Day 84: Achasan & Dongdaemun

Our main goal for today was to climb up Achasan. We wanted to do that in the evening though so we decided to meet near Dongdaemun and check out the apartments where Taehyung filmed a scene from their I Need U music video. I had read online that people were still living at the apartments so we tried to be as quiet as possible while we were taking the pictures. We both felt super uncomfortable being there so we took the pictures as quickly as we could and then escaped back outside. The apartments were really cool and the colours made for an interesting place to take photos.

Ella's face in this picture perfectly describes how awkward we felt being at the apartments.

Both of us were so freaked out, but we burst out laughing after we made it out of the apartments. I haven't felt this uncomfortable since I went to the abandoned swimming pool with a few friends and we almost got in trouble for trespassing. I had initially planned for us to have an hour at the apartments to explore and take photos, but we weren't there for more than 10 minutes. There was a small restaurant nearby so we stopped there for the remainder of the time and ordered some kimbap and fried food. Once we had finished eating we walked back over to the subway station and set off for the mountain. It took us around half hour to get to Achasan station by subway. We then walked for a few minutes through some alleys and streets to get to the base of the mountain.

We discovered Achasan through a Run BTS! episode. Namjoon lost a game of Monopoly on one of the episodes and had to hike up the mountain at sunrise as punishment. Taehyung decided to join him and the scenery from the episode looked amazing (both of them said it was not a punishment after they were able to experience it). Ella and I are both terrible morning people so we decided to go for the sunset rather than the sunrise. KakaoMap told us it would take about 15 minutes to get to the top, but we got a little confused with the paths and ended up arriving for the end of the sunset. The sky and view were still beautiful. It was such an incredible feeling to stand at the top and look out over such a huge city with millions of people. We agreed that this is one of the many reasons we love Seoul and that standing here made us feel incredibly relaxed and awed. It was so easy to forget about our problems and anything else and just enjoy the view. We also spotted Lotte Tower on the horizon and it was strange to see it look so small when we had just been there and it had looked huge from the ground. Even writing this now I can remember the incredible feeling of standing at the top and looking out over the city and I hope it is something I will never forget. I wanted to go here for New Years Eve to watch the fireworks, but it was too cold and it would have been too far to walk to from my hostel (the line 5 subway wasn't running after the fireworks). Some of my favourite memories have been climbing mountains here and I can't wait to explore more next time I am in Korea.

A lady passed by at one point and we asked her if she could take a picture of the two of us. She was super nice and took several photos.

Once the sun had completely set and it started to get dark we set off back down the mountain. It was pretty dark in the forest and I was glad I wasn't doing this alone. We decided to go back to Hongdae for dinner and to watch some busking. We stopped in the line store to look for a phone case for my sister and then walked over to the main street. For dinner we went to a ramen place that was behind the main street. It was super yummy and inexpensive! After dinner we walked back out to the street where people busk and found a street vendor selling candied strawberries. We decided to buy some for dessert and they were so yummy! I ended up with the candy stuff all over my hands and my bag, but it was totally worth it for the taste.

On the way home I had to transfer at a station called Euljiro 3-ga. I think this is the only station I have come across that doesn't have doors along the subway line. There are security people along both sides of the tracks. I think they are meant to stop people from jumping in front of the trains. They also have a really loud buzzer that goes off every few seconds. I'm not sure if this is actually why there are people guarding the tracks, but it seems like the most logical reason. I hate the loud noise and it makes me sad every time I have to transfer at this station thinking that they need people there to make sure no one jumps. The last time I transferred here they had started building the glass doors and walls along the tracks that many of the other stations have.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(December 18, 2018)