Another day, another adventure..

On Friday night Kevin, Keith and I decided that we would head in to Seoul on Saturday to see the Seoul Fortress, and an old village, and whatever else we could find of interest. So Saturday morning I got up and saw Sherry and let her know the plan, and she agreed to join us. So at 9:30 we all met up at the bus stop and began our journey into Seoul for another day of exploring.

We took the bus to the subway to another bus until we were in a section of Seoul none of us had been to before. It was a sort of artsy University area with a lot of sculptures, greenery, art, and performance fliers on the walls, along with some actually interesting looking buildings, IE those not built within the last 2 years from the same crappy cookie-cutter model.

We wandered around for quite a while, trying to find the Seoul Fortress. We knew we were going the right way as the streets became steeper and steeper as we climbed the surrounding mountains.

After looking around at one section of the fortress, we wandered down the streets of the old village Keith had told us about. It was really charming, yet very run down. The houses were all connected in a sort of haphazard way. It was built into the side of the mountain so all the streets were narrow, winding, and steep. No vehicles could drive on them. It was cool to look down the alleyways and see into the gardens and rooftops of the houses below.

After we made it back to the bottom of the mountain, we wandered again until we found the bus stop that would take us to the main entrance of the fortress we had been looking for. This was an unusual bus...it was miniature size, and people were literally packed inside like sardines. The driver's seat was more like that of a car than a bus. The ceiling was only about 5 inches above my head, which was interesting since I had to stand the whole way. As we wove our way back up the mountain the roads got steeper and steeper, until I was sure the transmission was going to give out and we'd careen backwards down the street into the crowds of people we had only narrowly missed bowling over the first time.
But it did indeed make it to the top. We didn't realize at first we were at the last stop, because we had expected it to stop at the fortress. So we got out and looked around confused for a bit, until I noticed an older couple part way up yet another steep staircase gesturing for us to follow them. So we did, and the led us to the trail entrance.

The Seoul Fortress was originally built in 1396 at the beginning of the Joseon dynasty. Of course, like most cultural heritage sites in the country, most of it was destroyed by the Japanese, so they are working on rebuilding it. Although much of it does still stand and the hiking trails are extensive. The fortress itself is basically a miniature version of the Great Wall of China. Same concept, much smaller scale. Although you don't actually hike ON the wall, but there are trails all along it that you walk next to the base. There are several gates at different places along the wall, and we made it to 2 of them...so basically we hiked a quarter of the total area. Which was approximately 7 miles. Uphill both ways.

When you get to a certain point along the trail, you have to register as a visitor with your name, phone number, and ID number...in our case, this meant our green card numbers. This is because it is a declassified Korean military installment. There are soldiers all around keeping guard and patrolling the area. The presidential house is within sight from one point of the trail, and of course the proximity to North Korea makes it an important location. Within the checkpoint area, photography is restricted. I was yelled at by one soldier for taking a photo of the barbed wire beyond the fortress walls. Although luckily he didn't do anything other than that.

After a few hours of hiking the mountain trails, we decided to head back down and get some food before meeting our other friends in yet another section of Seoul for drinks. I had thought that going back down would be a breeze in comparison, but it really was just as difficult in other ways. First of all, going down so many steps gets to be hard on your knees after a while. And add to it the fact that some staircases were so steep I experienced a bit of vertigo/fear of heights and had to cling to the fortress wall and focus on one step at a time to keep from falling. This only went on for about 100 yards or so, but it wasn't pleasant. We finally found our way to the bus stop that would take us back to the subway station, and all of our legs were just killing us and wobbly from all the walking we had done. We bought a giant slab of cornbread from a street vendor to tide us over, since we really hadn't eaten anything all day, and waited for the bus. Unfortunately it was a very popular bus stop so once again we were crammed in like sardines and had to stand. Luckily taekwondo has really conditioned my legs for such strenuous exercise!

So anyway we finally made it to Gangnam, a section of Seoul that is south of the river and hence quite a bit closer to where we live, although still no good direct way to get home. This will factor in later.

So we went to a bar called Oktoberfest. That's right. A German Beer Hall in the heart of Seoul. I was excited. Of course, it was totally Koreanized. I was amused by the Koreanization of the German words on the menu. They didn't even have brezeln, and the wurst was basically hot dogs. Served with kimchi. But they did have really good nachos. And the beer was all brewed in-house, so even though the pilsner tasted much more like a wheat beer, it was a cool experience. Not to mention it was all you could drink for 9,000 won. It was pretty fun. We met our 2 other Janggi foreigners there (the guys, Nadia didn't come). And they in turn met us up with a group of foreigners they know, so we ended up with a table of about 15 people. I'm at the point now where I find it a bit strange to hand out with so many white people at once, but we had a good time. One guy was from Minnesota, so that was exciting.

So after about 4 hours, it was 10:30 but Kevin and Sherry and I decided we'd start making our way back towards Janggi. Because the subways stop at 12:30 and the last bus also leaves Seoul at that time, so with all the transfers and distance we had to go we wanted to be sure to make it. We figured we were leaving ourselves plenty of time, and if we wanted a night cap when we got back to Janggi we could do so.

Well, Keith gave us very vague directions as to how to find the bus that would take us Saodong, which is in Gimpo and only 15 more minutes from Janggi. So after wandering around for a while we tried asking a cab. But he said it would cost 50,000 so we decided that was a rip-off, since it should only cost 30,000. So we decided to hop on the subway. We could transfer to another line to another area of Gimpo where we could get a bus back to Janggi. It would take longer but it would be cheaper.
So we finally got on the train. We had 13 stops to go before our transfer. Of course the train was packed since by now there was just over an hour before the subway would stop running until 5am, so we had to stand AGAIN. We finally got to our transfer station and made it to the gate to be told that even though it was only 11:55, the subway was closed.
So here we were, tired, hungry, and still feeling our Oktoberfest beers, in a section of Seoul we didn't even know the name of. So we went up to the street and found a bus stop. We looked at the directory and tried to figure out which bus to take to get to Gimpo. We found one, but then a woman came up to me and asked if she could help. So we told her where we were trying to go and she told us that that bus route was finished for the day.
So we said, screw it, let's take a cab. Luckily for us the first one we hailed agreed to take us to Janggi. Because most of the time no one wants to take us there. It's basically in the sticks and they can't get fares back, so many times you can't even find someone to take you.
But anyway the three of us piled in the cab and handed him the address for our school, and he punched it in to his GPS and drove off. We figured we would be home in about 30-40 minutes.

As soon as we got on the highway it became apparent that the fog that had been hovering over the city had descended and thickened significantly. In fact, we could only drive at about 15mph. on the highway. And could only see about 20 feet.
It was like something out of a horror movie. The cab driver didn't speak any english of course. And between the 3 of us my Korean is actually the best. Which as you may imagine isn't saying much. But anyway he was clearly concerned about the situation. And as time went on we became more so as well. Because you see, even though every cab has a GPS system, I've only had about a 5% success rate in the driver being able to find Janggi without my help. This one fit into the remaining 95%.
But with the extremely dense fog cover, none of us could figure out where we were to direct him. Several times we had to pull over and he got out trying to look around to see a sign. At one point we seemed to be on a gravel road somewhere.
Sherry was kind of freaking out, and Kevin was becoming increasingly nervous about the situation. Personally I was enjoying myself. It was one of those times when you can either get upset about it, or accept the futility in that and just live the moment. I knew that one way or another we'd find somewhere familiar and we'd get home. So as we were driving and Sherry was freaking out, I said...'We're probably going to end up in North Korea!' She did not find this the least bit funny. But I sure did. I made a few more jokes about getting lost or ending up in the river, but then decided to leave her alone for a while. Then we finally found Saodong, and we thought, hooray! We're really close! But he ended up driving in circles a few times before we realized it. Finally we looked out and saw the outline of a building and said, hey I think that's Samsung! yes it is!
And so I told him to stop here.
It was now 1:40am. And the fare was up to 63,000. Being the only one with cash in the cab, I had to pay it all. Luckily he only charged me 50,000, considering he had gone in circles and it took so damn long to find our neighborhood. He apologized a few times but we assured him it was ok. So he got out of his car to have a smoke break. We figured he deserved it. It was a hellish ride. So Sherry and I walked home (we had him drop us off several blocks from where any of us lived, just to make it simple). The fog was so thick we could barely see the light change to cross the street. But we finally made it.
Nearly 4 hours after leaving Oktoberfest, we were home. It had been a loooooong day.
But it just proved once again that every day in Korea is a new adventure! This was certainly no exception!

Now for some pictures!

These are some of what we saw before we got to the fortress. Note the foreboding fog cover..







Here are some pics of when we first found the fortress wall and the old village we wandered through...












Here are some more photos from our wanderings...

Walking up one of many, many flights of stairs we encountered that day...


Here's me utilizing the exercise equipment that is strewn throughout the country along every hiking trail. because climbing mountains is never quite enough exercise.

These next ones are all pretty much the same picture, but I like them all for different reasons. Kevin took the bright one, I feel it really shows the colors of the leaves that are about at their peak. The next one shows really well the village in the background that we had wandered through. And then you can see Kevin and Keith competing to see who can take the best picture of the purple berries along the trail.








This is Gyongnaymun...mun means gate (pronounced like 'moon'). There are 4 of these throughout Seoul. It's like in Munich, Berlin, Paris, or any other big, old city. There are remnants of the gates to the ancient walled city. Anyway this is one we saw while we were waiting for the mini bus.



Finally we made it to the trail at the main entrance!

We had just started our real hike on the main trail when this crazy old Korean man jogging the other way, toward us, stopped to talk to us. Keith had actually met him before, as they both often compete in marathons around Seoul. He spoke pretty decent English. He asked us where we were from and we each told him. So then he gave each one of us a pin that he had pinned all over his shirt that he said he keeps for when he meets foreigners. It looks like 3 cherries but Keith said they are some kind of berry that have a significance, but he couldn't remember what..maybe luck. Anyway then I asked if we could have a picture so he posed with us before telling us all that even if we one day leave Korea, be sure to come back! And he shook our hands and was off. Keith told us that he actually fought with the Americans in the Vietnam war, and loves America..he finished a 20k waving a Korean and American flag. It was one of those encounters that are really weird but also really just awesome in so many ways.




So this is the section of housing where the President and a lot of movie stars and rich people live. Prime real estate, apparently.


This is the checkpoint after we went through it. Not really much to look at but you can see the guard tower.


This is what the view was supposed to look like...


...and this is what we actually saw because of the fog:















This is the picture that almost got me thrown off the mountain:


Here's a view of us going back DOWN the mountain. Note the extreme incline.


German beer hall! Note the Korean version of the Drindl. lol.

I know this one didn't really turn out, but the Koreanized German words made me laugh so I thought I'd include it anyway.








..../End Scene!

Hopefully this post made up for the lack thereof lately. Not much else going on, except the usual work and Taekwondo! And this week's taekwondo adventure is another post in itself. But I'll spare you. You're welcome.

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