Holidays for expats can be really lonely. Facebook only makes things worse as you see the ones you love posting photos and stories of family get-togethers back home. Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t celebrated in Korea and those days just pass by without much notice. However, we do get one day off for Christmas, which I am insanely grateful for. Continue reading
The winds in Yeosu warranted a weather alert, yesterday. These winds and the plummeting temperature mean that winter is now upon us. As we huddle for warmth in our apartments on the southern coast of South Korea, we look back on this country’s most stunning season: Fall. Continue reading
We have seriously missed having friends who are always down for a hike. In Seoul, there weren’t as many opportunities to go outside, enjoy nature, and take a hike. After moving to Yeosu, we were beyond excited to find a group of friends who love getting outdoors as much as we do! Continue reading
After camping overnight at the Gosapo Beach, we ate a quick breakfast and packed up our tents. We were anxious to get going, after all there is much more to see of Byeonsanbando National Park than this beautiful beach. Continue reading
We’ve been living in Yeosu for about two weeks now and have been loving every minute of it! We hope that you already caught our apartment tour earlier this week, and today we are giving you a peek of what our lovely city looks like. Yeosu was voted as one of the world’s four most scenic harbor cities, and it is easy to see why. Continue reading
Hiking is a huge part of our lives. While we don’t always find time, the desire to stand atop massive natural places always gnaws at us. After living in Seoul, South Korea for over a year, we have climbed a considerable amount of the Seoul mountains as well as a few in Gyeonggi-do. We want to share some of our favorite hikes within Seoul’s city limits and explain why these mountains stand out in our minds. Continue reading
Okay, so we made a post about this earlier and included some of our pictures of this gorgeous national park, but we also shot a bit of video on the way to the top and thought we would share it with you as well! As you may already know, we like to make the occasional video and even have a vlog on Youtube. So, for the fifth installment of Let’s go to… Continue reading
There is something about horizons that inspires a lust for adventure. There is an obvious correlation between horizons and the thematic adventures of Easy Rider, Thelma and Louise, Kerouac’s On the Road, and countless other novels, movies, etc. The horizon beckons us onward to explore the next ridge and push the next boundary. Continue reading
Bukhansan has long been on our shortlist of mountains to hike in Seoul, but this 835m monster has always been in the back of our minds and the forefront of our to-summit list. Originally, we tried to go to Seoraksan National Park, but the timing was always a bit off. We have oogled over pictures of Korea in autumn and grew quite excited to get out and take some pictures once the temperature began to plummet.
With a beautiful day ahead of us, we journeyed to northern Seoul where we entered Bukhansan National Park. The park hosts a small town that reminded us of an ultra-modern Colorado mountain town that had been overrun by thousands of hikers. Like with every trip into Korea’s hills, we joined the throngs of people plodding along together in an ironic pursuit of natural solitude. From the Korean Tourism website: “The park averages 5 million visitors and has received the Honor of being in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the national park with the highest number of visitors per square foot.” Constant company aside, we were blown away by the park’s beauty.
This park has a rich history, temples, old fortress walls, and views that evoke speechlessness. For info on getting to Bukhansan, or to read more than I am willing to plagiarize, click here.
Climbing to the top of Baegundae (the tallest peak) was a workout. Our hiking thus far has not produced the billy goat legs we keep expecting to replace our own, so we struggled, huffed, and puffed our way to the top just before sunset. The colors were incredible once we got about halfway up. The leaves were vivid reds, oranges, and yellows with backdrops of coniferous green. We couldn’t stop to take as many pictures as we wished since the light was fading fast and we had no clue about how much more hiking would be required until we reached the summit. There was also the issue of having too many beautiful things to photograph in every direction. Once you take 40-50 pictures of the same tree, you start to assume that one will probably turn out decent, and no additional trees need to be shot before getting to the top.
With a harrowing path that relentlessly threatened our balance and footing, the last bit acted to set up the reward of a completed mountain hike. Every direction provided a myriad of colors and rock formations with city skylines in the distance to juxtapose the natural beauty of Bukhansan. Massive granite peaks flanked Baegundae on both sides. These peaks were blanketed with rock climbers, and I can only imagine the visual spectacle they enjoyed.
After taking pictures and enjoying our incredible vista, we decided that it was time to descend while there was still light. This decision was prudent, although a bit late, as we found ourselves running down the path in total darkness, using our cell phone lights to guide us out. We eventually made it and caught a free taxi out of the park to a nearby town with metro access. Exhausted, we found some samgyeopsal and naengmyeon at a restaurant and rested our feet before making the trip back to Anyang.
Click to enlarge
We took the subway line 3 to the 구파발역 station. We had to take a bus up the road to the entrance of the park. There were big signs on the side so we saw it immediately and got off the bus. We had to walk through the small neighborhood at the base of the mountain to get to the trail head. There were a ton of hiking clothing stores and restaurants. The peek we summited was Baegundae and took about 5 hours just to get to the top.
English map of the park
On our first full day in Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei, we decided to explore the outdoors by taking a hike. Living in Seoul, we are unaccustomed to the flora and fauna of a tropical climate, so we were enthusiastic about getting out boots dirty and searching for spectacular views from atop the numerous mountains on the horizon. Continue reading
Hedgers Abroad 