For two weeks out of the year, cherry blossoms make the Korean landscape a bit more magical.
In a culture of selfie professionals, these two weeks bring a full-on cherry-blossom-selfie craze. So, while I am not usually one to hop on the lets-take-photos-of-flowers bonanza, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to capture these rare breeds going photo-op insane.
Wooooheeee, Suraksan Mountain. This is an incredibly impressive hike, both for its diverse climbing terrain and its unmatched views of other mountains in northern Seoul. Though the ascent was not more than an hour and a half, it definitely got my adrenaline pumping. Despite the amount of time I spend on mountains, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m not always completely comfortable balancing on a single metal peg just centimeters from plummeting to certain death. Nevertheless, the reward for making it up this dicey terrain is huge. One you have ascended you not only have fantastic views of the cityscape, but, when facing west, you have the best views of two equally impressive mountains: Bukhansan (which I’ve mentioned countless times) and Dobongsan.
This is absolutely one of the best hikes in Seoul and these pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. I need to go back and properly document how exciting and rewarding Suraksan Mountain is.
To get to Suraksan Mountain, hop on the subway and head north, all the way up to Suraksan Station on line 7. Head out of Exit 1 and follow the hoards of hikers. My beau and I did a nice loop, ascending by exit 1, traversing the mountain and descending down by exit 3. I would highly recommend this route to anyone wanting to check out the mountain. For pictures that do the mountain more justice (and more detailed information about the mountain) check out Tigers and Magpies.
More spring hiking is on its way!
… And yes, that is a makeshift medical station for massages, etc. en route to the peak.
Walking from Itaewon to Hannam-dong.
I’ve alway been a huge fan of Muuido, the small island off the coast of Incheon. It’s barely outside
of Seoul, but operates on a completely different pace. One convenience store, a few bathrooms, a handful of restaurants and, of course, the “rustic” huts, make for a great breath of fresh air from the city. To ring in the supposed arrival of spring (perhaps I was a bit too optimistic), we headed to the island with Seoul Hiking Group. Armed with food, refreshments and, foolishly, our swimsuits, we
set up camp for the weekend. It was a bit too icy to truly enjoy, but the fantastic sunset made it totally worth it. Muuido was a wonderful escape.
This is one of those Western “holidays” that calls for a mandatory gathering of all foreigners in Seoul for a debaucherous celebration. We joined the frenzy and headed to the Irish Association of Korea‘s event at D-squared, an outdoor plaza (packed to the brim with drunken waygooks) showcasing traditional Irish music and dancing. It was a blast!
It’s been too long.
The last two months have brought major changes in addition to disruptive technical difficulties. I moved (much more on that coming soon!) the new school year started off with a massive bang, my beau started a new fancy pants job and I had all sorts of camera problems. Error 70 catapulted my Canon T2i into utter failure (thank god for THIS Canon store) and the Seoul Lomography Store closed (who knew that Chungmuro was actually camera central in Seoul?!). Things appear to be back in order and ready to rock.
Thank you for your infinite patience.
Too cute, too cute.
