And phew!!!

You know what's worse than hiking 10 Km's up a mountain on a trail mostly listed as difficult, strewn with uneven rocks and boulders and then climbing that entire distance back down or rather going back..wait what was it that I was saying?
Right what's worse than the above mentioned?
Finding that most restaurants are shutting shop by the time you're done dusting and taking a shower.

I mean come on. Climbing upslope is freaking painful. And imagine doing that for around 10 km's.
Even climbing a few hundred stairs can be a burden and now you've gotta climb an uneven terrain that's got a trail alright, but it's mostly made of rocks and boulders and lava stones and a few man made wooden stairs here and there, but apart from that it's pretty much a hiking trail.

So you want to prove your fitness level to yourself and click pictures of a freaking giganormous crater that is quite an overwhelming view from the top, and so you set about with your hiking gear, hydrated and ready to take on a mountain, and to make matters worse, give yourself a deadline to climb that distance, which is not a walk mind you, but a steep fucking climb.
Oh and the mountain top has to be evacuated by 2:30pm because anytime later than that and you'd get so late to reach the bottom of the mountain that it'd get dark and going down a terrain which is littered with streams, brooks, uneven surface and wild animals will be thusly impossible.

So up you climb, starting at around 10:00 am because you were too drunk last night and couldn't wake up earlier..also gorged on gorgeous Korean food of assorted exotics for breakfast and thus began the said trudge a lot later than one should, and well, told yourself about how you can do it, only to realize halfway that you gotta speed up or you'd never make it to the mountain.
So up you go, or rather I went, with a lightening speed fueled by hours of cardio and controlled breathing only to reach the mountain top around 2:15 which means a good 4 hours were spent climbing a freaking slope, which was mostly made up of rocks and stones and uneven ridges and cliffs and thank god for hiking boots which have taken such a beating that I might want to buy a couple new ones along with a new set of lungs.
Phew, 15 minutes of picture taking, smiling, all the while my legs and thighs cursed me freely and then another hike back down.

Going down, I confess, as easy as it looks is often times harder than climbing up, especially on a freaking terrain that is nothing but rocks, and whaddya know as I climbed down with a smug satisfaction leaving 'people' behind I realized with a start that indeed I have left someone behind and thus waited only to see that someone is in a bad way.
So what do you do? Well, I borrowed all the weights that were on those shoulders because that was indeed heavy and cuz I'm really nice (apparently) what with water and food which was absolutely essential for there was no nourishment or water on the trails to preserve the cleanliness.
Right, so weighed with two sets of baggages I commenced climbing down and made it in record time too, may I add.
Though breaks taken were a lot more because, well, other didn't share my upbeat enthusiasm to get the hell out of those mountains and thus walked slowly, also knees had taken such a beating that, well, it had turned into a painful situation, even so the entire fruitless trek took about 8 hours, start to finish.
20 kms in 8 hours on a mountain isn't all that bad and though I've seen worse there's no shame in admitting that my lower body has launched a crusade of sorts against my entire being.

The only walk I could bear for a while was a gracious limp and as I soothed my legs asking them to obey me one last time once I'd given them warm comforts of a hot shower and small rest, I knew my calves were ready to lock on me, but somehow I was able to whisper warm terms of cooling balms and calming stretches and they went silent for a while..except I realized that this entire procedure of cleansing and resting had taken longer than expected and most restaurants began shutting shops. Gasp!
Well, I did manage to eat someplace, only it was a typically Korean nighttime haunt, with a guitarist and a dozen tables in the open and lots of drinks, a small kitchen catering to everything, self service and finger food.
Well, finger food it is then!