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Published: September 28th 2007
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Seoul from above
The massive city surrounded by green The hot, sticky summer has now come to an end, and wth it the hoards that flood English Village every day 9-6ish. The work during the week still goes on, with a contrant stampede of school groups. But at least the classes are all the same age and English level.
So when we got our three days off, we had really good intentions to get away and visit the mountains. Our first day was a Sunday. We were so tired from the last two weeks that the day turned out to be church in the morning, lunch at the church, afternoon nap, then back to church in the evening. By this time we were a little less exhausted, and took along our backpacks with us.
After church we caught a bus into Seoul, and then a taxi to the nearest Jjimjilbang. Our cabbie dropped us at Silloam, already a favourite for our destreesing. After an hour of marinating in different temperature jacuzzis, we met on the communal level where we had our bodies pounded and squeezed by two massage chairs. We laid out our towels in a dark corner and quickly dropped off into blissful sleep.
...
Out Towards Seoul
Looking through the green canopy of Bukhansan Without any kind of alarm clocks and no real desire to wake up early, we finally got moving at around 10h30. The day turned out to be beautiful so we headed to the bus stop. We were in search of a bus towards Bukhansan, the ranmountain range that towers defiantly above the sky scrapers and smog, and has for centuries prevented the sprawl of Seoul from expanding northwards.
Despite having our trusty Lonely Planet, we spent over an our to find which of Seoul's over 1000 busses would take us in the right direction. When we eventually did find the right bus, we found that it travelled at least 2/3 of the way back to Ilsan before turning off towards the naitonal park.
At the entry to the park we argued with the monolingual park officials about why the campsites and mountain shelters were all closed, despite the lovely weather. Eventually we gave in, and decided on a day hike up to the highest peak, and down the other side.
Most of the hike was up a shady valley, a real blessing on a cloudless day, especially since almos the entre hike was climbing up rocky stairs.
Entering the fortress
Passing through a gate in the old fortress wall, 800m up in the mountains. About 150m from the top we broke out through the canopy to a massive granite dome that topped the peak. The rest of the hike was along cracks in the rock, aided by chains and footholds cut into the rock.
Finnaly at the top we were rewarded with a breathtaking 360 degree panorama of all of Soul, cut in two by the still, wide Han river, and the bright green ricelands that surround it. It was pretty surreal to be looking down on the concrete forest of 60-storey apartment blocks far below.
On the way down from the peak we came across a wooden cabin, about an hour from the top. A few rock climbers were just leaving, and the guy who supervises the cabin said that for $5 we were welcome to stay the night. Yeehaaa! No going back into the city! We can sleep in the mountains!
We made our traditional thick noodles on our little stove, and sat on the patio outside the cabin, enjoying being far above the noise of the city. As it started to get dark we headed inside to crawl into our sleeping bags and lie in front of our
Cables and ladders
The last stretch to the top Lonely Planet and discuss our next adventure.
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