More of the same of Korea - March and April 2024 - Page 1

Here is a boring shot of Melbourne airport. The people above are coming off the plane I am about to get on.

And there is my plane. It just arrived. I guess it leaves again in 2 hours. Since it is an Airbus I did not have to bring my own toolbox to tighten the loose bolts which are now a feature of Boeing jets. However my next flight is on a Boeing, so I will have to pick up some tools in Singapore duty free.

I knew it was full, so I boarded first. Most people who's white privilege allows them to board first do not fly economy. But I do.

This was my first lounge stop in Singapore. I am rarely here during the day time as I normally take overnight flights. During the day they seem to have a noodles made to order stand, today I did not avail.

Instead I had some old rice noodles and the dim sum surprise, the bun still had the paper on the bottom, which I ate anyway. Are you supposed to? I have no idea. Now I am full of paper.

Proof of shower. They did not always have these in Singapore in the Kris flyer gold lounge that is available to people flying with 'Virgin status'.

All of these plants are fake. But the real plants outside are still dead.

And finally, my second lounge stop, the rare lounge on the far side of the airport that is smaller and darker and just as empty at this time of day.
The next update will be late, but will have the ultra important to everyone for seemingly inexplicable reasons 'hotel pictures', which will include photos of my single bed (I think I got upgraded to a twin room from a queen for free... I did not ask for that, sounds like an 'upgrade'). That is enough air quotes and brackets.

Here is the bus I took. I had researched bus options before arriving thinking I would be too late for the train, and I was. The late night bus is actually faster than the trains I would have taken, but with added potential bus related confusion which did not eventuate on this occasion.

And here are the shots of the weird low room for someone in a wheelchair. There is effectively no desk which will annoy me. Hopefully they can find me a better room in the hotel somewhere for my 2nd night onwards.

This hotel is not on any website I can find, so it must only be on Korean websites. This means it operates the flood the entire bathroom shower method that I have experienced here a few times before. A strange concept!
The bonus is, if I get to move rooms, more room shots. Also no hiking today as all my messing around meant almost no sleep, and I know my reader(s) hate when I go hiking.

I started my outing by wandering around Gangnam looking for an ATM that would give me cash. Good weather, only mild pollution despite the yellow death sand from Mongolia warning that I had read just before leaving Australia.

Blue sky. I did not even need my jacket and later in the day it felt like shorts and t-shirt weather on the hike.

This is a spot I had been to previously to find a hike. Last time I went over the mountain pictured under that banner, however today I would go in the opposite direction. I took this photo mainly to show that the Korean election is still a 1 vs 2 battle. I am standing under a banner for 1, and there is a partially obscured banner for 2 over the road.

Lets de grumpify by going hiking. Everything will be dead and brown. It is the start of spring and there are cherry blossom places to go and gawk at near here, but on my hike - piles of dead brown leaves that live on all through the freezing winter.

These purple flowers have been a feature of a couple of my previous visits.

It did not take too long for a decent view to appear. I was only going at half speed today on a short 5km journey.

The big tower on the right is the Lotte tower at Jamsil. I am sure I will go there at some point.

Fantastic photo. One of my best.

The start of my hike was lonely, but then stair cases appeared, and eventually my trail also become a stair case too. There were a lot of people hiking in bare feet which seems to be a thing these days, it is important to get grounded regularly, and also sun your perineum.

Guryongsan is not a tall mountain, but it does have good views.

Some more view.

And an example of the staircases. The fence is because there is a military base on the other side. Actually it is a strangely shaped building built into the hill that I think is the South Korean version of the Pentagon. You cannot see it from the trail but you can see it on google satellite.

A hiking feature of Korea, public toilets.

Another hiking feature of Korea, helicopter landing pads.

Last view shot for today.

The hike went over a second even smaller mountain, which I believe is called Daemosan.

Back in Gangnam now, and my replacement hotel is better located than my surprise cancellation hotel.

This is the night life area for rich folks. Well maybe behind me further up the hill for the really rich folks.

STOP SMOKING! - Care bears.

Now for the photos of my new replacement room. Here is the bed and a little desk. Still not a great desk setup, but better than the other room.

And a 3 part bathroom. First the actual bath, and then separate smaller rooms for the space toilet and space shower. So yes, a much nicer room than the wheelchair room I slept in last night.
Tonight I may not go too far, probably need an early night!

There are many brands of rental bikes and scooters littered all across the streets of Seoul. In Melbourne we only have 2 brands so we miss out on the colourful cornucopia that infinite brands brings. Such wonderful devices for drunken idiots to kill themselves and also kill a few innocent old ladies on their way to the doctor.

Great light for some building shots.

Once I got to the bus station are I immediately descended into the Goto mall and considered going to this poor persons food court. But I was a bit too early even for me.

The mall itself is mainly flowers and women's clothes. It is about 2km long. There are 2 parallel lanes, but also some other non affiliated underground malls running off to the sides including a very large Shinsegae department store and the bus station itself, which you shall see shortly.

I wanted to take a photo of buses so I came up to the surface and behold, cherry blossoms. Personally I am a dead leaf man myself, but if blossoms are your thing, start getting excited.

Here are some buses. Lots of buses. This is not all of them, and the station building which I did not photograph at all just to confuse everyone with my next statement is a giant brutalist monument. These are all inter city buses.

The local starbucks is well appointed, it could double as a fancy circus tent.

I re descended into the fancy part of the bus station to find my dinner.

And for dinner, hamburg steak, with rose sauce, and cheese and an egg. And fries. Yeah.
Tomorrow is probably a real hiking day! Unless I wake up with COVID.

Today I had a different starting point compared to last time. I decided to approach the mountain from south of the river, from Hanam station, the last station on the purple line.

Starting from Hanam station added about 50 minutes walking to the start of the hike, and meant I had to walk over a bridge across the river. Finding a way up onto the bridge required negotiating a construction site.

Crossing the bridge provided a great view. I cannot tell if they are building or dismantling that bridge.

Before too long I was at the familiar start point of the rocky trail. Time to start my watch. Today's hike was not overly long, about 12km, 5 hours, 29,000 steps. I seem to have exited it at a different point compared to last time.

I have climbed that mountain across the river on a previous trip.

There is the bridge I walked over.

First main view point. I took the same photo last time.

There is a mini train to the top, but it is not for the public.

Instead it is for scientists going to the observatory. I presume they mainly go there at night.

Everything looks quite dead still.

At the main summit are the usual ribbons, and I think in peak times someone would sit in that tent selling drinks and ice creams. Maybe they do a deal with the observatory to bring them up on the train thing.

View from the top towards Seoul.

Here I am! Those are my aforementioned pants. No camera sensor dust spots (yet!).

Last time I took a wrong turn at the observatory which then required me to double back to my desired trail. No such issue today. I would follow the path around all those ridges coming from the middle left of this photo.

After the observatory there were only 2 or 3 other people for the next 3 hours. The path was still good for most of the journey. I will rant about the tricky path down at the end.

Here is the hang gliding launch point. There is a private dirt road not on the map that comes up a valley to here.

No hang gliders today.

The next peak has no view. Nice photo though.

This style of sign is very useful. If you come to a fork in the trail you probably need to check your map, unless it is explained like this. Obviously I took the red option.

A nice rocky bit.

More rocks.

In the centre of the screen here is the observatory from earlier. Very far away.

Final peak for the day. Not very high. Observatory can still be seen if you squint!

Here I am. This selfie is not as good as the one from yesterday.

This particular photo on my last visit was very good. Not so good today.

In better light with less haze this would also be a really good photo.

The path down that I chose was poorly marked, a real choose your own adventure backed up by the occasional ribbons in trees. There are multiple ways down, I chose the wrong way.

It also required crossing a small stream numerous times. I am very cautious with streams and possibly mossy slippery rocks.

And then I came off the trail about here. A few hundred metres from where the map suggested I should come out. This makes me think I lost the trail down at some point.

Final pic of the day, Ungilsan station. The train came within 5 minutes of me getting to the platform.
Still a great hike today, just not as picturesque as last time.
Tonight's journey to find dinner will be short and local!

There it is, the Global Taekwondo Headquarters. I am getting tired of typing that. They had hundreds of country flags surrounding the building, leading up to a separate area of 20 x USA flags. Everyone else only gets one flag.

As I mentioned, the grounds were inside a secure compound, with check points for vehicles and large fences. So I walked right in and did some exercises on the equipment they have kindly provided. Getting out of the compound was a bit frustrating, I assumed there would be another way out but no, just more fences.

There was nowhere for a good clear view of the city below. This is the best I could do. It also features yellow flowers.

Nearby area a lot of sports equipment shops, specifically for combat sports. We do not have an Adidas combat sports specialty store in Australia.

The area around Gangnam is on some steep hills. You cannot ever photograph 'steep' effectively. There are a lot of very fancy cafes.

Taking over from cafes these days are all the themed places to have your photograph taken. You go in here to dress up like a skater boy.

In this one you pretend to be in a rich persons house entrance. The quotes from previous guests were strangely also available in English, and included 'I enjoyed not only the photogenic setting for my influential instagram channel, but personally appreciated the flattering lighting which made my face smooth, and also the uplifting fragrance'.

Today was a no words spoken day. I have been questioned when I mention that to other people as to how that can be possible. Here is how. This is how you order food and also pay for it, there is a slot for a credit card. This particular place had no English, but that is fine, just point your phone at it while you go through the menu and read it on your phone.

And here is my dinner. Apparently it is Korean style pasta. Which features Bulgogi beef and Gochujang shrimp. I was able to enjoy.

I headed back along the main pedestrian street that also has cars to get back to my hotel. It was actually dark even! Also very quiet on a Monday night.

I briefly thought about going underground to play solitaire.

And finally, I now know why there are kung fu dudes in the middle of the road everywhere around here.
Tomorrow is a rest day, so not photos of dead mountains, probably.