Weekend Hike

I went for a great hike this past weekend. It was so nice to get out of the city for a bit and go up into the mountains. We started by visiting Seodaemun Prison which was used by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation in the early 1900's. It was a horribly depressing and an awful place but I learned a lot. The Japanese basically used the prison to imprison, interrogate, torture, and execute Korean independence fighters. And of course they don't just tell and explain about the torture used...they had mannequins and wax figures displaying the horrible torture techniques and living conditions of the prisoners. It was awful...but a very effective way to tell this part of their history I guess.

(Picture #1 - Prison grounds)

After the prison we headed over to a little whole-in-the-wall restaurant for some traditional bulgolgi which was very yummy. From there we wound our way through a bunch of streets and alleys and found ourselves at the base of In Wang Sun mountain. In true Korean style most of the way up was stone steps...so I basically climbed hundreds of uneven stone stairs to the top of the mountain. On the way up there was exercise equipment so in case you didn't have enough exercise you can stop along the way and work out your legs, abs, or arms :) Once at the top there were beautiful views of the city on three sides and the mountains to the North.

(Picture #2 - First mountain we hiked and the trail)

(Picture #3 - Overlooking Seoul)

From there we hiked down slightly and then to the official military entrance to the second mountain, Buk Ak San. The mountain is behind the Blue House, the President's house, so security was very tight. We had to register at the base of the mountain and wear a little ID badge while we hiked and then turn in again at the end of the hike. All along the trail/stairs were little guard post and tons of guards. There was also a double barbed wire fence running along most of the trail. Nevertheless it was beautiful as well. We don't have a ton of pictures from that part of the hike because we were very limited as to where we could take pictures.

(Picture #4 - On top of the Mountain)

We ended the hike by hiking down into Insadong which was very cute and touristy (Korean tourists, not foreigners which was nice). We ate at this great restaurant which was also very very yummy. All in all it was a great day and and a very fun hike!!