up the mountain

On Thursday night, from about 10 to midnight, I gasped my way through two-thirds of my ass-kicker route (the one leading up the Koreansiche Philosophenweg) in the suffocating humidity and felt ready to have a heart attack. Unless something goes awry in the next few hours, I'm off with Sperwer up Bukhansan in the early morning. If the humidity is this bad in the morning, I'm in for a repeat of last week-- six-and-a-half hours of sweaty turmoil.

Shit.

You know... I love hiking, but I wish it could always be done (1) in cool weather, (2) with a slight but constant breeze, (3) on firm ground that gives me no reason to fear a slip and tumble, (4) with no crowds.

Yeah, yeah, Kevin-- kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

Off to bed I go. I won't be blogging until much later on Friday. In the meantime, please chew on this interesting essay about the weird role reversal happening between the US and Europe: according to the author, Europe is shifting rightward while America is moving left. I guess that puts Korea in tandem with Europe: if election predictions are indicative of current trends, the peninsula seems to be moving right, too. Not fast enough, though, if we consider the hostage situation.


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