For Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Seoul
I ran into Charles (from Singapore) in the morning at the hostel and he invited me to join him hiking the Bukhansan mountain that borders Seoul. Not having a plan of my own yet, and since it sounded like something I wouldn’t otherwise consider, I agreed, and we set out. Charles had researched the directions, so I was just tagging along mostly. We took the subway to the right station, exited at the right exit, but the bus we needed to take to Bukhansan wasn’t listed at the nearby bus stop. A very helpful Korean gentleman stopped and tried to help us, but we were confused and unsure. It turned out later that he had given us good information, but at the time we didn’t see it. Charles had noted a second bus we could take, so we backtracked to the subway station and took the subway to another place and found the right bus. We took the bus to the end of the route, which was where the bus terminal was and where Bukhansan began. The trail began gently enough, some dirt, but mostly covered in jagged stones that one had to negotiate a little carefully. This was just the preamble, however. In ten minutes or so the trail turned into a stone staircase that wound its way up the mountainside. I’m out of shape, so take this with a grain of salt, but it was grueling. Charles had an easier time of it, but I had to take several breaks. There were several natural springs along the way that hikers could drink from, although I kept to my own water bottle. We saw several older hikers who seemed very spry, and many hikers used those ski pole hiking sticks. Finally, we reached the gate at the top of the trail, and we got a nice view of Seoul. Wow, is it big! It lay as far as the eye could see, and far to the left and right. It was worth the view. We snapped some pictures and then headed down. Going down the steep rocky stairs was treacherous and fast-going. I slipped a couple times, but neither of us had an accident. We took a bus at the bus terminal back toward downtown Seoul. We tried to get off at the right stop, but for some reason the doors didn’t open, and the next stop was many blocks away. When we exited the bus, we had no idea where we were, and had no choice but to walk in the direction the bus had come from. Seoul has an extensive subway system. It has nine lines, numbered and colored, with many junctions and frequent rides. You can get pretty much anywhere in the city using the subway, or at least most of the tourist destinations. It’s fantastic. You can pretty much walk ten minutes in any direction and eventually come across a subway station. Except where we were, for some reason. We walked about twenty minutes before coming to the subway station from where we had taken the bus to Bukhansan. My feet and legs were killing me. Killing me. I was so relieved to sit on the subway. We ate at a Japanese restaurant called Obento near our hostel on our way back. This trip is going to give me thighs of steel.