Hiking with Korean Friends

Hello All. I have been really bad about posting. I am still waiting eagerly for my iPhone. I know that it'll be a lot easier to put posts together once I have it, because I expect I'll be taking a lot more photos. For example, I walked around a neat little area between the school and Hyehwa station today. There were lots of neat little shops and cafes, that would have made a nice little post, but I didn't take any photos. I'm not sure I'm getting my point across, but anyway, the point is that I hope to do better with my sharing in the future.

For this post though, I'm just going to share a few photos from a hiking trip I took with some of my Korean friends. I went for brunch at my friends' place for 10 am on a Saturday. I took the subway up a couple stops to Gireum station and then took a bus to where the apartment is. I had been there before, so it was easy to get back on my own. I went a little early, so I walked around near Gireum station and found Gireum market. It's likely the closest market of its kind to my place. I wandered around it for a bit, but most of the shops were closed at that hour (land of the morning calm and all). I then bought a little cake to give to my friends, and headed over to their place.

Brunch was good. I was served a lot more spaghetti than I would normally be able to eat, but I knew I'd need energy for mountain climbing, so I ate it all. It wasn't long before we headed out for the mountain. Only two of the four in the family were able to come. The eldest daughter and son were both busy, so it was just my friend and her daughter (I have to say I didn't mind the chance to spend more time with my young artist friend).

We took a bus to Sookmin University, where we started our climb. It was not all that difficult a climb again. It was definitely more work than the Chuseok climb I made with friends from orientation, but still easily manageable. I took some photos on the way up, and I'm going to show you them right now! It was quite a cloudy and rainy day, so the pictures could have turned out better. I feel they're quite good considering the conditions. You can see quite far in the scenic ones. I was surprised that I could even see to the 63 building at one point. So yah, enjoy the photos!

This is a view of the city from a nice rock-rest-stop type spot we
found not too long after starting our hike. I was frankly giddy
with the view. Views from heights are definitely one of my favorite
things, and this was one of the better I'd seen to this point. I love
how you can see the city and the many mountains weaving
together into the distance.

One of my friends took this photo of me standing on my photo-taking
rock. You can see the city in the distance, and trees and other hikers
closer to us. This was before any rain fell.

I like this photo of where we were heading next. We continued up
the mountain after a short rest. Try to find the temple in the photo!
That is where we ended our upward climb. It may not be easy to
see, as it's a tiny spot and we're still quite a distance from it at this
point.

This is a photo of the temple from the same spot as the above
photo, but zoomed it. This might make finding it in the photo above
easier.

This is the view from the temple I've been mentioning. The view
from this point stands as my #1 most favorite view of Seoul from
above, even given the rain. It was an amazing view, again
including both city and mountains.

And finally, a photo of the temple which turned out to be our point
of turning back. It was very quiet, and pretty small. I always enjoy
temples, so I was glad that we decided to go at least this far up.
One of the gates in the old city walls was further up, but we didn't
make it that far. My younger friend is less into hiking than either I
or her mother is. :)

It was a good hike, and we had delicious food when we got back. We ended up going to a duck restaurant near my friends' place. Both of my friends who missed the hike were able to join us for dinner, but my young artist friend had an appointment, so she left us before we went to eat. We had plain duck meat grilled with garlic, onion, mushrooms, and other veggies.  The food was really delicious. Duck meat is a lot more greasy than I would have expected, though the grill was designed to drain most of the fat. We wrapped the meat in lettuce and sesame leaves, with other foods, and it was great! I really enjoyed it. After supper, I headed back to the bus stop and headed on my way home. It was a great day, and I am looking forward to seeing my friends again. I will be seeing them on October 23rd, if not before.

I hope everyone is doing well at home, in Korea, and wherever else you happen to be in the world! I'll talk to you all soon!