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www.groovekorea.com / November 2014 72 DESTINATIONS Edited by Shelley DeWees (shelley@groovekorea.com) d i s c o v e r y o n e e x P a T ’ s J o u r n e y T o a n e W r e l a T i o n s h i P W i T h h i s m o T h e r Story and Photos by Simon Slater I ’d grown tired of it: tired of the jostle and hustle of countless faceless bodies colliding with mine from every direction. Weary of the endless streams of traffic fumes filling the empty spaces of my lungs that the Beijing breeze hadn’t already blown in. I’d dreamed of living in Seoul for years — and I do love this city — yet the constant warring for bus space, the car horns filling my waking hours, and the side-step- ping, dodging and weaving between streams of slow-stepping smartphone-entranced commuters had started to grind me down. I needed out. Not OUT, out — just enough of an escape to keep me going. City life turns me on, no doubt about it. But after a coun- tryside upbringing, this existence amongst the noise, haze and super-sized Lego bricks of apartments could only sustain my sanity for so long. The timing of my breakdown was auspicious: late autumn in Korea is amazing, the time of year when the last few warm weekends beckon us to enjoy the outdoors. The air is kind, and a few day trips or week- ends away are completely doable (that is, before most people start to hibernate). Alex Garland wrote that “escape through travel works,” and it does, because from the moment I left Seoul’s urban sprawl with my mom on her second visit to Korea, the sweeping views of rice paddies and small villages were instantly in- vigorating. Green replaced gray as I unplugged from Seoul’s matrix and saw Korea with fresh eyes.