Korea yet again for the 7th time - March and April 2026 - Page 6

I was amazed to get off the bus and be greeted with blue sky. Also blossoms.

There are numerous cafes to choose from, I bypassed them all.

On a previous visit it was raining when I got off the bus, so I sat in that chain store cafe for a while before starting my hike.

Wherever you go in Korea, there is a nice drain to appreciate. You can see a bunch of tents for street food running down the right side.

The trail starts about 5 minutes away from the bus stop. Today I am going in the reverse direction to the first time I was here, and along a different route to the 2nd time I was here.

I followed a stream for a while.

Lots of rocks early on, and surprisingly quiet. Later there would be a huge number of people, I guess I was taking a less popular route.

Although I did have to pass this group of about 20 people, which I find to be obnoxious. Max group size on a hike should be 3 people. Overhiking is ruining tourism.

Here are the pagodas, I have been here in dense fog before. There are a few different trails that converge here.

Despite the great view of the sea of fog, nobody is here to enjoy it.

Nice fog.

I am not sure what exactly goes on inside this building.

There are defibrillators along the route.

Stairs are actually needed here, unless you were planning to put on abseiling gear. Very steep.

Quite the view indeed.

I will be sharing a lot of similar photos.

Main summit of the day. Not particularly high.

Not exactly the same photo as the one 2 photos ago, but similar!

Down the other side of the mountain, no fog, less interesting.

I will now continue along many of these ridges, but not all the way to the antennas, as that area is military and off limits.

Still doing fog appreciation.

I had come over and along some of those.

If you look closely you might see some stairs and ladders which I will soon be using.

OK... not the same as the one 2 photos ago (again), but similar (again).

Here you can see some stairs I had come down on the peak on the left.

The ridge line was rocky.

Not much chance of plummeting.

The fog is becoming smog now, the best fog photos are a thing of the past.

That is a huge staircase up to the next and final summit.

I had come all along there.

The valley below has many temples and will be my destination.

Far side of the ridge.

The summit area had way too many people clearing years of accumulated vape residue from their respiratory systems, I moved on quickly.

Now to head down there.

A lot of the way down is very rocky.

Looking back up the way I had come down. There were a lot more people now.

Getting there. It was a short hike today, but the course I took has all the best bits, longer ones miss most of the highlights.

Waterfall, of sorts.

I don't think you can go up to that ridge, it is in the closed off military area.

Lots of people enjoying the waterfall.

Almost back down to the valley floor.

Back down to the moss layer.

And then after not long at all, back at the temple.

Most of the temple is off limits, in fact I may have been breaking the rules by taking this photo.

The temple area entrance, which I had just exited. Lots and lots of people.

And lots of cherry blossoms.

Then just after lunch, back at the cafe area. I boarded a bus almost immediately, it was full, later in the day I may have been waiting in a line as full buses departed.
So that was a short hike, but the photos were worth it, a longer hike would have missed much of the view.

Right out the front of city hall, a legoland protest (closed on Sunday). They LOVE a protest in Korea.

This ladder goes to the roof of the crab house, for no reason at all. There are oversized human figurines playing on the ladder and the roof. The plastic guard to stop drunken idiots from climbing it is unlikely to stop too many drunken idiots from climbing it.

My destination is on the left.

It looks like a giant box. The woman in the ad appears to be wearing a leather smock.

The basement is as always, the casual dining area. The lighting is really interesting, it makes it appear as though it is daylight, quite surreal, no shadows.

My dinner is an eggplant rice bowl. It needed Gochujang, but none was on offer. Still it was ok.

Now for the roof, and the sunset. You can see in all directions. That is the science museum down there, been there before.

It is a large multi level roof garden.

With dinosaurs! Also check out the sunset.

Still the roof garden. It bothers me that the hotel is not lined up with the walkway. Move the hotel!

Below the roof again, and the upper levels are basically a normal mall, lower levels are all department store.
Tomorrow I go to Jeonju, I have not been there before, it is a tourist town for playing dress ups. Perhaps I will wear a strange Korean ancient cowboy hat?