A heat wave has hit Seoul; it’s a whopping 10 degrees warmer today than yesterday, bringing up the temperature to a comfortable 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
To celebrate this moment I headed outside for a little hiking at Buk Ak Mountain. My buddy James from Seoul City met me and we headed to a beautiful trail on the northern outskirts of town.
The trail follows the fortress walls constructed by the Joseon dynasty in the early 1700’s. They actually built four gates around the city to protect the king from invaders. It’s looks something like the Great Wall, but I don’t think you can see this wall from space :)
We wandered the trail until we came to a sign that broke my heart, ‘Closed.’ The main section was blocked off due to slippery conditions, bummer. We turned back and luckily found another inviting trail that led off into the woods.
We quickly learned why they closed the trail though. Our new path was as slippery as an ice skating rink. We gingerly made our way down, grasping desperately onto the side rail to stay on our feet. It didn’t help though; first James took a spill, quickly followed by Sang in. We must have looked like a crew of drunken monkeys clumsily bobbling down that hill.
Once we reached the bottom, we came upon a tall column of small pebbles stacked about 6 feet high. Sang in explained to me that people stack these stones while making a wish for each rock.
I like making wishes and eagerly uncovered a pile of snow to find a rock. Once I found my winner, I eagerly placed it on the pile. However, in the process of adding my stone, I accidently knocked off about five rocks in the process, oops, five wishes down the drain!
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