"I Want To Stand With You On A Mountain"

This afternoon Hwayoung and I enjoyed a semi-strenuous hike up Surisan Mountain (수리산). A little less than halfway up we stopped by a Buddhist Temple (Surisa Temple) and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the area. I was reminded of the autumn back home where I can breathe in cool fresh air (the air seems too polluted here). I was reminded even more so when I had to strain to hear the sound of any traffic. It was nice to find a quiet place amid the commotion of living in a large city. It is too bad I have to walk for about an hour to find it.

Here is the write up from the Korea Sparkling website:

"Surisan Mountain (수리산), a provincial park of Gyeonggi Province, surrounds Gunpo City and is easily accessible as it can be reached in about one hour from anywhere in the Seoul metropolitan area. Grand old trees that range from 100 to 300 years old make for picturesque scenery. The mountain is also an important ecological zone, inhabited by many species of flowers and butterflies that are only found in Korea, along with many endangered species of animals and plants. Meanwhile, the value of areas such as Bat Ridge along Taeeul Peak, Seulgi Peak, Surisa Temple, or Wind Hill in Sokdal-dong are all immeasurable for their natural scenery."

Walking through a park to get to Surisan

Musicians in the park -- sort of

Buddah - and pics from the temple

Panoramic of the temple

Praying to Buddah... 100 times!

Probably for their son or daughter to get into a good university
(I hear it's the popular thing to do)

As always - take your shoes off!

Red Sox - Representing!

(too bad they didn't make it to the World Series this year)

A view of Gunpo near the top of the mountain

Here's some better views from the top of the mountain I found online. Someday I should make it to the very top and take a panoramic shot to show the full extent of how big Gunpo, Anyang, and some other cities look from afar.

 

All the photos from the hike can be found here.