Actually taking a rest day! Our initial plan was to go hiking in the Bukhansan National Park. Unfortunately, Grant woke up with a sore throat that had gotten worse throughout the night. We decided to forego the hike for the day and sleep in. Afterwards, we grabbed some coffee at Banapresso and decided to use the day to catch up on the blog and organize the photos we had taken thus far in Seoul. At Banapresso we encountered a coffeeshop where you literally cannot order a drink from a human. An older Korean gentleman walked in and was so confused that he had to order from a screen that they kept pointing him to. Funny how you can pick up on what’s happening without understanding any words in our case. Banapresso also served really largely portioned drinks compared to most drinks we have seen around the world (comparable to US sized).

However, we did end the day by trying out a traditional Korean meal at a local spot recommended by Sebastian. I had told him I enjoy the sides at Korean BBQ restaurants and said we should try this place out as they serve many sides. Of course it was an interesting journey trying to find it as the name of the restaurant was in Korean on every sign outside on the street. We headed down a stairway and we were only able to recognize it from the sign we had seen in a picture on Google Maps. 

They had only one set menu and came out with a whole table top full of plates and bowls. Most of the sides we could recognize while some we were unsure of. We just told ourselves it was some sort of vegetable (especially if it was some sort of weird animal). Grant braved what looked like raw crab (since I’m allergic to shellfish) while I tried the raw octopus. We both covered them with a bunch of stuff so it would mask most of the taste, though I could definitely tell the chewiness of the octopus. We tried to scrape the meat off the whole fish they had given us, but I think we were both worried about getting a piece of bone so we ended up not eating it. We asked a server how to eat the fish and he (with one hand) used his chopsticks to slice the fish in half to expose the meat. It was amazing how skilled the locals are with chopsticks. It made us feel better when most of the locals still had food left sitting in the bowls and plates when they were finished. We were glad we experienced a traditional Korean meal but probably stick to the Korean BBQ we know. 

The next day Grant woke up feeling a bit better so we decided to get the hike in for that day. The national park is on the outskirts of the city so we had to metro about an hour north of where we were staying. Once there, it seemed like the clouds had gotten thicker and there was a cool breeze blowing. The day before would have been perfect weather wise, but at least Grant was feeling much improved. We quickly realized how well groomed the trail was along with being very well organized. They had stairs for the most part leading up the steepest portions of the hike, though I wasn’t sure if it was better climbing stairs or having some switchbacks to hike. In our week we also realized how well Korea is positioned for emergency preparedness – all subways have gas masks, fire extinguishers, etc. at every station and even the walking trails had defibrillators, first aid kits, and instructions on how to help someone having a medical emergency.

We took a longer route than initially planned as we couldn’t read the signs and following the trail map was also rough. But we were finally headed in the right direction of Baekundae Peak. Along the route, there were several gates (similar to the Heunginjimun Gate) that had been used during certain dynasty wars. Although we read after the entire wall was finished, they never needed to use it. When we could finally see the peak we were headed to, the air was definitely colder and windier as we went higher. We had reached a small landing area about 1km from the peak and decided to turn around as the fog had gotten thick. I think Grant was probably a little disappointed, but I was relieved as I figured we wouldn’t really see much of a view from the top. And it meant we could head back down to some warmth. 

The hike down was probably tougher as it was a steep rocky course to get to the bottom. As we got closer, we began hearing what sounded like music and some chanting. We didn’t realize there was a massive temple at the bottom of the trail. The trail wound right around a bunch of Buddhist monks doing some sort of prayer ceremony. We grabbed a couple of photos before walking down the road to the metro stop. All along the road were various Buddhist statues and monuments that locals would bow to as they walked by or through archways. One neat thing that the park had at the very end of the trail was a sort of vacuum blower to brush off any dust/dirt from your pants and shoes. We weren’t sure at first what they were and were nervous to push the giant red button, but figured it out once we saw locals come by and use them. 

That evening we were craving some comfort food (not like there was anything wrong with Korean food) and decided to try out Brick Oven New York Pizzeria. Turned out to be some of the best pizza we have had on this portion of the trip. Asia actually has more of an idea about pizza than most of the countries in Africa did. Seoul in particular had really good cuisines from all over the world. Afterwards, we walked around our neighborhood and realized we had missed out on a lot of food options this direction! We were craving some dessert and all the original places we had tried were already closing so ended up at Baskin Robbins. They had 100 flavors to choose from (most of which we had never heard of) and again we were the Americans taking forever to order at the kiosks. Wasn’t the best ice cream we’ve had but fulfilled the dessert craving for the night.