Baekundae Peak

As soon as I decided that I was going to take this trip, I knew that I would have to do some hiking. Seventy percent of South Korea’s landmass is mountainous, and the national parks are said to be amazing. At first, I thought I would take a train or bus further inland to hike in the higher ranges, but after spending two days in the city, I knew that the language barrier would make it quite difficult to take a trip like that alone. Instead, I decided to take city bus #704 about 20 kilometers outside of the city to Bukhansan National Park.

I intentionally made the trek on Friday because many Koreans are avid hikers, and on the weekends (Sunday in particular) the popular trails are swarmed to the point that hikers are climbing single file for several kilometers. Naively, I expected to be the only one on bus #704 heading to the mountains to spend a day in nature. By the time we reached the Bukhansan stop around 10:30am, there were ten middle aged men and women in full hiking gear that joined me as well as a few teenagers in shorts and tank tops.

To get to the National Park, you walk up an awkward area under construction and through a retail neighborhood filled with shops dedicated to hiking gear. It reminded me of the ski villages in Veil, Colorado, just not as cold. Food vendors also lined the streets selling ramen, fruit, Pacari Sweat (similar to Gatorade), frozen water bottles and energy bars. I stocked my bag with water and energy bars, but was worried that I didn’t have enough food. So I stopped and bought more energy bars and some peanuts.

Welcome to Bukhansan National Park

At the entrance to the park, a ranger stopped most people as the walked through. I thought they were paying the entrance fee, but it turns out that there wasn’t one. As I walked through I asked for a map, and at first the ranger gave me a booklet about all of the National Parks because it was in English. I pushed for a map, even if it was in Korean, and was handed a small one showing the various hiking trails of the park. She pointed to the route to Baekundae Peak and said it should take two hours. I said thanks, and was on my way.

A family picnic on the stream

The first part of the trail was really confusing. It was a weird area filled with restaurants with outdoor tables and bamboo platforms by a creek, and occasionally there was a brown sign pointing to a hiking trail. It was unclear if you were supposed to walk through the dining area or stay on the road. Eventually I made it into the forest and onto a clearly marked hiking trail….only it wasn’t the one that I was supposed to be on. According to my map, I would be going the long way, but could still make it to the peak.

The trail

The City Wall

The rest of the hike was uneventful. Fellow hikers chatted with me in broken English, and I tried my best to pronounce “Anyong ha say yo” (Hello) correctly. A few ladies pointed to my tennis shoes, and said something in Korean. I assume they were asking why I didn’t have on hiking boots, but I kind of laughed, shrugged my shoulders and kept walking. The sky was overcast and I could hear thunder in the distance, but only felt a couple drops of rain.

A friend

The peak from the forest

The mountains here are mostly covered with dense forest except at the highest points. As you approach the peak, the forest breaks and enourmous rocks jut out providing stunning 360Ëš views. Cable rails have been installed to help hikers climb the steep and slippery rocks, and without them I certainly wouldn’t have made it to the top.

Korean soldiers enjoy the view

Baekundae Panoramic (click for larger version)

I lingered for about an hour at the peak soaking in the view wishing that the fog would go away. It refused to leave, so I began the final leg of my journey hiking down the way that I was supposed to hike up. Half way down I found a large rock overlooking a sweet little stream and decided to stop and rest for a little bit. Shortly after I stopped, an American father and son that I had seen at the top joined me and the three of us watched the sun break through the clouds, and slowly, all of the clouds completely disappeared. They sky was crystal blue and we knew the view from the top would be stunning. We all kept repeating how nice it would be to be at the top now, but it was getting late and we agreed that none of us were interested in hiking at night.

The sun breaking through

The father, son and I hiked the rest of the way down together chatting about baseball, Seoul, the Korean language, living in Asia and hiking. I enjoyed my day so much that I asked them to recommend another hike that I could do tomorrow. I wrote down their ideas, and when I got back to the hostel, I researched a little bit to see which one I wanted to do. Unfortunately, when I woke up on Saturday, my legs could barely move. I guess my muscles aren’t used to hiking up mountains for six hours a day!!!

The view of Dongdaemun from the Food Garden restroom

My second day in Seoul taught me that when left to my own devices, I shop. I don’t spend much money, but I can browse for hours on end. I like seeing what’s out there and knowing how much it costs. It is a skill that my mother taught me at a very early age and believe me, I have practiced. My theory is that when I do decide to make a purchase, I like to know if I’m getting a good deal. I have also learned over the last year that if I don’t know what’s out there, I make bad impulse purchases. Especially in foreign countries. For instance, I went shopping alone twice in Thailand and walked away both times with clothes that I have yet to wear because once I got home, I hated them. I did a similar thing in India, and in Jingdezhen. I am trying to learn the lesson that I am not good at impulse purchases. I cannot walk into a store in a country I have never been to and buy anything within an hour. I just can’t and shouldn’t do it. I need to take my time, so on Thursday in Seoul, I took my time.

I left room 306 around 10am and was headed to the Dongdaemun market area. From what I had read and heard, there were blocks and blocks filled with shopping malls filled with anything you could dream of, and that for clothes, the Doota building was the best (Thanks Anna!). Along the way I found a great second hand shop. The place was a vintage gold mine filled with  cameras, typewriters and lanterns that are getting harder and harder to find in the States. I was extremely tempted by the typewriters….but what was I going to do with a typewriter from the 1950’s in Asia? If that shop had been in Portland or Nashville, I would have a new treasure sitting in my apartment. Oh, and my previous statement about refraining from impulse purchases in foreign countries does not apply to vintage or second hand items. I am quite confident in my taste for old things, and I know what I will love forever. But the fact that I have to carry everything I buy across an ocean at some point limits my consumption.

When I made it to the Doota shopping mall, my feet already hurt so I took a break at the coffee shop on the second floor and people watched for a bit. This mall is similar to most mid-higher end malls/department stores in Asia.  The interior is clean and bright with the merchandise separated by designer in an open market stall set-up. The ground floor is all of the high-end fashion designers so I browsed through quickly and tried not to look at the price tags. The second floor is “young-career” and I spent most of my time here. Many of the clothing lines were filled with soft cottons and linens in calm colors, and I was very tempted. The first basement was dedicated to up and coming designers, and most of the clothes were geared towards teenagers and college students. Some of it was interesting, but nothing special.

By this point my feet were hurting again, and I was hungry. Rather than attempt to find something to eat at street level, I went to the 7th floor of the Doota building to eat at their food garden, and I am so glad I did. The dining area has a panoramic view of Dongdaemun, the food was fresh and tasty, and there were plenty of fashionable girls and guys to watch and see what the kids are wearing these days.

The Doota Food Garden

With my stomach full and feet rested, I headed across the Cheongyecheon Stream to Dongdaemun Shopping Town, otherwise known as the Craft Mecca of Korea. The building is six floors packed wall to wall with every imaginable sewing/knitting/embroidery/fashion design supply you can imagine. I was overwhelmed by the hordes of fashion forward ladies and gents walking around with their personal design books overflowing with sketches and fabric swatches searching for the perfect zipper or button. If Bravo ever wanted to do a Project Runway in Seoul, this would be the place the designers would come to purchase their materials.

On the upper floors, it was a little less hectic and I did make a couple  purchases. At one stall, I stocked up on basic notions like tailors chalk, hand sewing needles, leather thimbles and a measuring tape. At another I stocked up on a range of super soft felt in amazing browns, yellows and blues at 1,000won ($1) per sheet. Now I have the motivation AND materials to teach myself how to embroider!

After four hours of shopping, I stopped by the hostel to drop off my purchases and check email. Then I was out again and headed to the college area close to the Sinchon Station. Within a ten or twenty block radius there are at least five large colleges including Ewha Womans University, Yonsei University, Seogang University, Hongik University and Kyunggi University. Every street was packed with college coeds walking around with friends shopping, eating, drinking coffee, reading magazines, hitting baseballs at the batting cage, playing video games and chatting. It was a fun atmosphere that reminded me of my days at UTK and made me think of my cousin that starts her first year of college this fall. She’s going to have such a blast, and Chattanooga will never be the same!!

College Street

Of course, where there are college students, there is shopping. I dropped in a few more stores, almost bought a camera bag and tried to buy some cool shoes that would be quite comfortable….but my feet are too big. No size 9 in Seoul!

Itaewon

After arriving at the Incheon Airport in Seoul, I took the limousine bus to the Dongmyo Station. The bus is nothing like a limousine, but was clean, comfortable and even had seat belts that you were asked to wear while traveling down the highway. I found this comforting based on my experience riding in buses down the highways in Shanghai in which my head was likely to hit the ceiling at least once a mile due to random potholes or abrupt stops. As we drove up the on-ramp and merged into the highway traffic, I quickly learned that Korean roads are almost nothing like Chinese roads. In Korea, cars obey general traffic laws. They stay in their own lanes, pass on the left, and don’t bunch into a chaotic uncontrolled mess. There was no honking, and the drivers seemed to be calm and at ease. There were even specialized road assistance vehicles that were stopped at any car that appeared to be in trouble making sure that everything was okay. This is when I knew that I was going to like this place.

But my opinion quickly started to fall as we exited the highway and drove into the city streets. In short, everything was unremarkable. Boxy concrete buildings, people and a few hills in the distance. I started to wonder how in the world I was going to spend five days in this town alone without being bored out of my mind. In my head, I was comparing Seoul to Cincinnatti or Pittsburg. Cities that are great if you have friends to visit or are with a group of friends, but nothing special for a lone traveler. I was also a little unsure of where I was supposed to exit the bus to find my hostel. There wasn’t an English map of the bus route visible, and I didn’t have the Korean characters. I had to rely on the verbal announcements that were also in Korean hoping that I would understand “Dongdeamun” and “Sinseol-dong”. After panicking for about eight stops, I finally heard something familiar, gathered my bags and departed.

I crossed the street, turned left, then right, then another right. No Hostel Korea. None of the storefronts had any English and my map didn’t have any Korean. I backtracked and tried again. No Hostel Korea. Finally, on my third attempt, I found what I was looking for.

Hostel Korea

This little adventure taught me a key lesson to navigating in Seoul: All directions are based on subway stops, and beyond that, you’re on your own. For the rest of the trip, I was constantly backtracking, but I didn’t mind. I saw things I never would have seen otherwise!

My room was nothing special. The bed was as hard as a rock and the bathroom didn’t have a sink, but otherwise it was perfect. Everything was very clean, the staff was helpful and the other guests were quiet and respectful. The room itself felt a little like my college dorm minus the roommates.

Room 306

I dropped my bags off and headed out on my first adventure to a place called Indigo in Itaewon. As I have mentioned before, I try to have my first thing planned every time I travel, and this time it was a sitting in on a Stitch n’ Bitch knitting group with a couple expats that have lived in Seoul for a year or two. Indigo turned out to be a little western restaurant where I had a pretty good burrito while chatting with the ladies and listening to what was happening with their lives right now. It was nice to hear what life was like in the city for them and to hear a little girl-talk even though I didn’t have any clue who these people were or who they were talking about!

After lunch I wandered around the neighborhood for a while and started to get excited about the city again. Itaewon is located at the base of Namsan park which is a pretty big hill/mountain in the middle of the city. I found myself going up higher and higher trying to get the best view and loving the way that the houses were built up along the steep slope. I had flashbacks of Seattle, San Francisco and Hong Kong as I daydreamed about living in one of these little houses with a roof garden.

Terrace detail

Steeples among houses

Pipes

Barbie lives here

Am I in Hong Kong??

What is it about power lines?

Seriously, what is it?

And street lamps? I have a thing for street lamps.

On my way back to the subway station at the bottom of the hill, I stumbled across a used bookstore. A used bookstore full of ENGLISH books!!! I was so excited that I didn’t buy a single one. I’m kicking myself, but the selection was too vast and the store was too claustrophobic.

Books books books

It was getting dark and I wasn’t quite ready for late night wandering in the town I didn’t know very well, so I boarded the subway. By the way, I really like the signage for the Seoul Subway system. Kind of retro, kind of modern.

Subway Graphics

Once safely in room 306, I found a comfy spot on my rock hard bed to veg out, relieve my aching feet, watch bad TV and eat crackers. Day one was a good one, and by the end of it I was excited about day two.