taking supplies to Bakdamsa temple that day and we would just go along for the ride, but clearly this was not the case.

Once the tests were complete (which I hope they passed), the captain ordered a refuel and got ready for lift off. The fantastic thing about this is that he did not have any work to do, he was going to all the trouble completely for us! We sat in anticipation waiting for his hand gesture to call us aboard and it finally came... We ran under the blades, jumped in and we left the ground... This is what we saw:

Just off the bus

Our scenic walk to the helipad

"An organic house" made completely of mud and wood. This is considered special in Korea, because most houses are concrete and plastic! :)

Doesn't look complicated, does it?

Our ride. Pimping.

The most generous man in Korea, Captain Shin (on the right)

Little Buddhist village locked away in the mountains...

We covered the Seoraksan mountain range all the way from Inje to Sokcho (the sea), getting sites of all the buddhist temples and little communities that were sprinkled in between. A surreal experience. Once we were safely on the ground we thought we could say thank you by taking the crew for lunch, so off we went to a place the pilot recommended. Unfortunately, no bill arrived and we were again treated to a free meal... We were then offered a lift to the bus stop which ended up being a lift to our town. Clearly we had done something to make the pilot fond of us and hey, we weren't complaining!