Like February Christmas Lights

Jamie and I went on a two-day hike this holiday weekend - it was memorial day on Friday. We hiked for roughly 6 hours on Friday and 8 hours on Saturday.

Dusk was near and we were tired from a fun, but long eight hour hike along the side of the road. Doing such after dusk is dangerous, so I thought we might have to start hitch-hiking, but Just as I was ready to stick out my thumb, a friendly couple who were returning to Daegu (South Korea's third most populated city) after staying at a nearby resort, stopped their mini-car and asked us if we wanted a lift. Jamie told them we were going to the next town to stay the night and would be leaving for Daegu the next morning. They offered to drive us all the way to Daegu. Jamie said yes.

They told us that other hikers had given them a ride when they were tired and lugging big backpacks just before dusk and that they wanted to return the good will. We saved spending an night in a hotel, bus ticket money, and food costs because of their kindness, so decided to give them a light pen as a gift of appreciation. When I gave it, he said something to this effect, "Are you sure you want to give something of yours that you worked hard to buy?" (Jamie's translation) Jamie told him I bought weird stuff all the time and gave it to people I liked. I think I embarassed her a bit, because I don't buy light pens to just give them away. I buy them because they're cool and then I give them away.

I saw these baby buddha lanterns on the second day of the hike. They reminded me of February Christmas lights.