More of the same of Korea - March and April 2024 - Page 8

Yangpyeong is a pretty large town, with many convenience stores on the walk up to the start of the hike. I have done this hike before so I was somewhat familiar, but decided to go up to the start of the trail a different way, which failed.

The suggested route goes through forest right about here. No more forest. Now it is apartments.

I had to climb up a retaining wall and get back onto this bridge over a highway. I was already running behind schedule!

I found a bit of the fail trail to the real trail and thought I was back on course.

But no. More development has ended the trail again.

I cut across a farm and rejoined the road instead. I should have taken the road to the trail proper.

The road up to Yongmunsan national forest park is filled with fancy cafes and bakeries.

It had started raining. This is a camping spot. The start of the trail goes through the camping areas of the national forest. There were a few people packing up their tents, fast, as it was starting to rain.

I kept running (I was running at this point). I remembered that the very start of this hike was a hessian mat filled wonderland. Fast progress.

The occasional waterfall was keeping me company.

Soon enough, rocks. At first a rocky stair case. There were a few other people around at this point, you will see where that ends.

On the way up, some of the steeper parts were a proper staircase. Useful for fast progress! I was going so well at this point!

I will be going up there, but it will not be the main peak. The main peak is 4 hours away.

Today's helicopter landing pad. Due to rain there will be no stance or selfies today. I spent all day worrying that I would get water on my camera lense, or water in my camera that would kill it.

A rare smooth bit. I was mindful to run any such smooth sections.

I had already come quite a long way at this point. My progress will slow soon...

Rocks. Steep slippery rocks. I spent the next 5 or so hours hanging onto ropes.

Another view of foggy valley's.

Here is summit #1. And this is the point where the developed trail ends, and where people turn around and go back. I will continue on to another peak across a very lonely, very rocky section of trail.

Some view from the summit.

This is the direction I will go. You can see some antennas in the distance, that is the highest peak, and a military base.

Steep and rocks covered with piles of leaves.

Bonus fog shot.

That is summit #1 which I had come down from.

A rare wooden viewing deck.

I kind of like the foggy shots, so why not more.

I think that is where the antennas were earlier, but now it is cloud.

The really rocky sections I did not photograph, because I needed both hands and it was wet. But every now and then a nice section like this appeared.

Between peaks, and it was the return of the nuclear winter dead looking trees.

I could maybe camp out here if it rains too much.

Here is the military base. I will have to hike below the top around and up the other side to get to the summit.

This involved crossing a sea of boulders.

Bigger rocks were starting to appear.

And now, the fog. A lot of fog.

The summit was completely fogged off. Here are some ribbons from the local hiking clubs.

There are a lot of barbed wire fences, but they still managed to stick a pagoda up here. It was very windy on the summit so I did not want to hang around.

This is the actual summit marker. You can see it in better weather if you search my website for Yongmunsan to find my previous visit.

The immediate bit down from the summit was a staircase, this will end very shortly.

I was in fog like this for probably 2 hours.

Purple flowers, and rocks.

Now the real rocks start. And this would slow my progress considerably.

Hard, slippery going, but it gets worse.

So many rocks.

A rare bit of hand wet hand rope. Most of the way down there was none.

Sometimes flowers grow out of the rocks.

Giant smooth rocks. It kind of looks small here, it is bigger than a car.

Nearing the end now, and I had to cross a few bridges.

And now I am back at the temple, you can see it on the right. It took me about 1 hours and 20 minutes longer than I expected, largely due to being cautious due to the weather.

Here is the temple. There were a couple of people around.

Today's Buddha.

One more of the temple because you can see the mountains in the distance behind it.

This temple area is large, it is a couple of km down from the temple along a driveway filled with various temple affiliated cafes and shops before you hit a large garden area.

Still more bridges to cross. Some you can jump up and down on.

A very nice driveway.

Flowers, and my mountains from today.

The shopping street at the bottom is very nice. Last time I was here I had an ice cream and played with 3 cats.

And finally, I am waiting at the bus stop, wondering if I should go to that 7-eleven for a snack. Nope, the bus came almost immediately. It takes about 2 hours to get back to Seoul from here, which makes for a very long day.

I looked for dinner in the restaurant street outside my hotel, but nothing seemed quick and easy. I was bloody starving!

Everyone but me with an umbrella.

The main pedestrian shopping street in Myeongdong was still going ok, despite the rain. I had to walk with my hand over my eyes to prevent blindness.

Last neon shot of this evening in the busy restaurant area.

My dinner! Finally. A delicious chicken rice bowl with a great chilli sauce. Chicken breast with skin on which is kind of unusual but I liked it. I recommend Chick by chick, I suspect it is a chain.

And finally, to get back to my hotel, I went completely underground. That is the sort of thing you can do in Seoul.

This is city hall. They do what they can to stop it being taken over by protests every weekend.

But don't worry, the main road is setting up for a protest today. You can see all the hung speaker arrays like you would see at a stadium concert. There was already a band playing on stage even though no one is here yet, possibly to test the speakers. I do not know what the protest was for, but the music sounded Jesus-y. In other news, no pollution at all today, I can see the mountains in the distance, sometimes they are invisible.

This thing is as tall as a house.

Now it was time to head away from the city hall area and go find another part of town. Nice roads.

Blue man with penis statue is very popular in many parts of Seoul. The plaque refers to him as greeting man. I am not sure if you are supposed to touch the penis like the various statues in Europe where that in an important thing to do.

I observed some unusual looking apartments.

Now it was time to start my walk along the Gyeongui forest park. I found it by accident.

A park dedicated to teaching children to walk along train tracks or even put their head on the rail.

Here is my new friend, the cat.

I sat at the station waiting for the train. It never came.

Now for Hongdae. As mentioned above it is under heavy re-beautification.

There are lots of shops selling BTS stickers if that is what you came to Korea for.

And finally, it was just behind me here that I observed 3 bodies, life status unknown, get dumped in the street by cleaning ladies.

The outdoor library initiative has sprung up everywhere around this area of Seoul. My phone has been giving me news articles about it so I think it is new.

A lot of the outdoor library appears to be big screens and loud music. But also bean bags. Have they been checked for bed bugs? OMG!!!

Here is the main palace. Last time I was here there was a lot of construction going on at the main gate, now it is all finished.

Now for a walk down the souvenir shopping street of Insadong. It was quiet, but there were a lot of foreigners around. Me included.

These little market popups are still popular, I have photographed them in many places before. It seems the trestle cart design is ubiquitous across all of Korea.

Some more of the main street.

This building with the spiral ramp is very popular for foreign tourists to buy gifts, it has been here forever. Now it has the coloured lanterns that seem to be everywhere.

Lots of lights, even though it is not dark yet, but not many people. Also as mentioned, some places closed on Sunday. It is a bit difficult to figure that out as I saw a burger king that was closed on Sunday. Maybe it depends on the religion of the owners?

I was looking for a pasta place that was closed on Sunday, but not worry, I found Coco curry and had excellent omurice. It is a bit hard to see the omelette because I covered it various spicy things. I had tried to find this Coco curry before, it is actually on basement 3 of an office building, there were a few nice places to eat down there. From the street you would have no idea it is there, and walking through the revolving door of an office building with a dark lobby seems weird. I only went in because it seemed to be a way into the subway and I was trying to get under the road.
Tomorrow is a hiking day. It will not be as long as yesterday's hike. It also will not be raining!

This is not where my hike is today, but it is where I had to change trains. It may now be my final hike of this trip because it looks pretty good.

The hike today started no more than 50m from the subway exit at Jinjeop, which is the last station on the line. There is a convenience store in the station itself, and a couple outside. Very convenient.

The start of the hike was the lovely hessian mats, and of course the old people exercise equipment.

There were a lot of signs in the station and on the trail warning that some trails are closed due to the construction of a military vehicle compound. Here it is. They have certainly hidden it in the hills.

One of the rare view shots for the day. Low down.

That mountain over yonder is Cheonmasan. Very similar name to Cheolmasan which I am climbing today. I have climbed Cheonmasan twice. You can actually hike from Cheonmasan to Cheolmasan. I would like to do that.

Eventually on all hikes, there will be steep bits with ropes.

Also rocks. Lots of rocks. Well not as many rocks today.

None the less, still some pretty cool rocks.

This is the main summit today, it is hard to get a good view.

I had to stand on a rock to get a view shot.

The only other view possible from the summit area.

Some time later after descending on some relatively smooth trails, and this is summit area number 2. No view at all.

Time to go down on some wonderful rock free trails.

Very fast progress.

That is my summit from earlier.

Most of the way down now and I got to the only other view spot. That is the reservoir below.

There is an old people smoking hut at this view spot.

The trail was probably suitable for bikes even.

And after not very long at all, especially compared to the previous hike, I was down at the reservoir.

Cheonmasan in the distance.

The floating thing is a fountain, which never fountained while I was there.

Below the reservoir and it is not farm land, but instead some busy streets with a lot of churches.
That is all for now.

Lets all go to the, phallus.

A fountain, water spray, sun behind it. Photo required.

Look how pathetic humanity has become. A line to take the granny lift to avoid maybe 40 stairs. Sad, sad.. sad. The thing is literally one of those things they install in an old persons home on the staircase.

Let the view shots commence. This one has a bit of the old wall.

It is really not far to the top. 20 minutes at most. Yes there is a cable car. There is a huge line for it. Sad.

A low down clear shot into the sun.

And the low shot of Myeongdong. The mountains look great.

RIP the duck. Every time I come here I take a stance shot next to the giant duck. The duck is gone. Sad.

Last phallus joke.

Here is a photo of the green fair with dubious credentials.

Top view away from the city.

Top view with tv tower.

And now top view of the main bit.

Some bonus view shots now, with people enjoying the view.

Bonus shot of bonus shot people enjoying the view.

I took one more view shot on the way down. Mainly because I stopped to let some people get further ahead of me who were coughing non stop.

And finally, I headed to the Shinsegae department store for an immediate dinner. Pork and kim chi stir fry. Very delicious.
Tomorrow is not a hiking day, I have a vague plan.