Keeping Track

November 22nd 2016

The 20th, Lenz walked through the mountains*

Today we're touring the Bukhansan National Park — the plan is to look at some nature and have a relaxing stroll or something.
From the metro station we walk through one of Seoul's outer districts that almost feels like a separate, more rural town. Every now and then we pass locals with hiking boots, sticks, backpacks, and weather-proof jackets as we come to realize that this won't be the easy stroll through a forest we expected. Well, who cares. We can handle a little terrain, even in worn-out sneakers.
So we follow the first signs we see pointing us to some mountaintop. The path is steep and rocky, but very pretty and rich in variety — the view is really nice down here already.
On the way to the just 370 meter tall peak an older Korean couple chats us up and we are again reminded that we understand less Korean than we'd like — I manage to communicate my age, at least, so learning some numbers paid off.
The peak is, in a word, amazing. We get to enjoy a true 360° panorama of Seoul, which runs through the valleys like a huge sea of buildings. At the edge of the rocky cliffs, you really feel like standing on top of the world and look down into quite the abyss — Jan follows me hesitantly.
The photos don't do the landscape up here any justice — the sensation of standing on a cliff looking down is simply breathtaking.
Maybe our new V-Log can give you a better perspective:



*I'm afraid this incredible reference doesn't really make it through translation. But, if you'd still like to appreciate it: We really did walk through the mountains on the 20th.

Seoul — Review

Seoul is different than Singapore or Hong Kong in that it isn't as dense but instead spreads out over a huge area. Most buildings here are low-rises and there is no real city centre or one single skyline.
The city is no mega-metropolis in the way that Hong Kong is — Seoul may be huge and densely populated, but you feel more like in a regular city that just so happens to be a bit larger than usual.
But still — we like it here. A lot, actually: The city is alive, it's inhabitants are, from what we can tell, incredibly nice and welcoming, and we get a really immersive experience of Korean lifestyle. People here place a lot of value on eating out together, which may be why we find lots of great food (the best on our journey so far?), cafés, restaurants, and the small street food stalls selling the tasty pancake-things we look forward to after every meal.
Apart from that, Seoul offers a vast amount of things to do: With sights ranging from art galleries over temples and palaces up to huge national parks, we don't even manage to fit in one of the many day-trips from Seoul in our eleven days here.
Maybe we should note that we did not like Itaewon, where we spent our first few nights, all that much — between pubs, foreigners, and kebab stalls, this doesn't feel like the Korea we came here to see — Hongdae was a lot nicer.*
Once more, Jan and I agree: We really feel comfortable here and would love to come back — and could also imagine living here for a bit.
As such, it is a bit difficult for me to say goodbye to Seoul today.

But let's get to the dark side:
We've already mentioned that the political situation in Seoul is pretty chaotic right now as one or the other politician turns out to be more corrupt than assumed in Freedom is not free, so I will leave that topic aside for now with the quick note that this is a problem in Korea in general (If you are interested in that sort of thing, you might want to read up on the powerful Chaebol families behind Samsung, Hyundai, or Kumho Asiana).
While digging through Wikipedia pages about the country, I stumbled upon something else: South Korea has the second highest suicide rate in the world — the highest by far among OECD members.
Among the reasons for Korea's suicide problem are impoverished elderly people who don't want to burden their families as well as students spending up to 16 hours a day in one of the world's most demanding school systems. The entire article is definitely worth a read:

Suicide in South Korea — wikipedia.org

And, to end this post on a high note, here's two things you should not do in Korea:
You should probably refrain from trying to oil the table grill with vinegar — as mentioned before, this might result in some laughter and removal of said vinegar. Also, with an eye to the Geo-political situation, you should definitely not touch North Korean soldiers. Or talk to them. Or point at them. It's all detailed on the waiver we had to sign informing us that we can't sue anyone if war breaks out in the DMZ in the next ten minutes.

*Translation Note: Yeah, I know, that sounds kind of odd. And yes, we're foreigners, too. Maybe it is the nightlife-heavy part, maybe it's something else entirely, but somehow what works for places like London does not work for Itaewon. In my eyes, at least — maybe it is just me not wanting to follow the expat-foreigner stereotype.