Up and round we go!

"Like the Great Wall of China.... but Korean" - Hannah Cho

I woke up nice and early, prepared myself for hiking in a pair of too tight jeans, long heavy coat and a man bag (yes, I said hiking) and set off for Namhansanseong, a fortress and surrounding wall. It's a two hour journey from the humble town of Unseo (all still on the Seoul subway system mind - it's amazing!) but off I plodded with fellow Incheonite Meg and a couple of rolls of kimbap (rice and veg rolled up in seaweed - yummers!)

Along the way, we met up with my co-teacher Hannah who had also brought three rolls of kimbap with her (kimbap was to be the main meal for the day, not that I'm complaining) and by 11 o'clock we'd arrived at the bus stop to take us the final leg of the journey.

The next few hours consisted of waiting for buses, giving up on buses, buying cucumbers, eating fried chicken and being followed by lost tourists when we were going the wrong way ourselves. By two o'clock, we made it to the mountain itself.

Along the way, we passed some strong rock piles...

Some lovely leaves (autumn is truly here!)...

And saw the fortress south gate...

 Then we took a walk along the wall...

And saw this lovely ruin (with added cannon holes). I said it a lot on the day and I will say it again... if they cut that grass this would be a lovely place for a wedding!

but really... it would...

We sat on the far wall of that building for a while, soaking up the view and enjoying each others company (well nobody pushed me off the wall so I think it was a mutual enjoyment!)

Then we started the walk down, through gates, skirting along mini-paths and rattling locked gates (we walked around where the fence stopped... five meters from the locked gate), and eventually found a place where we could show off our hooping skills!

Namhansanseong Hula Championship - Quarter Finals

Arriving back in town, we bought some beers at a convenience store, sat on some benches and drank them. A man we didn't know gave us a chocolate chip scone and we were briefly confused before eating it, along with kimbap and little choccy goodies!

We arrived home 14 hours after we'd left, and weren't even sore the next day!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

The Wedding Planner (but really...)

How to get there:

Namhansanseong Station on Line 8 - Exit 1 and walk straight for 20 minutes.

OR 

Sanseong Station on Line 8 - Exit 2, then take bus no. 9 for 20 minutes.

P.S. Korean movie recommendation... 

Blind 블라인드 (2011)

A blind ex-detective is on the hunt for a predator! It's exciting, scary and all round good!