We took my mom and dad and spent the day in Wonju. I heard about the Mount Sogeum Swinging Suspension Bridge and decided today was the day to conquer it! The original thought was to see the suspension bridge, then go do a short hike to a waterfall and temple. We got to the bridge first and quickly realized it wasn't a park and see type of activity, but it was a serious hike up a million stairs!
To get to the ticket office, you first walk through a cute little village, the over a bridge. Little A loved having grandma and grandpa to walk with her.
After having two different Korean families cut in front of us, we finally got to the ticket counter and was able to get our tickets using pointing, gestures and google translate. Just a side Korean culture note- Koreans will most defiantly cut in front of you in lines! Especially Americans. I was told it is because they consider themselves better then us and that it has to do with their seniority thinking. Elderly people are respected more here, so they pretty much get to do whatever they want. As I have stood in many lines, I will be walking up to the counter and an elderly Korean will elbow me out of the way and walk right in front of me. It's part of living here and I'm used to it now. After getting the tickets, you cross another bridge to get to a small trail through small food shops.
We got to the trail head and the sign said it was only 500 meters to the bridge. Easy peasy, right? No way- totally wrong.
We quickly found out that the 500 meters was straight switchback stairs.
Luckily there were quite a few resting spots along the way up. There were benches to stop and catch your breath.
We were only up a few flights of stairs when Little A started to cry and say she didn't feel good and she needed to rest. I thought she was just complaining, so I told her we could rest a few minutes, then she needed to keep going.
After resting and taking just a few steps, she started crying again and saying her stomach hurt and she didn't feel good. I took a good long look at her and realized she was white as a sheet and her face was super cold. With how much we were walking and how hot it was, she should have nice red cheeks. She then started to walk like a drunk and her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot. I caught her and laid her down. There was a bench just a few stairs ahead of us, so I tried to help her walk to the bench and she couldn't make it, so I carried her to the bench and laid her down. I had her drink lots of water and stay laying down.
I didn't want the entire family and mom and dad to come this far and not make it to the top, so I told everyone to keep going because we must be close (it was only 500 meters after all) and I would stay with Little A. They all went ahead and made it to the top about ten minutes later. Kevin quickly snapped a picture, then came quickly back down to me and Little A.
Kevin told me he would take Little A and Monster down and get them an ice cream, and for me to go on up. My parents, Big Sis and M&M were at the top waiting for me.
So Kevin and the two littles went down and found an ice cream shop to cool off at while I made my way up to the top.
As I was making my way up to the bridge, it started to rain! It was so refreshing to have the rain coming down! The temperature dropped about ten degrees and the Koreans scattered. I made it to the top and found my parents and Big Sis and M&M waiting for me! While they were waiting for me, they went all the way to the other side of the bridge. The kids loved the bridge!
It was really beginning to rain, but there wasn't any lightning, so we made our way across the bridge! It was super nice to have the bridge pretty much to ourselves! Usually there are tons of people and it's pretty impossible to get a good picture.
We came back from crossing the bridge and started the 500 meter trek down the stairs. It was still raining, so we had to be careful not to slip! There wasn't anyone on the trial now! We had the entire trail to ourselves.
Poor dad wasn't used to all the stairs and he had me concerned because he was saying his quads were giving out on him! I felt so bad because I didn't realize the trek to the bridge would require so much physical exertion.
We all made it to the bottom of the mountain and joined Kevin at the ice cream shop. We all treated ourselves to some ice cream for a job well done.
Since the bridge ended up being a little more intense then we had thought, we decided to go home and save the waterfall and temple hike for another day. It was absolutely beautiful and I am so glad we were able to take turns and both Kevin and I made it to the top!
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