Gwanak Mountain Adventure

On Saturday, after tutoring, my friend Susan and I went hiking up Gwanak Mountain (관악산) in the southern part of Seoul. It was an interesting day.

First, we went to Gangnam to grab a quick bite at Paris Baguette. A quick bite turned out to be a lot of food (especially since both of us are such big eaters).

This was my lunch:
a pastrami egg sandwich,
mushroom tortilla,
chicken salad,
and chicken pizza.
Yum, yum, YUM!

And I was still hungry afterwards... Anyways, we headed to Seoul National University Entrance Station, changed, and put our stuff in a locker (more on this later). Seoul National University, Korea's number one university, is situated at the foot of Gwanak Mountain and the entrance to the mountain is right there next to the school's main gate. So up we went!

The sign says:
Yeonjundae (A path up a mountain).
Really?! I wouldn't have guessed!

Heading up...

The view south, away from Seoul.
Remember the buildings in the far distance at the foot of the mountain...

I climbed up this!
A little scared...

The peak in the distance (with the Korean flag at the top)!

Made it up there!!

Seoul in the distance.
Beautiful view.

We made it to the top fairly quickly - about two hours. On our way down, we found a paved path. It was a little hard on our knees, but we continued along that for quite some ways. Then, when we got closer to the bottom, we asked someone where we were.... ANYANG! We completely walked over the mountain to the other side! =_=;; The picture earlier, looking away from Seoul... we end up at those buildings (an university in Anyang). By now, it was dark and getting chilly. We caught a bus back to the nearest subway station, then subway back Seoul University to pick up our stuff in the locker.

Now the locker situation... everything is in Korean, and in terms that I don't know. When we put our stuff in the locker, it seemed fairly easy. Start, choose an empty locker, put our stuff in, then paid for it with my T-money bus card. Done. As we started to think about it more... are T-money cards that advanced? I just would scan it again, and the correct locker would open up??? There was no confirmation number or anything. Other places had you scan in your fingerprint or enter in a password! We were worried. When we got back to the locker, we saw some guy putting in his stuff, and a confirmation receipt came out! When we saw that, we were so worried - that's what we didn't get! We couldn't open it, and there was no one working at the station anymore. Somehow, after a few tries, with the touch of some buttons, our locker opened up. I don't know what buttons I pushed, but it was magic. We were soo incredibly relieved.

So earlier, before our hike, we bought a little roast chicken. We never got a chance to eat it, so we decided to just eat it before splitting ways. Only problem was, there was nowhere to eat. I was hoping there was some cafe or a bench outside of the station where we could sit, but nope. We were so tired, and just sat down on a nearby curb, and wolfed down the little birdie. Everyone walking by gave us strange looks, and many laughed. A lady told us to sit at some nearby chairs (but they were in front of a glasses store), and some guy said that the food looked delicious. Embarrassing...

Overall, quite the adventure. It was a really good hike; I was a little sore the next day. I haven't really gone running since last Thursday. I only ran two miles yesterday, and plan to go the gym tonight since it's storming outside. I really have to get in more the miles before my cousin comes to visit and I go to Hong Kong. And I still haven't signed up for the Half. Hmmm... I'll just wing it. >.<