Its vineyard country we have entered, following one of the journeys of St Ignatius.
Vineyards all around usThe Jesuit priest leading us eating the fruit of the land
We walked 15km on Saturday and about 14km today. The only difference to me was that the former was quieter and hardly anyone crossed paths with us, while today, many who were walking the Camino Santiago walked past us, including locals exercising on Sunday, a few every seven minutes.
The weather was windy, cool and sunny yesterday, but cloudier and less windy today. In both cases a short sleeve T shirt and long pants sufficed. The jackets we wore earlier in the morning had to be removed by 10am because the day grew warmer.
We walked through the town on SundayWe got our Camino Passport stamped.Our hotel was formerly the medieval palace of a duke whom Ignatius visited
I felt that two blessings were being granted as I relished the long walks in cool weather and lovely scenery. It took my mind and heart off church responsibilities and burdens. This disengagement is such a blessing. Secondly, I also needed to simply rest, eat, exercise and be fully present with the physical world, its sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch. This grounds me in the now, instead of dwelling on the past or the future.
I have been hiking regularly again. It has been a few years since I have been this regular hiking the Bukit Timah Hill.
After the Hill was closed for works for about two years the trekking group continued with hikes all over Singapore. I wasn’t keen on those kind of flat ground and hot sun hikes. I had my eyes turned: cycling. So I cycled in those years when the Bukit Timah was closed for renovations and restoration works.
I was pleased when the Hill was reopened and for a while I hiked there but ministry demands on Saturdays meant my outings there were erratic and occasional.
Hiking on Mondays with my wife and her brother Kenneth Poh
This has however changed recently when my wife and I started doing the hikes on Mondays, the day off for pastors. So I use the Monday mornings and relish these hours of breathing fresh air, under a green canopy, in quiet and with less hikers around. Furthermore, I don’t have to worry about parking as there is free parking in the vicinity of the Hillview MRT.
I usually walk from there to the Dairy Farm trail, along the Jungle Fall path, up the Summit steps, down to Rengas path and circle back to the Hillview MRT, a good two hours of perspiration and sometimes inspiration and thanksgiving.
On my sabbath, it is always good to do something I relish, something that nourishes me.
The Mt Hallasan hike gave me a muscle strain on my right leg so it was good that on the day after, we did not hike, but went instead on a sightseeing tour around Jeju island. We saw a UNESCO World Heritage site called Manjanggul Cave, a tunnel cave formed from volcanic lava flow. It was an hour into the tunnel and out, and I was frankly disappointed because I have been to the Mulu Caves in Sarawak, and this was boring by comparison.
Group photo with Seongsan lchulbong in the background
Haenyeo and my honey yoTan and NelliePosing in front of the folk village thatched houses. The humorous elderly guide and his youthful looking ( must be the horse oil) wife.
Later we went to another UNESCO World Heritage site, the Seongsan Ilchulbong (sunshine peak) a volcanic tuff cone. It was a beautiful spot and we found the cone a gradual and easy ascent. At the foot of the cone, by the sea, they cleverly put on a regular show of the haenyeo (literally, sea women) who were strong female divers who made a living diving deep in cold waters for abalone and sea urchins. They demonstrated their prowess to tourists and sold their fresh catch nearby. Later in the afternoon we visited Naganeupseong folk village where an elderly man gave us humorous insights into their culture and rural life. Then he brought us into the room to sell us horse oil cosmetics!! This was a relaxed and pleasant enough day, though I had to use a hiking stick and occasionally rub Fastum on my aching right leg.
When we registered at the Jeju Olle Walking Festival (3 & 4 November 2017) we received a gift packet of mineral water, a metal cup, Innisfree sunblock, a scarf, some biscuits and cheese snacks and a guidebook. The starting point was noisy with excitement in the air. All kinds of announcements were being made on the stage and there was live music. The weather was cool and it was a beautiful morning by the coast. It was to be a 14.5 km coastal walk on the first day and another 18.5km coastal walk on the next day. The distance covered was more than what we did in our endurance training in MacRitchie reservoir in Singapore, but after Mt Hallasan this was comparably bearable, perhaps even pleasant by contrast. We were to discover that Jeju had a very rocky and stony coast. I did not see any sandy beach front until we reached the end point.
We had different starting points on both days but both ended in the same end point destination. The views were quite similar along the windswept coast but on the second day we walked inland through mandarin groves – a happy variation in scenery. Along the way they organized performances: saxophone, violin, even a grand piano performance, and at the end a rock or jazz band. There were many professional videographers along the journey but mainly at the endpoint. This event was telecast on Korean national TV. On the second day, they interviewed the Japanese Kyushu team who were here to learn as they were planning a Kyushu Olle Walking Festival in a year or two.
Lunch was ordered online and they were cooked by the locals – a way to help the elderly earn some pocket money and stay active. They had rice with hot soup with side dishes on trays, on both days. On the first day, lunch was served at a park along the coast. On the second day, it was at a primary school inland. We sat down in the fields and ate our lunch. We started each day at about 7.45 am and returned back to Forest Hostel in time for dinner. On the whole, it was a memorable fun walking festival that most people with minimal physical training can enjoy.
