“Where are you from? Malaysia?” said a voice at the back of my ears. My mind was so busy trying to keep up with the hiking trek that it took me a while to answer the question. Besides, I wasn’t sure if that voice was really talking to me. “Ah, Indonesia,” when I had made sure I was the only one around. I took a glimpse of the man asking.
While catching up my breath, the landscape behind him never ceased to amaze me. Bukhansan, the closest mountain to the bustling capital Seoul, was nothing I’d ever seen in my life. Growing up in a tropical country, the autumn combination of green, yellow, orange, and red were foreign to me, yet very comforting.
Stood by himself, a tall Caucasian with rather blonde, curly hair was walking beside me. He was a German, after a bit of chitchat, taking a 6-months break from his job to travel. Hiking that day was his last day in South Korea before going for his next destination.
We conversed for quite some time, until we encountered another solo hiker. A local, with fair skin dressed in a winter attire, took rests quite a lot. As if forgetting that Korean usually can’t speak English well, I asked her enthusiastically, “Do you want to join us to the peak?” Almost instantly, her face brimming with smile as she looked at us, “Yes!” and just like that, our group of three marched our way to Baegundae Peak.
We got more and more friendly with each other on this rocky mountain, but the trek was the exact opposite. Ha-eun, the Korean college girl which turns out to be ditching her class that day, had somehow found her pace quietly, while I had to put my full effort to keep climbing the knee-height rocks all the way up.
It was chilly and windy, but I could feel my face getting hot. If my legs had mind of their own, they would’ve given up on me. As I got fallen behind, Tobi, the German guy, shouted at me, “Putri, you need more stamina!” and all I could think of was that biological process within my muscles I studied back in high school years ago and they’re screaming the lack of oxygen to help me move my legs.
As we got close to the peak, there was no more soil, only piles of huge rocks beneath our feet. Not only the air felt thinner, but also did the tree canopies. The leaves on the higher altitude had already seemed to leave their branches.
We could see the cityscape of Seoul in distance and my mind can’t help but wandered to the flashes of my journey since early that morning. My Indonesian friend was supposed to come with me that day, but she picked another agenda at the downtown by the last minute. I had to brave myself to step on the mountain by myself, despite my close-to-nonexistent experience of traveling alone, much less hiking a mountain.
The views all along were even better than the pictures I only saw on the internet that encouraged me to go in the first place. Stealing a glance at my newly made friends as we shared oranges, crackers, and whatever left in our bags, I felt a sense of relief and a weight off my chest. I was so close to not going, to not experience the journey, the views, and the random encounter. Not only did I conquer The Peak of Bukhansan, but also my own fear and doubts. I couldn’t help but to smile.
Read more: Autumn Itinerary in Seoul, South Korea
Nice story ped!
thank you ethee <3
Terjal gitu pendakiannya, tapi emang bagus banget pemandangannya. Berapa derajat tuh Mbak dinginnya?
Iyaa bagus bgt mba sangat worth it. Suhunya kurang lebih 7-10 derajat, tp pas pendakian ga terlalu berasa dingin, apalagi kalo udh bbrp hari di Seoul jd terbiasa. Kerasa dinginnya lagi pas udah di puncak karena anginnya gede
Biasa mendaki gunung-gunung di indonesia, kira-kira gimana ya suasana mendaki gunung di korea 🙂 pasti asik banget
iyaa asik bgt, harus dicobaa kalo ada kesempatan ? dan di sana jg banyak gunung yg bisa didaki dlm 1 hari PP, jd ga perlu banyak persiapan
Ini asyik banget Mba, bertualang dengan kawan-kawan mancanegara di daerah yang antimainstream pula 🙂
Oh ya, soal kebangsaan, memang ya rata-rata Orang Indonesia yang berkerudung suka dianggap Orang Malaysia. Hu uh. Kurang famous apa ya Indonesia :))
Hahaha iya nih Teh, orang Indonesia kurang branding kali yaa. Bener teh ga nyangka bgt aku Teh bisa nambah teman pas hiking di gunung gitu
Bagus banget view-nya. Pendakian butuh berapa lama mbak? Berarti boleh ya semua orang ikut?
iyaa, bisa mba, asal cukup fit ajaa. di sana juga ketemu banyak orang tua2 fit2 bgt. tp kalo orang tua Indonesia mungkin harus dipikir2 lagi kali yaa, krn medannya lumayan mendaki. Ke puncak sekitar 3-4 jam kalau ga salah mba
Asli biasanya kita tracking di Indonesia didominasi warna hijau, ini warnanya orange dan hijau yaa kak nyegerin mata banget ini tuh haha. Viewnya emang juara banget yaa kak, coba kalo fotonya dibanyakin kak duh aku makin mupeng hehe.
iyaa, warna autumn tuh bagus bgt warnanya, bikin kangen hiking di sanaa
Halo salam kenal, keren English-nya. Pengalaman pendakian tahun berapa ini? Berkesan banget ya.
Hehe terima kasih mba, masih belajar banyakin pakai bahasa inggris. Tahun 2018 mba ini, sangat berkesan karena pertama kalinya hiking di negeri orang dan sendiri, tp ternyata seruu
Waw emejing mbaa pengalaman hikingnya di negeri ginseng. Kirain bisa ketemu Liminhok pas di puncak hihihi.. talk seru seru.. kece abiss pokoknya. Akumah udah keder duluan suruh mendaki gitu
Makasih mbaa hehe aku juga ga punya pengalaman hiking di Indo mba, di Jakarta jarang jalan kaki dan olahraga. Di korea ini nekat tapi ternyata seruu
Do you live in Korea now? Did this trekking activity occur in autumn last year or during corona time?
The mountain’s view is breathtaking though I’m not sure I will be able to climb those rocks.
How was Toby, the German guy? Do you still keep in touch?
No, I don’t. It was a 10 days vacation to Korea on 2018 and I (still) live in Jakarta now haha
no worries, I rarely walk or excercise (making it quite hard for me back then to hike) but it was possible! 😀 yes I’m still in touch with Tobi on instagram and we occasionally have conversations from our ig stories
Saya baru tahu soal ini. Menarik juga memandang Kota Seoul dari ketinggian. Apalagi puncaknya penuh bebatuan. Kalau kesana bawa bekal seru juga kali ya, bisa piknik
iyaa betul mas, saya juga bawa bekal waktu hiking dan makan siang dengan pemandangan musim gugur seger bgt. Banyak tempat duduk jadi soal tempat dan fasilitas pun memadaii
jangan2 itu dari pohon karet ya mbak? hihi. kmrn pas ke bukit kiram juga dari puncak kek lihat pemandangan autumn dari daun2 pohon karet yang menua gitu. Sejuk liatnyaa. Coba potonya mba banyakin nih, kan penasaran kita
kyknya bukan karet mbaa, di sana ada pohon maple sama ginkgo, tp yg lainnya kurang tauu pohon apa haha setuju mba sejuk bgt, aku juga dulu kepancing sama foto di google mba makanya dateng ke sanaa
Wah senang nya bisa mendaki di Korsel?
Ada yang bilang lebih bagus Indonesia, tapi ya itu soal selera
betul mba, aku malah habis dari hiking di sana jadi mikir “di dkt tempat tinggalku ada tempat hiking yg lumayan ringan ga ya (yg ga perlu camping)” krn jd pengen nyobain hiking di Indonesia jugaa krn blm pernah
What a breathtaking view.. suka deh view dari ketinggan gitu, cuma pasti perjuangannya bikin engap yaa hehehe.. Gimana kalau mendaki di Korea sana mba? Apakah sama engap juga atau justru bikin terasa lebih ringan?
tergantung badan fit atau ngga kyknya mba, kalau aku jarang bgt jalan kaki dan olahraga soalnya, jadi engap hahaha tapi sejuk bgt pastinyaa
Seru banget ya, trekking bareng kayak gini. Capek sih, tapi puas kalo sudah sampe di puncak. Keren ceritanya
Wah banget mas puasnya, kyk habis juara lomba hahaha terus jadi nagih tiap kali traveling jd seneng hiking. Terima kasih banyak ya maas hehe
I felt tired when I saw the stairs in the picture. But it’s so breathtaking when I saw the view from the peak.
indeed, the breathtaking view was so worth all the effort and tiredness hahaha
Oh my God. There’s definately amazing. Need extra effort to rich peak right. But the view, really amazing. Big stone and womderfull view. Great.
Lihat pemandangannya seru banget ini mba. Cerita yang seru nih, jadi pengen
makasih mba hehe, kalau covid udah beres dan ada rencana ke korea pas autumn bisa bgt dicoba mbaa