Geumgang and Geumjeong and Seobulksa, oh my

For our third full day in Korea, Austin and I decided to go exploring ‘round the great city of Busan. Opened up our trusty guide book and decided to check out Geumgang Park / Geumjeong Fortress. This required hopping on the subway (a 10 min walk from our apartment) and taking it about 40 minutes into the city (the subway system, by the way, is extremely easy to use… which is excellent, because I have to take it to work every morning, and we all know about my propensity for getting lost…) Anyway… ended up meeting a bunch of peeps from the States. They were serendipitously headed to the same place we were, so we joined their 3 person hiking team and started up the mountain.

Geumgang Park is one of the most popular places for hiking in Busan, and it didn’t take long to figure out why. There are and endless number of trails, traversing through rocky terrains wicked inclines. The Koreans take hiking very seriously, usually doing it as their exercise for the weekend. They dress in full mountain gear, complete with hiking poles and boots – the whole nine yards. Many of them bring picnics (and soju!), which is actually quite a good idea and something I might try next time. So, on to the hiking -- near the South Gate, where the Park entrance is located, you can choose to hike up a pretty steep 540km incline, orrrr take the much more scenic cable car for 3,500W (a little over $3, approx). Not surprisingly, I voted for the cable car, and did not regret it! Aside from my obvious motives (ahem, laziness), it was an AWESOME view of the city. Probably the only view that could compare with the one we experienced would be from the top of the Busan Tower (I haven’t been yet, but I’ve seen other people’s pics from the top). Anyway, it was a gorgeous day, and the city looked phenomenal.. and BIG. We attempted to find the hidden temple of Seobulksa, but no such luck – turns out the damn thing really is hidden. After the climb we got a bite to eat at a Turkish restaurant near PNU.. Kebob? Something at all similar to that? Not sure, but good hummus & chicken rolls. Visited Haundae briefly, planning to go back during the day.