A walk up Jangsan

Last weekend my friend John invited me to go hike on Jangsan mountain. We met up at my apartment in Namcheon dong and drove to Jangsan dong, where we parked and proceeded up the mountain.



I've never been a huge outdoors person. But lately I seem to be doing a lot of outdoor activities. Jangsan Mt. is the second highest peak in Busan (maybe 1km above sea level). It's not a huge mountain, but it does offer some good panoramas.



The walk took us about 4 hours, although that did include a stop for lunch. Like any hike in Korea we had to share the trail with a fair number of people. In the picture above you can see some Taekwondo students who were hiking up the trail as a class activity. It was very cute and somewhat funny to see all these little 8-12 year olds dressed up in their combat gear straining up the trail.



I went on the hike with John and his friend, Jong Hak. Both of them are smokers so they found the hike more arduous than me. Its been a long time since I felt that I was reasonably fit. But I have managed to maintained a gym regimen since a couple months after I came to Korea. I have put on a good amount of muscle and really improved my cardio. I guess I realized how much I have improved my fitness when I witnessed my friends wheezing up the trail. I used to be the one who found themselves out of breath, so it was a nice feeling. That's John standing next to me in the picture below.



The trail progressed in a couple stages, which offered different views of the city. Toronto is a great city in many ways, but when I lived there I always hated how flat it was. Growing up in Hobart, where nothing is flat, gives you an appreciation for a city laid out on the hillside. Busan is sandwiched between the ocean and the mountains and Jangsan is the best place to observe exactly how the city is shaped.



The picture above shows the eastern area of the city. Although you can't really see it, the city is curving around the famous Haeundae beach.



The picture above continues the show the eastern area of the city a little further south. If you click on the picture for a larger view then you can see Gwangali beach and the Gwangan Bridge. My apartment is located in the area between where the upper part of the bridge joins the land, and the beach. Unfortunately, the day we hiked the air was a little hazy, so the pictures of the city aren't as clear as I would like.



This picture shows the area of the city west and inland of Gwangali beach, towards the center of the city. I like this picture because it really shows how the hills dominate the landscape of Busan. I always find it interesting how in a land so starved of land, the Koreans are still so adverse to building on hillsides and mountains. Koreans traditionally buried their dead in the hills. Many families still own plots on hillsides around the city they live in. On any mountain hike in Korea you are likely to walk past marked or unmarked mounds where someone is buried.



On the way down the mountain we stopped at a... well restaurant would be too fancy a word... lets call it an eating establishment; for some much needed food. It doesn't look like much and the food was very simple, but it was quite good and it really hit the spot.



The meal consisted of real Korean staples. A plate of Dubu (tofu), a plate of the ubiquitous Kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage) and Pajun which is a a sort of pancake made of mostly green onion and egg, with some squid and other vegetables thrown in.



It was about 19 degrees on the day we hiked and spring had been around long enough that everything was beginning to bloom.



Part of what made the hike so great was that this was the first time I had gotten out and really taken advantage of the spring weather. I have the weather from Busan, Toronto, Hobart and Halifax on my Google homepage and I have to laugh when at the beginning of April, Busan was having days close to the 20's and Halifax and Toronto were still getting snow.



We finished our hike sitting at the edge of a reservoir, under blossoming cherry trees, drinking coffee in the sun. We had started early enough that it was only 3:30 by the time we finished and I still had a nice afternoon ahead of me. I finished the day with a visit to a Jimjilbang (bathhouse/sauna) and a late meal of Samgyupsal (Korean pork BBQ); with some other friends, Dave and Jong Wook.