Our trip has had to be adjusted; we have two days left and are as far as feasibly possible (on the mainland of Korea) from Seoul. If we did everything we planned, it looks like we will need maybe another two weeks, oh well maybe next time …So we had to make a few decisions, and we decided to start heading for home and try and do it in two days, which meant no more relaxed driving along coastal roads, but hitting the freeways and getting some kilometres under the tyres.
But before we did this, we walked around the Haeundae beach area and to the Yacht Mariner. There were some excellent views of Busan and the coast line, but we did not have too much time to relax and take it all in.
We then headed straight for Jirisan National Park, driving for nearly three hours in temperatures which hit 36c at times (according to my car temp gauge). The car was getting hot and Brandon was getting uncomfortable, so we were looking for a place to stay. We wanted to stay at a pension so that we could make ourselves a braai. This time we struggled to find a place, we saw signs saying XYZ Pension 3km, we would drive the 3km and then couldn’t find anything (same issue as the signage in Gyoengju). We carried on a bit and then turned around as we had seen a different pension sign earlier (back around 4km), we droved there, found the sign saying ZYX Pension 500m, we drove there and … nothing, we couldn’t find it. Eventually we turned down a small road and found a few pensions, one under construction, so not available, another which looked really nice, but it looked like it was a whole house. No one was around so I tried calling a number but we had some difficulty but finally understood that it was not available (at least to us), it was now really hot and we wanted to stop, Brandon was crying (he has a bit of a cough) and Carla had also caught a cold. We saw a house that looked nice, had a fantastic view, and had some signs around, but I could not read them as they were written in Korean italics and for me it made it a bit difficult. Anyway, I went and asked if they had a place to stay, a lady said yes and gave us a choice between two rooms, one down-stairs and another upstairs. We chose the upstairs (which maybe was the wrong decisions as the windows were tiny and it was quite hot up there). 
I do not think they usually have people staying there, and we were an exception, it turns out we had a “Homestay” that was unplanned, there was a family living there, a father, son and Grandmother. We spent the evening with them and had samgyupsal outside. A few hikers from the surrounding mountains joined us. 
The house also seems to function as a small tea / coffee stop, so later in the evening the owner pulled out a low table and I, together with some of his neighbours sat around and had a small tea ceremony. The tea was excellent and we had it in small cups. There was a specific process to filtering and brewing the tea. It was a really nice experience. I sat outside for a while, enjoying the sounds of nature and looking at the stars.
The owner was telling me that this (Jirisan) is the “Mother” mountain of Korea, as it is big, but the hills are rolling and it is peaceful with many animals and rivers. Seorak Mountain is known as the “Father” Mountain, it is large and imposing, with big cliffs and rocky peaks. Very different types of mountains.
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