Sunday, July 5

This morning I woke up at 4:30 am and left the apartment at 5:00 am. I made it to Guri station at 5:15. I was hoping to catch the earliest train to Seoul. I planned on going river rafting today. I was appalled that I didn't see a train until 5:40. I was hoping to get to Juyeop station in Ilsan by 6:45. In the station I met a man from Uzbekistan. He said he had been there at 5:00 and there was no train. I was glad that I didn't miss anything. He said he was going hiking with his coworkers and he invited me to go. I said that was nice, but I had already made plans. I wouldn't have gone anyways because he is a stranger.
I did make it to Ilsan, yet I was a few minutes late. They were waiting for two other people. I didn't feel so silly then. After changing trains at Hoegi and Jongno-3, I hopped into a taxi at Anguk station. I had some time to get to the ATM to get some more money to pay for the trip and get some snacks.
The river was beautiful. It had cliffs on both sides. They had vines and ferns in the crevices, and some small trees at their tops. Occasionally a thin waterfall would wind downwards and pour into the river. The cliffs were made of igneous rock and often had a burned affect. The Korean peninsula was formed by volcanoes a long time ago. The river then made those cliffs by wearing them away over thousands of years. We saw rock formations that looked like a gorilla, a mouse, a man, and an alligator.
I had never gone river rafting before, except for a small activity that was at a staff retreat at Madalpi years ago. It was just a short trip up the river and back. This time it was the real thing. I didn't want to fall out of the raft, so I held on tight when we went over the cataracts. We splashed other boats.
It was fun and a good time. We played a game where we all did "rock, paper, scissors" and the loser had to stand on the bow of the raft and hold their arms apart like Kate Winslet on "Titanic". An older Korean woman was the "loser" and she went to the bow. Someone held her. She fell in of course, but was swimming fine.
I would go rafting again. In some ways rafting is better than canoeing because it is more exciting. Yet it is nice to have a cooler in a canoe with some snacks and drinks and have a nice relaxing time on the river as well. Both are good.