Namsan, March 2011

After a late start this morning (I effectively spent the night shopping & then sleeping on some chairs in a Caffe Bene while waiting for the subway lines to start running in the morning), I pulled my pathetic self out of bed to walk up Namsan mountain.

I've been wanting to go to Namsan for a while now, but haven't had the chance to go, and I had promised myself that I would do it today. So even though I was still dead tired, I still went. And I had heard that today's weather was supposed to be nice & I was hoping for some nice shots of Seoul city. That didn't happen. It was overcast and grey and gloomy today. And the further up I went the colder it got. But it gave me an excuse to have some hot street food along the way ^_^

There are basically two ways you can get up the mountain and to the infamous Namsan Tower, now called North Seoul Tower. You can walk up the mountain, or you can take a convenient cable car. I was determined to walk up to the top, one because it would be good exercise, and two because I wanted to take pictures along the way.

The beginning of the walking/exercise trail. I had been under the impression that it would be a gradual incline and some switchbacks, but no. I think the more appropriate name would be the Namsan climbing trail. Because that's what you are doing. Climbing up a million billion steps. My legs were mush after going up and then coming back down. I was huffing and puffing and nearly fell off the dang mountain three times! I barely beat this ahjumma, while this old ahjussi totally passed me up lol.

Not the clearest day...

The first place you reach on the exercise trail is this viewpoint that has an small exercise park...just in case you weren't satisfied climbing the million billion steps to get to the top. Just in case.

The viewpoint, which includes the Namsan library. Also the parking lot is here, in case you drove up to bypass some of the steps.

From there, continue up up up!

Part of the fortress wall built in the 14th century CE. Namsan mountain used to mark the southern most point on Seoul. The city was surrounded by a fortress wall which you can still see on the mountain. Good luck trying to invade when you first have to climb up this crazy mountain.

But just in case someone did attack Seoul, there were these signal beacons that connected all of Korea. One fire, all's well. Two-four, under attack/enemy approaching. Five fires, fighting had begun.

What you see when you get to the very top. congratulations, you made it!

Namsam is famous for its couple locks. Basically couples go there to declare their undying love for one another by writing messages on locks, placing them somewhere in the throng, and throwing away the key. The whole way up, I had to endure the sight of couples going up together. I know I stuck out, not just because I was a foreigner, but because I was going to a couple place as a single.

I found this to be charming and hilarious. In case you couldn't tell, these are little farm animal shaped sod things. They look brown and ugly and dead, but I'm sure during the spring time they lively and cute and green. But they have couple locks on them too. I'm pretty sure one of them is a sheep. There were ducks and pigs too.

I think it would be interesting to see how the park changes throughout the year. I'm going to try to get up to Namsan once every two months to view and record the changes. I think it'll be a good little project for me ^_^

Lastly, I found my way to Namsan via a tour book I brought with me, but I sort of strayed from it, so here's how I got up the mountain:

- Myeongdong Station, exit 4
- When you exit the station, continue down the road for a few minutes until the road naturally bends to the left. Follow the road, the mountain will be before you.
- Walk towards the enclosed escalator, take it up to the Namsan bus stop/cable car station.
- From the cable car station, continue up the mountain about a block and cross over at the streetlight to arrive at the beginning of the exercise/walking trail.