Climbing in Busan!

I stayed a week in Busan – I found climbers! I wasn’t carrying all this stuff for no reason around Korea! I sent everything that wasn’t a necessity to Kunming, China before I went to Korea. No jumper left, no sleeping back, less socks, less pants (remember the pants part…) undies and painkillers. BUT shoes, harness, helmet and quickdraws for climbing and my backpack to get to the climbing spot with my gear. About half of mz stuff in my two panniers was climbing related and apart from the shoes I haven’t used anything yet as I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to go climbing when it’s 37°C out.

But – now! In Busan! A group of guys is going to two different spots on the weekend – I am excited. We meet at a bouldering gym a few days before and it becomes obvious that I will bring a book to the climbing site since I will only be able to do the easy ones. But who cares? I don’t. Well, not too much. I wanna go anyway and they are still happy to take me.

The weather changed since the taifun – it’s actually raining in the morning but will stop at 11:30, long before we finish the almost two-hours-drive and the following 40-minute-hike. So, Remi, Matthias and I are in good faith when we meet. I wear the less-good-pair-of-pants of my two pairs. The other one doesn’t have holes and I don’t want to spoil it climbing.

It’s 11:30 and the rain continues. And continues. We park the car, debate, grab some snacks and start hiking. Even if it stopped now – the rock will be wet so we leave the gear behind. The hike actually involves some bouldering, rope support and I – as the least hiking experienced in our group – need a hand a couple of times.

It’s a beautiful spot, right at the sea, but not a place where I want to fall from a low height. The floor consists of boulders of different shape and size which would make any grounder uncomfortable. The rock looks good, but for me, for sure hard. Remi and Matthias are more devastated by not being able to climb.

Back in the city we stop by at Remi’s place and he hands me one of his shorts before we go to dinner. Remember the hints about my pants? Well… they had a couple of holes on the outer legs before. By now, after going along the rocks, they have completely fallen apart and I was in no shape to go even for a street-food-dinner.

The day ended with Matthias fulfilling his dream of eating eel – once the waiter fried them on our table Matthias didn’t look to sure anymore and I was happy I opted for sweet pancakes from a stall outside anyways and a change in plans for the next day. Giving up on the weather, we would meet at the climbing gym.

Author: Neela

Love to discover the world, love to cycle and love to do my own thing - so here I am, writing how I do all this three things at once when cycling around the world, or so far, mostly Asia.

1 thought on “Climbing in Busan!”

  1. Ach Mensch, wie schade! Und ich hätte auch ein Buch mitgenommen. Immer mit Buch.

    “About half of mz stuff” aha, englische vs. deutsche Tastatur. 😀

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