Bukhansan National Park

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Day 7 (4/13):
Today, we wanted a change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the city to do something less touristy, so Catherine and I decided to go hiking at Buraksan National Park to the north of Seoul. Ideally, hiking a mountain should be done in the morning, allowing you time to climb up to the peak and enjoy the view before descending. Did we do just that? Nope. We didn't leave the guesthouse until around 2PM. Needless to say, we didn't make it up to the top. More on that later.

Generally, the day had pretty good weather to go hiking: overcast sky with little sun and a nice breeze. Catherine and I hate tanning, so this was GREAT weather in our books.

When we got off our exit at Gupabal station, a nice couple told us that we needed to take a bus to the entrance of the park. Never having taken the bus before, Catherine and I didn't want to look like stupid tourists and decided that we'd walk instead. After walking for about 15 minutes, Catherine stopped by a convenience store to get some water and ask for directions. The lady behind the counter again told us to take the bus and even gave us the route numbers. We decided that they probably know what they're talking about, so we'll take the bus. Luckily, there was a bus stop about 50 feet down the road.

When Catherine and I entered the bus, for some reason or another, we decided to just sit down towards the back without paying. After observing our total neglect/ignorance, the bus driver started yelling something and everyone on the bus turned around and stared at us. Immediately, I pulled out my T-Money card with a confused look on my face, and the lady next to me started nodding her head, meaning for me to swipe it somewhere. After quickly looking around for a card reader, I went up and swiped mine and Catherine's card. Now we know how to ride the bus! Not so complicated after all.....

By chance, we got off at the correct stop. By this time, it was probably around 3 PM, giving us about 4-5 hours of light before sunset. Looking at the signs, the hike to the peak that we were going to, Baegundae, was going to be about 3.9 km. I guess there was miscommunication, because Catherine didn't think our plan was to hike to the peak. She was a good sport though, and decided to try even though she was exhausted. When we were about 1 km from the peak, Catherine couldn't go any further, so we decided for me to go on while she waited. The time was around 4:45. Quick calculation: about 3 hours of light left. So I started rushing up the path, only to realize that the climb was getting harder because the path was getting steeper and rockier. After about half an hour and not getting much further, I decided that it wasn't a good idea after all to continue on and make Catherine wait by herself. Plus, it was slowly getting darker and a bunch of people were descending the mountain.

So we didn't reach the top. Oh well. I'll try again at Seoraksan in a couple weeks.

Bus ride back to the subway station was uneventful... (we're quick learners.. yay!)

When we got back to the guesthouse, Mary, the owner, and her friend invited us out to eat BBQ chicken along with Philip, our roommate from Germany. Cool guy. He'd been our roommate for 4 days, and tonight was the first night we hung out. I need to start talking to people.

After dinner, Philip went to N Seoul tower and Catherine went shopping. I'm tired so I'm hanging out at the guesthouse typing up this update.

Enjoy the pictures. There's more, but I'm limited to the size of the files.

P.S. Don't go expecting updates daily now... =P

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Photos

Mirror
For cars going up and down the mountain.

Dinner
Catherine, Mary, her friend, Phillip