hiking on bukhansan

Three weekends ago, I went hiking with some coworkers on Bukhansan, the mountain that stands directly over the northern edge of Seoul, its foothills snaking their way right into busy neighborhoods. It's visible from almost anywhere in the city--including directly from my bathroom window. It had been beckoning to me ever since I'd gotten here, but I'd been waiting for fall to arrive. The day we went, the weather was perfect--it had just become cool enough that we had finally stopped complaining about the ineffective air conditioning in the classrooms in school. The leaves were just starting to change colors, too...



This was also the weekend after I dropped my kit lens off a railing at Anguk station and so all I had was my 50mm prime--so no wide landscape shots for me. More after the break.



It is often noted that hiking is a pretty serious sport over here, undertaken mainly by the multitudes of tough-as-nails middle-aged Korean women (ajummas: "The stereotypical 'ajumma' image is that of a short, stocky, tough old woman who wears purple pants and permed hair, and has sharp elbows on the subway") and their husbands (ajosshis) less, it would seem, for the views and outdoors spirit, than for the opportunity for sheer physical exertion.



Undaunted by the ajummas and ajosshis passing us right and left, we pressed onwards...


...past interesting things...


...until it was time to rest...




...and then keep going...






...until we joined the crowds...




...at the top.



Time to relax.




















And eventually go down.








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