March 1, 2014
I had an awesome Saturday!
Last week I signed up to do a hike around Seoul with the Seoul Hiking Group on Facebook. It was the best decision! The night before a friend showed me how to
use the subway system and it is super easy!
You just take your transport card (to be bought and filled at any convenience store or at the station) and then you swipe in upon entering the terminal and then find your line. Now from where I live, there is only Line 1, which is one of the main lines, luckily. For today's trip, I just had to stay on this line for about and hour and twenty minutes until I reached Dondaemun Station. So in the morning, I walked to the station (I may have gotten on the
wrong road, but I got myself to the station anyway!) and got on the incorrect
platform. I didn’t think it was correct
so I asked a Korean man, “Seoul Yuk?” which means Seoul Station. He pointed me
to the right direction. I thanked him in
Korean and then hopped over to the correct place.
I met up with the group outside of the Dongdaemun station
and we set off from there walking. We
walked straight from the bustling city streets of Seoul to mountains all in a
few steps. We climbed and climbed and
climbed! The amount of stair-steps I
walked today astounds me. I wish I brought
a pedometer to measure all of the steps.
Anyway, we walked along the fortress wall that once surrounded a vast
area of Korea to protect it from outside soldiers.
It was built over 500 years ago, and some of the original stone still
remains. Along the way were traditional
Korean homes that people are still living in as well as pagodas in little
niches adjacent to the wall.
Along the walks on the street I saw a shop with a
traditional Korean garb displayed in the window. I have seen this before, however I am still
amazed at how vastly different it is from the Japanese kimono when Japan is so
close to Korea in location. I like the
Korean clothing, however, with the large dress at the bottom and the stylized
jacket on top. I haven’t learned the
names of each of these pieces yet, but I will!
As we climbed higher, the views became more and more
amazing. Unfortunately Saturday was not
the best day for this hike simple because of the high amount of smog that blew
over from China. That definitely made me
sad. On a clear day, you could see all
of Seoul and beyond from the tops of those mountains!
The hike itself was definitely a heart-pounder because of
the incredible amount of steps to undertake!
Ahjummas (older ladies) were passing us, so I knew that it could be
done. I felt like an out-of-shape
American with the Koreans not only passing me, but passing me well dressed! I
was huffing and puffing, along with all the other foreigners in my group.
We continued along the wall climbing and then we reached the
military area, where I had to fill out a paper about myself and they had to
check my passport. After this, I then
wore a tallow tag around my neck to identify me as a visitor. You may ask yourself, “Could I place my
yellow tag under my jacket?” and the answer is most definitely NO. Some foreigners did and the guard, and there
were A LOT along the way, stopped them and told them to keep it out. Some of the
men were actually military in their camouflage gear and holding a serious
rifle. It was kind of frightening. So, I stayed in line and kept my tag
out!
At one point in the climb, we stopped at a resting area and
I saw that we had climbed 293 meters above sea level so far. Then I turned and saw the next part of the
mountain to climb. It was steep and
high! I was very glad for a break to
rest and have some delicious chocolate tea biscuits another hiker gave to
me.
After climbing the really steep next part, we reached the
top and it was 342 meters up. A large
boulder was there and I climbed on to get my picture taken. I was at the very top of the mountain! It was really amazing…until a Korean man gruffly
told me to move in Korean! Well, I
enjoyed my minute at the top!
Then there was more climbing on top of more mountains and
very steep steps or rocks down. I bit
scary, but I survived! We walked around
to a place called the Zen Rock where people go to pray for many things, such as
for children. We had to be completely silent there and we watched as the men
and women lit incense and candles and knelt on mats in front of the rock to
pray. It was beautiful being so high up the mountain in a peaceful area where
you feel that you are becoming one with your surroundings. It was awe-inspiring.
We then climbed down this mountain and made our way to the
more bustling parts of Seoul where we stopped at an old prison and looked
around. It was VERY busy, mainly because
in Korea, March 1st is Independence
Movement Day in Korea. I saw the
prison cells where they had fake prisoners and guards randomly placed. They were creepy looking! There were more ceremonies outside for this
special day and on the buildings outside were two GIANT Korean flags. They were really huge!
Finally it was dinner time and Warren, our leader, took us
to a hole-in-the-wall Korean BBQ restaurant in a marketplace. They ordered some makgeolli, a rice based
alcoholic drink, which was really good, and then they grilled the pork on the
circular BBQ in the middle of the table.
I had the tofu soup which was spicy and delicious!
Overall it was a fantastic day and I will definitely be
signing up for more hikes with Warren in the future. I was so happy be outdoors getting exercise
and meeting new and interesting people along the way. I definitely made a lot of friends yesterday
and left feeling very happy (though my quads will probably hurt tomorrow from
all those steps!).
평화
Beautiful. Looked like I would have been dead!
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