Sunday, 20 July 2008

Run up Ansancheon


My university is right next to one of mountains that rise up throughout Seoul, called Ansancheon. Whenever I want to go for a run I tend to go up the mountain rather than on the streets that border campus, the view is better and the exhaust fumes can be overwhelming.

Ansancheon itself is beautiful, dotted with little parks and badminton courts where older Koreans, (ajushis and ajummas) picnic and talk with one another.

The whole run takes a little under an hour, and finishes up with a massive flight of stairs (about 250, yes I counted). The whole thing feels like the ascent to a Shaolin temple.

Many older Korean men and women use the mountain for their daily hike, calmly striding beside me as I sweat and strain up the inclines. There aren't many gyms in the city, but going for an afternoon or morning walk, even during the middle of the summer, seems popular.

The summit/outlook has a stone signal fire tower, from it you can see most of the Seoul city center.
All along the base of another of Seoul's mountains you can see the style of apartment buildings that houses Seoul's immense population.
These apartment complexes are typically constructed by the big Korean conglomerates, Samsung, LG, Sungwon, and you would not believe how uniform and how common they are. Most of the buildings, despite some changes in the outside paint job, look identical, the only way you can tell them apart is by their number. There is one other interesting sight on the top of Ansancheon, what looks like an old military radio tower. Sandbag trenches encircle the top of the mountain, and the antenna looks like it dates back a few decades.

(note: I added another picture to my gallery of Korean anatomy appliances.)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your world, Harald. The place where you run seems like a peaceful place with a great view. Keep up with the blogging. We appreciate from here.