Tuolumne Meadows and the Act for Survival

By far one of the most unsettling experiences in my life was on September 18th 2010. On a Friday afternoon I packed up my things and headed to my friend Renee's house. About half an our later five of us packed up her SUV and headed out from San Jose to Yosemite National Park. It was the first visit to Tuolumne Meadows for all five us and the first trip to Yosemite NP for a few of us, so the excitement was high. About 6 hours later we finally arrived our campsite in the pitch black and a shocking 30 degree temperature. It felt like we had traveled to Alaska in the dead of winter. I had heard it was going to be cold at night but I didn't think it was going to be freezing temperatures. We set up our tents and huddled by the fire. We were the second carpool to arrive so we hung out and settled in while four more cars arrived. Eventually we had a village of tents and a group of about 20 people. Even though it was beautiful and clear I had never been so cold at night then I had those two nights in Tuolumne.

Hiking Group_ready to go!

On Saturday I woke up as cold as I went to bed. Normally trees are great to have on a camping trip but it kept the sun off of us and every degree of warmth mattered. The fire was going at 8 in the morning. I walked 20 feet from the fire pit to the parking lot where there was a small clearing just so I could dethaw. Eventually everyone was awake between 9am-10am. Half of us packed up and got ready to go on a hike while the other half decided to go on a car tour of Yosemite park. We didn't start hiking until about 1130am and by the time we got to the trail head it was 1pm. We decided to do a 6 mile out and back, really it was an up and down. We climbed about 1500 feet up to about 11,000 feet elevation, past the hight of Half Dome. It was definitely one of the most challenging hikes I have been on (Half Dome definitely remaining my number one). This hike was different though. It wasn't that my legs couldn't carry me, it was that I couldn't breathe. The saying "my heart is going to jump out of my chest" had a very literal meaning to us. My heart was pounding so hard I wasn't sure if my frame could contain it. My breathing had to be slow and deliberate, I tried to control it as much as possible. I had never regretted not having my abuterol more than at that hike. We got half way when about 80 percent of us realized we had to take it as slow as possible or we would never make it to the top. We would take 3-5 steps then stop for 3 seconds and repeat this procedure, for the last 1.5 miles to the top. You can see how frusterating this was for all of us including the ones that had to use this procedure. When we finally reached the top it was windy and clear. We could see the amazingly blue glacier lakes below us and the silver waves of rocks and sparse trees surrounding us. In the distance we saw Half Dome and Cloud's Rest. It was extermely beautiful.


Lunch at the Lake Mayo



Looking down as we hiked up!



Prairy before our rock climb!



Christine taking a breather

  


Smiling and wondering if we'll make it to the top


We found a valley where snow was still attached, what we didn't realize was that it was melting and on the other side it was completely unsupported. Luckily no one was an idiot and ran to the edge because I'm sure I would be writing a much different story right now. Our climb back down was about 200% times faster than the climb. We practically ran down the mountain if the gravel hadn't slowed us down. It felt good to breathe again.

When we returned to the camp site the rest of the group was already hanging out and beginning to play games. Erik, John, and I walked over to the river to wash our legs. We were soaked in dirt from our knees down. The water was very cold but felt good after that hike. It took us about 3.5 hours. After we joined the rest of the group, made dinner and hung out at the fire. Unfortunately I get altitude sickness, so I had a splitting headache near migraine so I kept throwing back water while the others were able to drink to their delight. From the lack of sleep the night before, the oncoming migraine and the physical workout, I decided to hit the hay early. I had to use my ipod to try to drain out the campfire conversations. A half past midnight I felt like I was about to pass out so I took out my earphones. Erik and a few others or so I thought were still at the campfire. Not even 3 minutes later I heard Erik yelling "Hey! Hey!" and then I heard ruffling run past my tent. At first I thought it was Erik but I knew from my brief experience earlier that day (about 6 AM Saturday) that Erik was yelling at a bear which meant the bear was in our campsite. I could hear Erik and our friend Jason get closer to my tent so I knew the bear was near me. I sat up, called Erik's name and quickly looked for any sharp object in the tent. I also searched our bags inside the tent for any food or anything that might smell good incase the bear decided to continue search nearby after he was finished with whatever he already got a hold of. Erik yelled back to me telling me to stay inside the tent. I could hear Jana and Christine next to me moving around, whispering but mostly squealing under their breath. On the other side of me I heard Dave asking where the bear was. I told Erik to grab a pot and pan and try to make loud noises to scare it away. It didn't do a thing. I opened up the flap of the door to the tent. I kept the bug flap zipped, as if either really could do anything to help me if it decided it wanted to come in, but it made me feel slightly safer. The bear was only concentrating on the food. I felt like I could have opened up the tent and ran the other direction and I would have been fine but I didn't. I didn't want to risk getting the bear angry especially with so many people around. I peered out at the bear, not believing how close it was. I grabbed my camera but the only way I could take a picture was if I used flash, so I switched it to video but the screen was pitch black and I didn't think about just audio recording it, I was so flustered at the time. While the bear was chowing down he sat about 6-8 feet away. It quickly finished its snack then decided it wanted to go back to the bear boxes for more. Erik challenged it yelling, "no, go get out of here!", the bear had taken a few steps towards Erik, so it was no almost directly in front of me. I sat completely still. It was on all fours but it too stood still, trying to decide which direction he could go or whether Erik was a real threat. I kept praying, the bear wouldn't turn and try to come into one of our tents. Finally it ran off in the other direction, we heard the campers in the next site scream at it for only a few seconds. It was the most unsettling feeling because had the bear chosen to attack me, there would be nothing I could have done. I had to sit there waiting and be as ready as possible to defend myself.

I jumped out of the tent the first moment I could. I ran over to the fire place and bear boxes trying to find any food, or any boxes that might still be open to make sure the bear would not return. We found metal sticks that still had marshmellow remnants on them. The main reason the bear had visited in the first place was because someone hadn't closed the bear box completely. The bear knew how to open the box and dug right in. It was PITCH black out so I was surprised Jason could even see it. We were up for another hour or so. Took me awhile to relax enough to get back to sleep. And again it was freezing cold so I only got a few hours of uncomfortable sleep. 

Sunday we munched on some food, cleaned up the site and packed up the cars. Some people had slept through the entire ordeal and never heard Erik or near by campers yelling. That amazed me. I guess if Darwinism still existed we would know who wouldn't be here.

As beautiful as Yosemite was, I was happy to be in a large mechanical vehicle barreling back towards the Bay, where I knew four walls and door locks existed, plus 60 degree nights and warm soft bedding. I couldn't wait!

Pusan

One of the reasons I loved Pusan was the laid back feeling it has for being such a big city. With a population of almost 4 million people you'd expect something like Chicago, but instead there was a laid back, easy going feel to it. The people were more relaxed and less business like than Seoul. If know me, you know that I am in love with San Deigo, but you would also know that I am captivated by the bustling and hype in New York City. Pusan amazingly was a mixture of both beach and city. Who couldn't love that?

Hanging out on Gwangali Beach

Our 2nd night in Pusan I was searching for a snack. Little did I know I could get a whole meal at GS25 (7-Eleven Equivalent) for 2 bucks, which I took advantage of later. Our searching led us to hang out at an outside bar where we then met a Korean and Japanese bartender. This bar is was one of the many red carts that lined the street (one block from our hotel) that sold seafood through all hours of the night. We ended up staying there from midnight until 430am. By the end of the night we were surrounded by Americans. We met another bartender from Jersey, a female english teacher that is korean but lived in California, US Army soldier from Pittsberg, another guy from Kansas City, a younger guy from Minnesota, a teacher that is moving to Portland, OR and 4 other americans that we didn't officially meet so I don't know where they were from. It was a very intersting crowd. We had a lot of fun talking to people from all over the US.

Red Carts along street

This was a walk by photo

Hanging out at mobile outside bar

At 430am, I had to drag Erik away from all the fun. Supposedly we were supposed to get up at 8am check out and catch a train back to Seoul. Haha...well I did get up but we decided to stay one more night in Pusan. We loved it that much!

Insa-Dong

Insa-Dong is an asian version of Newbury street, at least that's how I associate with it in my mind. It's a street full of vendors with their arts and crafts. Most of the items you see are made by the shop owner. It is very fun to walk around and see all the various crafts while they're being made and also fun to meet the people who design and create the pieces.

Top makers

This place looks fun

mmm bark

Erik and I bought these really good smelling incense. They are small cone shaped pieces, they were selling 15 of them for 2 bucks. What a sweet deal! So we each got our own packets. Our apartment will smell amazing for the next month or two.  We also bought these pretty pottery necklaces. You'll see me wearing mine in the near future. Erik obviously got his as a gift for his sister. Aww, how sweet.

A popular shopping street is not complete without...

Starbucks!

...up that says Su-tah-bak-su-ka-pi, or Starbucks Coffee as we commonly know it. No, I did not make that up.

we are standing in front of a pretty painted tile mural

 Later we met up with Julie and Kevin from SF Bay area and Julie's sister, Jill, for dinner. Julie bought a fan from this sweet elderly man.

Fan man and his fans

After we got these shaved ices that are popular in Korea in this very cute tea house. It was literally shaved ice, ice cream,  fruit and bean curd, tomatoes, corn flakes and other little things. It actually was really good.

Cute tea house

Hanging out at the tea house

Really good korean shaved ice

Add caption

Julie gets serious about her ice cream :-)

We had an early night since Julie and Kevin arrived that day from San fran. Erik and I went to our hotel and drank Soju. Somehow Erik hadn't tried it until then. I guess I failed at making sure he tried all things Korean. Another great night in Korea!

Geumjeongsanseong, a Mountain Fortress

We decided to do touristy things in Pusan. We arrived in Pusan in the late afternoon on a Thursday, after a somewhat long, bumpy bus ride from Gunsan. We hit a lot of traffic coming in after a 4 hour ride, so we were eager to get off the bus. We had booked a hotel online while we were in Gusan, trying to stay at least one step ahead of ourselves and going with recommendations on location from a IKAA conference friend. We ended up staying at 2 or 3 star hotel in central Pusan, Seomyeon district. Korea has hotels called "love hotels" marketed for couples and supposedly cheaper than others but we didn't find out that worked for us. It seemed like the cheaper hotels tended to be run by families, and you can never beat the service they provide. The owner was a sweet elderly man and his wife helped maintain the hotel. They lent us an umbrella during our stay, provided us toast and eggs (that you had to cook yourself on a hot plate) for free in the morning, and let me come into his office when the computer wasn't working so I could buy our train tickets to Seoul. All the four and five star hotels made us buy everything, so it was almost worth paying less for a cheaper hotel.

When we arrived Pusan we had a few errands to run, we were short on cash and somehow between Seoul and Pusan, Erik's phone would not charge, and my phone stopped working. Any task in Korea is an adventure. We walked into a SK mobile store and the people there would not help us, so we walked next door (for some reason there were four SK mobile stores lining this one street), and the guy there couldn't speak English as well but was willing to help us. He fixed my phone and was able to tell us that Erik's charger was no good. His charger drained his battery instead of charged it. Luckily we have the same charger so Erik was able to use mine. By the time we finished with our errands, it was 9pm and we were starving. We hadn't had breakfast or lunch. We found this westernized Korean grill house that looked like a Japanese style home with an owner that was very sweet. We hung out there for a few hours. My friend who lives in Pusan met up with us.

The next day we decided to go see the fortress on the top of a mountain. The sky was totally over cast but we hoped that it would burn off by the time we got to the top of Geumjeongsan. We walked up a fairly steep hill after taking the subway. It was very humid out, so we walked slow. The breeze on our face while riding the cable car to the top saved me from wanting to turn around. There were only a few people on their way up. I had heard about Korean hikers and how they get completely decked out when they hike. All the rumors were true.

View from cable car of Pusan, looking north east

Catching the breeze on the cable car

For the first 50 m our hike was fine. As soon as we left the landing spot and got to the edge of the woods all the signs were in Korean symbols. That should have been a clue that maybe this wasn't going to be so easy. But Erik forged ahead and I followed. We got another 125 m into the woods when we ran into a Korean camp site. That's when I decided to turn around and go another direction. Eventually after about 45 minutes of hiking on dirt and rock trails, up and down hills, through a misty forrest we found our way to the South Gate of the fortress. Ta dah!

South Gate

Along the way we had found some carved Buddhist figures on the side of the mountain.

See the carvings?

We realized once we passed the gate that the inside of the fortress walls looked exactly like outside the walls. Why did we hike up this mountain for this? We were those tourist hikers that I always despise when I walk around the parks in California. I was wearing a skirt and sandals, and Erik was wearing flip flops and shorts. We didn't look like we belonged at all. So we ventured in for about 10 minutes then decided it was going to take too long to get anywhere substantial. We also had a late start to the day and we had so many other things on our list to do and see. I didn't want to admit but my feet were starting to hurt. I could feel all the rocks right through my shoes. I kept telling myself this is therapeutic, it's good for me to walk almost barefoot. NOT. I totally got a blister on my foot.

Erik really tired after our hike

The fog had started to burn off, a little bit. The view from the cable car was stunning.

Looking south east

Me!

Looking straight down (can you tell we were high up?)

Pusan from the cable car

At the base of the mountain was a park, with many deserted snack shacks, a sad looking children's amusement park and a few old people hanging out under the trees for shade and relaxation.

Inside the park

Jagalchi Fish Market

I had heard the fish market was a very fun experience, so I was amped up to go even though I don't eat seafood and most sea creatures scare me when they're alive. Erik and I took the "Humetro" (subway in Pusan) to Ja-gal-chi, the largest fish market in Pusan, Korea.

Main entrance to Jagalchi Fish Market

As we're walking along I would get screamish (not squimish b/c i literally would make little "eee" sounds). Erik asked me, "shouldn't you be used to this? Isn't there a fish market in Seattle?" Yes, the Pike place market is very well known for their seafood but the Korean fish market was definitely different. Maybe slightly more gritty, more real for sure. We watched a lady skin a live Eel and then place the still wiggling body into a bowl with other skinned eels, all of which were still moving around. Don't worry I took a video of this. My mother would never watch it though. Just ask her about the snake incident when she was younger.

Eel skinning Korean woman and moving eel in bowl (front)

Some more images from the fish market:

Lady choping extremely long fish into smaller pieces

Huge bowl of shrimp

Huge octopus (probably parents to Erik's earlier meal)

Erik with his favorite snacks

Hanging out with all the fish

Russian King Crab (it was HUGE)

Dry fish skin, apparently icelanders like to eat this with butter as a snack

Seeing all the fresh seafood didn't inspire me to try any seafood in Korea unfortunately, but it was indeed very fun to see!

Ridiculous translations in Korea

In our travels around Korea we noticed how much Korean language was misinterpreted when translated to English. We thought these were humorous enough to take a picture and share.

We loved this poem or marketing statement by this cafe

I didn't know there were people in the world that did not know what a pretzel was

And of course some potty humor. "Spaghetti w/swimming crap" sounds delicious right?

New Sense of Pride?

I was asked this today by a Korean American. His was raised in Pusan, S. Korea but his family moved to California when he was still young. He continues to live and work in California with his now Korean wife and three kids. He visits Korea often, at least once a year. I thought it was an interesting question, but very valid b/c as I thought about it I realized that yes, I do have a new found respect and sense of pride for a country I never knew, yet is very much a part of me.

During my trip, there was much I discovered about Koreans and their culture and as I learned these new things a lot of them reminded me of myself. Both good and bad things. The love for fashion (hopefully not to the point of vanity), their friendliness towards strangers, their devotion to help & serve others, their respect for their families and close friends, their love for learning, and their pride for their country and culture. Koreans work hard and play hard and that's what made it so fun to visit.

I found the slightly ridiculousness of the chaos I witnessed as amusing, although not everyone might see it that way. The ladies were completely impractical about their dress code. Along the streets, on the subway, at the shopping centers, in the hotels, even on the beaches, in north and south of the Republic of Korea I saw women in high heels, not plain heels one would go to work in, heels that shimmered or stood out on any ordinary shelf, and most often wearing bright or funky clothes to match. On the flip side I also saw girls, typically younger, in tight jeans, loose t-shirts layered with tanks wearing flip flops or extremely decked out flats (usually gladiator style). It was like seeing a fashion magazine come to life.

The drivers drove like they were walking the streets of Seoul. Lanes do not exist in Korea. They're simply a guideline, until you get on the freeway, then they're obeyed. Even though it sounds completely dangerous there is some sort of silent agreement amongst the Korean drivers. They all know when someone is about to cut them off or swerve around them. And oddly enough the drivers don't drive fast, they just don't drive in straight lines. I theorize that it could be due to the high levels of caffeine. Erik and I sat down in a small but populated pocket of Seoul and counted as many as 10 coffee shops just in a radius of 1 block. The coolest thing about this was that they were all different stores (Holly's Coffee, Starbucks, Coffine Garunaru, Dunkin Donuts, The Coffee Bean, Pasucci, Paris Baguette, etc). I did not see a Pete's, SBC or Tully's amazingly. If you love coffee, teas, or smoothies, Korea is definitely a good place for you to visit.

Although there are 12 million people in Seoul, the only time I felt like crowds are an issue was when I took the metro during commuting hours. People push to get a seat on a subway like it's the last chair in game Musical Chairs, and this wasn't just one age group, it was everyone. It was always entertaining to see a 70 year old women bat away a teenager. Erik and I usually stayed standing.

If anything, Korea felt whole. About 95% of the people in Korea were Korean (or at least looked Korean), and most everything Koreans used (cars, clothes, appliances) were all Korean made. Hyundais, Kias, even Samsung cars littered the streets of Korea. I rarely saw a beamer, although more than Hondas or Toyotas. It was interesting to see the homogeneity. It showed that the country can be proud of their people and their ability to provide for their country.

Time Travel: Back in the Bay

Hello, I'm back in US of A. It's a little strange to be back after what seemed like a really long time but yet went so fast. I really enjoyed every moment of my trip. I'm very very glad I went to Korea. I didn't share this before but I was very hesitant about going. I thought I'd hate Korea and I knew I didn't want that kind of reaction, so I'm very happy to say it was MUCH better than I thought it would be. In fact I would love to live there for an extended period of time. That is yet to be determined so I won't dwell on that at the moment.

Erik and I took off at 5pm Tuesday August 17th from Seoul and landed at 1130 AM August 17th in San Francisco. And who said time traveling wasn't possible? We took public transportation back home with all our luggage (always fun) so we didn't get home until about 3pm. I felt like a poor college student again, with only $5 bucks in my pocket, snacking on corn nuts and wishing there was a faster/cheaper way to get home. I napped for only 45 mins on the 11 hour flight back.  I didn't start feeling weird (overly exhausted) until about 5pm PST when I was standing in Bank of America. I went back home and passed out for five hours. That's normal right? Unfortunately I'm not up at 1:15am but as soon as I'm down jotting down a few love notes to you all I'm forcing myself to go back to sleep.

Erik at Incheon Airport in S. Korea

I had a moment of culture shock today, as we got onto the Bart (subway system in the Bay), I turned to Erik and whispered, "wow, there are a lot of white people here". I know how racist that sounds but Korea really is NOT diverse. All you see are Koreans. Seoul is a HUGE city (12 million people), yet is not yet considered a tourist destination. About 99% of the Koreans we ran into knew only a couple words of English, and not nearly enough to be helpful or to understand us, so at times it got very confusing and/or frustrating. Erik and I were in a way forced to learn the language if we wanted to have any control over our destiny. I did not mind learning for obvious reasons, one being I should know my own heritage language, two I love knowing different languages, and third it is fun seeing the shock and joy of a Korean when Erik and I pull up and start ordering food in Korean. Like any country, the natives appreciate when visitors try to speak their language. Even if we butcher it they can see we're trying and they're more willing to help for that reason.

There were times though, especially in the beginning when I was too timid to speak Korean, that when I did Koreans were just stare at me. Then when they eventually understood me and repeated exactly what I said, it was frustrating. Really? Apparently there is such a thing as an American accent and when you're with a white guy that looks German or Russian (Russians visit Korea a lot), they don't expect to hear Korean so it takes them time to register what we're saying. At least this is what I've been told. There were also times when Erik tried to speak Korean to a taxi driver or order food at a restaurant and the person would then turn to me and speak ot me in Korean. That was always funny b/c then I would just tell him I'm American (in korean) and shrug my shoulders to show him I have no freaking clue what they're saying to me.  When I was alone I always got spoken to in Korean first. It was kind of fun knowing that at least I could blend in.

Seoul and Pusan were VERY easy to get around. Their subway systems are amazingly efficient and easy to understand. Maps in Korea was a different story. The country loves animating everything. There were cartoons where there shouldn't be, in bars and restaurants, even commercials for something like razors for men. It's quite bizarre. It felt like adults were really kids based on their marketing. Their maps had graphics for buildings on streets without names. You either have to walk around until you find what you want or ask a local Korean and that led to the language issue. Taxis, buses, subways were all readily available and easy to use.

Holy monkeys, the humidity was intense in Korea. There were days when I would walk outside and it would feel like I stepped into a laundry drying machine. My clothes would instantly absorb the humidity. You had to walk around with a fan and a cloth to wipe away the sweat. Really attractive, right? The last two days we were in Korea it felt like a normal sunny california day, barely any humidity. It felt good. When we got to SF today and it felt so cold. I have no idea the actual temperature but I'm sure it was in the high 70s. Where is our summer?!

It is good to be home. I'm curious what kind of things I'll notice tomorrow. How much culture shock will I have. Is 2.5 weeks long enough to even create that kind of change? I guess we'll find out soon.

Good night to you all.

Media on Amazing Race Event

During the conference I participated in an event they named "Amazing Race- Adoptees Loose in Seoul", only adoptees that had never visited Seoul before was allowed to participate. There were eight groups of four people. They split us up by birthday months and then arranged us until it worked out to have four on a team. The team I was on had a lady from Seattle, a lady from Minnesota, and a young Danish boy about 18 years old. Since I live in California that's typically where I said I was "from". It got too tiring to always say "I'm from Seattle but now I live in California", then you have to explain why and I usually was talking to someone that English was not their first language.  Because the Amazing Race event was brand new for IKAA there were local news crews and journalists that wanted to shadow groups while they ran around Seoul. One group had the news crews and my group had a journalist. The journalists article was on the IKAA conference and the events we participated in like the Amazing Race. If you're interested here is a link to her article:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Features/2010/08/06/13/0801000000AEN20100806000100315F.HTML

My team had very nice people in it, but that was about as much as I could say. We were very diverse but did not have the tools or experience to do well in our missions. None of us knew any Korean, the only words were knew at the time was "hello" and "thank you", so it certainly did not help when we were asking for directions. The rules during the game included we could not talk to the news crew for help, we could not use cell phones, and we had to stick together and return together at the hotel at 3pm. The goal was to complete as many missions as possible and accumulate as many points as possible.

We completed three missions. It seemed like everything that could have gone wrong did. The eldest lady in our group had a physical disability so she couldn't walk very effeciently and definitely could not run, so with her and having a journalist interviewing us the whole time it was very hard to communicate and be quick with our missions. Our first mission was to go to a specific subway stop, find an E-mart (grocery store in Korea) buy 'Kim", come back out to the volunteers who would witness two people eating it then they would give us our next mission.

We were on our 2nd mission when we practically all gave up. The weather made it so hard to function, the sun beat down on us, it felt like it was 100 degrees out. On top of that we all started to run out of steam, they didn't allow us time to eat lunch (and I hadn't had breakfast), so we all were dragging an hour into the race. Our goal was to find the oldest palace in the Chosan dynasty at the Palace Museum and take a picture with the palace guards at the entrance. We ended up spending 1.5 hours at the wrong museum even though we had asked two different types of people (one being a tourist information desk). Literally as we were walking/jogging up to the palace steps, the guards walked away to take a 15 minute break! You'll notice in the picture there are no guards. We had to wait until they came back for us to complete the mission. It was very trying on our patience. We wanted to get out of the sun and start our next mission b/c we were running out of time.

Our third mission, luckily was on our way back to the hotel. We took the subway to Anguk station, next to Insa-dong, known for its art and crafts. We had to walk along the street to find the volunteers who would then tell us our mission. Finding them in along popular shopping street wasn't as easy as you might think. Once we did, we were told to walk to a street vendor, buy this round flat, amber colored object, which we were told was a "Korean candy". We had to eat around the edges until the heart shape was free. The candy tasted like burnt marshmallows. It did not taste good.

After that we ran out of time. We had half an hour to walk back to the hotel, it took two of us that long and about 45 minutes for our other team mates, which is unfortunate b/c we weren't considered done until all of us arrived. I think all four of us were just glad to be done with the race. We had fun getting to know each other and learning how to get around Seoul.

So check!, amazing race experience is off my list. Thanks IKAA.