So I decided to add a series to this blog that has a more personal touch. I've been very reminiscent lately with lots of flashbacks and intensely vivid dreams from my youth which are awesome, so I figure it's a good time to start.

Some of my stories are a little crazy, like my drug-trafficking ex girlfriend, being lost alone in Thailand, killing bats and cats, crashing boats and so on, others more mundane like, I dunno, my ingrown toenail saga.

Either way, Enjoy!

South Korea, 2010

It's amazing that this happened such a long time ago, but It was my first year living abroad and I was so high on energy and life. I was also 15kg lighter. Every weekend and holiday and many evenings I would be going out and exploring all corners of South Korea from up North in the art villages of Paju, Anyang Park, Touristy Seoul spots and Seoraksan Mountain range in Sokcho, all the way south to the beaches of Busan, the pristine waters of Geoje and Jindo Islands. Oddly, never Jeju Island.

Anyway, most of the time I'd be going with this hiking group I enjoyed the company of, and was a good way to make friends too, but sometimes I just wanted to go up a mountain by myself.

South Korea is like 70% mountainous; there ain't much space for development, so pretty much wherever I am, I can look out of a window and you'll see a nice little mountain range. Something I miss a lot, actually.

The mountain I chose in question I have no idea whether it even had a name, but it was very local; across the river that was a stone's throw from my apartment, over the road and there it is.

I took my kindle and headed out in nothing more than shorts and t-shirt. I was pretty experienced at this point and figured there wouldn't be any challenges. Hiking culture is huge in Korea and every mountain has its own paved way up more or less.

It was quite an easy climb, and I felt it was pretty small compared to others, though I couldn't help notice I had gotten off track and was now just in a bunch of forest without a path. Well that wasn't a big deal since once you get to the top you end up back on track regardless, so up I went.

And when I got to the top... wow. I could see an entire quadrant of the city (Anyang)!

It was amazing, I felt so free, the freest I had felt up to that point in life. I felt I could literally do whatever I wanted in life, whether that's simply chilling here on this mountain or becoming a depressed alcoholic, it didn't matter because it was my choice.

After some consideration I decided to go with the first option, and found a nice big boulder to chill out on. I got my kindle out and started reading... I forgot what. I think it was some Jules Verne or similar. The occasionally 'real' hiker in their 'real' hiking gear with their hiking sticks and boots would pass by alone or with family and friends - to them this was nothing, just a way to hold off rigor mortis for a few more years.

As I read, I'd occasionally sit back and enjoy the sun setting, getting redder and redder over the cityscape.

It was at this point something occurred to me:

The sun is setting

Oh crap.

For those of you without advanced knowledge in cosmic sciences, when the Sun sets, the light goes out. And as you can see from that last photo, I was pretty damn short on time. And my phone battery was low.

Not to worry though, it was a small mountain and I could make it back in no time.

The problem, of course, is that I didn't take a traditional route up, so I didn't know what the traditional route down was. I followed what I thought was a path, but it was getting dark and, well, I must have taken a wrong turn.

This is where the photos stop by the way, since I was pretty panic stricken.

I started quickly but safely hiking down because I figured regardless, if I keep going down I'll end up at the ground and can just figure the rest out. It's the weekend, no rush.

But alas, I reached a new low point in bad luck when I saw the highway I was to cross to get home, 30 metres below me. Between me and the road was a man-made chasm, some kind of drainage system (floods were a huge issue here, which I'll explore in another post). Fenced off for safety, even if I could cut my way through, it was a sheer, 40 metre drop to below ground, and 10 metres across perhaps. I had to go back.

I was pretty worried that i'd be there all night by this point since I did actually say I'd be meeting some friends in Seoul in a couple of hours, and shockingly they did call me to check and i was like 'yep I'll be there'. They could hear the cars and I was just like 'just messing around outside, all's good!'

What could they even do anyway, to be fair.

I worked my way up until, of course, the ground beneath me gave way and I started to slip down the mountainside. I scraped over quite a lot of stuff before managed to grab onto a small budding tree which was thankfully strong enough to hold me. Eventually I struggled my way in the now black of night, and followed the highway round on the flattest route I could find.

FINALLY I found a way out, crossed the road to the riverside where there was a little gym area with clean, drinkable water. Yes!

I used the water to drink, but also to wash my cuts and bruises before composing myself and casually ambling back to my apartment where I continued my night as if nothing happened.

Come to think of it I don't think anybody in the world knows about this story until now. Nice.

If you like this memoir lemme know so I know to continue, share your stories with me or whatever and thanks for reading!