Seoul Day-3

창의문 (Changuimun), Northwest Gate, One of the Eight Gates of Seoul at the end of our hiking 

We started our day by  going to a Korean restaurant which served variety types of “jjigae,” Korean stew, in Sinchon area. After we had our stomachs filled with the delicious food we ordered, we took subway and bus and headed to Bugaksan which is located at the north of Seoul.

Bugaksan is the highest mountain of four mountains that surrounded Gyeongbok Palace and it was said to represent celestial animals black tortoise and snake. When we started the hiking, I thought it wasn’t so bad as it wasn’t as steep as I thought it would be although it was kind of slippery since it was sandy. However, I changed my mind when we started climbing flights of stairs that lead to a higher point. Although that was not yet the highest point of the mountain, we could  already see a beautiful view of Seoul. From that platform onwards, we hiked along Seoul Fortress Wall which was constructed during Joseon era.

As we were busy taking pictures, some of us got separated at a junction. Pretty confident that we might actually were heading at the right place, we continued walking into the woods and we came across a big tank. It was pretty cool but visitors are not allowed to take any picture of it. We finally realised that we went to the wrong direction when we came across to another junction and the other party was nowhere to be found. One of us called Prof Ahn and upon realizing we went to the wrong way, I dreaded the thought of going up through the really steep stairs that we just passed by. The first part of the hike was really tiring for me as we were mostly going up stairs instead of going down.

At one point, we have to fill up form and show our passport to the staff in the checkpoint. From that point onwards, all of visitors will have to walk under close surveillance of CCTV and the authorities due to an event in which an assassination attempt was carried out. In that event, North Korean were trying to assassinate South Korea’s president, Park Chung Hee, at the Blue House. Visitors are also not allowed to pictures at certain locations towards certain directions. It was really interesting to see that the guards look really alike to each other thanks to their matching uniform and hairstyle. Besides, even their glasses looks similar. Personally, I would like it better if they could at least smile more to the visitors. I don’t think it would hurt to do that, but I guess they have to put straight face on to intimidate the visitors. However, I also feel bad for them as some of them have to put full uniform and endure the heat. Not to mention, none of them were sitting down and just stood up the whole time.

When we finally reached the end point, it gave a strong sense of accomplishment and I was really proud of myself. I hope I would have another opportunity to hike it again, although I might take another route next time.

The highest checkpoint throughout our hike

Halfway through going down the mountain