Walk through the countryside.

Following Ara through the rice fields.
A view of Sokcho as we head toward the country.
A pine-lined road over Mt. Chongdaesan. It was deliciously cool up there and the red soil and trees reminded me of Georgia.
A traditional Korean burial plot in the hills. These are maintained and visited by the families on important holidays.
A home in the country. Note the traditional roof.

A couple weekends back (before our computer decided to die) we took a hike through the country with Ara and Connor. We first took the road AP is on back toward the mountains. Then we trekked through some rice fields and up the backside of Mt. Cheongdaesan. Ara took us to a traditional farming village in Sokcho (boy is it quiet back there!) that had many rice fields and also some pig farms. It was really neat to enjoy one of the first sunny Sundays in weeks and watch Korean farmers at work using traditional methods...kind of like being back in a time warp. We stopped and rested for a minute in one of the villages before heading off to locate the 8th wonder of Sokcho--a hexagonal pavilion (which isn't too old, but it's set in a serene little niche surrounded by rocks and trees). We grabbed some ice creams at a local "corner store", and returned the way we came, through the farms and Cheongdaesan. Once we hit Sokcho we went through some back neighborhoods we hadn't tried before, where people live in actual houses.

As great as it is that South Korea is becoming so modern and developed, I immensely enjoyed seeing the farmers work the land. Only 20% of Korean land is arable, and the majority of farmers are age 55 or older. No Korean youngster these days dreams of being a farmer--they're simply a dying breed. But being in the back country, where it's quiet, and where the farmers labor in the sun and follow the softer rhythms of rural life was quite satisfying--and very Wendell Berry-esque.

Another great thing about this walk is that Connor, Paul, and Ara hatched their brainchild as we hiked, which was to start a writer's guild. Since they're all interested in writing, they decided to meet twice a month (at a pub, of course) to share and critique each other's writing.