Goin' up that hill

We finally went hiking this past weekend. Hiking is a pretty big deal in Korea, nearly 90% of the country is mountainous. The city we live in is literally surrounded by mountains. We have some just 10 minutes walk from our apartment.

Like everything else here, there is the familiar and the unfamiliar. Most Koreans really get geared up to hike...walking sticks, proper gloves, jackets, canteens, hats. This is all for a hike of an hour or two.

Our first surprise was when we got to the top of the first hill. There was a clock tacked to a tree, and a mirror. Mirrors are EVERYWHERE here, from elevators to bus stations. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see one in the wilderness, but I was. We had a good laugh about this.

One of the cool things about walking trails and hikes here is that there is always a lot of fitness equipment. I mean, you've never seen so much, it is anywhere people walk. The top of the hill was no exception. Nothing like benching some kilos after a brisk walk up the side of a mountain.

The view was really beautiful up here. It's still interesting to see how the city looks from above, there are just SO MANY buildings.

We also saw some burial sites, they pop up every now and then in remote places. I thought it was interesting how sculpted the ground is around these mounds. They use the mounds of dirt instead of headstones, and the ground is usually very well manicured. I'm not sure by who.

We encountered these banners along the way, we assume they are talking about what a great area "Dalseo" is (this is the part of town we live in).

Once we made it down the mountain we found another treat--pressurized air guns to get the dust off of our feet. No one needs to know that you were hiking and no one will.