Freeze...

This does not make a travel entry but still I wanted to note it down as something memorable. It was perhaps the coldest day of the season in Suwon. I had an urge to have some tandoori roti's and decided to go for dinner all alone. My car was showing -9 degree outside. I could safely assume that it must be -13 or so. I had walked back to parking lot from Samsung earlier in the day when car showed -5 and I was prepared in same way with thermals and ear cap etc. But I didn't know that a few degrees can make all the difference.

I got out of the car and it felt like it is pretty chilly but i can manage. Took the parking ticket and realized that I can not keep my hands out of pockets for more than 2 seconds. As I reached the crossing, wind decided to test my resolve for the indian food. I remembered that in the "feels like" column it mentioned -21 as it was supposedly very windy. So, I tried to avoid wind by going close to obstacles. I could feel my breathe containing ice instead of moisture. It feels as if the air is too dry. One could see ice frozen on road at various places. This was not ice from snowfall. This was spilt water on road which was frozen. It reminded me of Odaesan drive where the frozen moisture on trees looked so beautiful in the cloudy and misty weather.

Finally, I had my food and got back in similar way but this time I knew what I am going to experience and I had filled up my belly. Also, I was lucky to get green signal on the crossing as soon as I reached.

Snow hiking

Odaesan. I went there twice but never climbed the peak. The thin atmosphere over there always make it difficult. But this time we had to do it.

Drive started slowly with peak traffic because of long weekend. But we could start the hike by noon. It was showing -4 outside in the car when we reached the base. But we were not really bothered. It was very beautiful as we entered the national park. The frozen streams and white color all around.

It was tiring with breathing a little difficult and I had not really kept myself fit in last 4 months. But I could not return mid-way this time as well. This was a moderate level hike. We managed to scale the peak in around 3 hours. It was beautiful. But what gives you a kick is the sense of achievement when you look back at the height you climbed. And it was a long time since I felt the same way.


It was very chilly with wind blowing very heavily. The cold was biting us hard and we had to move towards next peak. What we did not realize earlier is that we did not have to climb down and the other peak was a 3 kms long walk on the top of the mountain range. This was the coldest walk I ever had. We were walking in a foot deep snow and it was upto 2 feet at some places.

Drive back was wonderful. We had planned to go to Daegu and the expressway 55 did not disappoint. I was dying to test the new car at high speeds and it was amazingly smooth till 180km/h. With the "request a song" program with Praveen, it was a fun drive.

Will publish more pictures later as I did not click a lot with my camera. Cheers!!!

Color of the day: White

Korea again... Landed up in peak winter. First weekend and here comes the first snow. I got up to a wonderful scene and it was very easy to wrap myself up in the blanket. But I picked up my jacket and shoes instead. And I guess the following pictures say the rest.
(click to see enlarged view)










Here is a video of my walk across the streets in the nearby parks. I had forgotten my gloves, so hand is shaking a bit. Anyways, watch it for the music sake.