There is a cable car service that can take you most of the way to the top, but being more hardcore than that, we elected to climb up the 1.3km-worth of steps. The path is heavily frequented and well-maintained with most of the way being cut granite. There are also numerous exercise areas along the way complete with the standard pushup/situp stations you might expect but also some complete sets of barbells for lifting.
The top of the tower is extremely touristy, since it's pretty easy to get there by cable car. We were greeted by Haechi, the official mascot of Seoul. Haechi dates back to the era of the Joseon kings, we actually ran into some yesterday guarding the gates of Gyeongbokgung palace:
It is said that these mythical beasts are creatures of justice with the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and know a person's true motives. If a person entering the palace had the intent of assassinating or harming the king, the statues were supposed to come to life and impale the intruder with the spine on their backs. this guy seems much friendlier though:
We went up into the tower and got a pretty good view of the city, but it probably wasn't worth the $9 price of admission. This area is an extremely popular date location, and almost all the tourist spots and souvenirs reflected this. The long-standing tradition is for you and your date to go up the mountain with a lock, write a note or your names on it, attach the lock to any available surface, and then throw the key off the mountain. Apparently the quantity of keys littering the mountainside became a serious pollution issue because they now ask that you no longer throw the key off the side of the mountain.
Despite the touristy atmosphere we had a great lunch at a Chinese restaurant that served some top-notch noodle soup dishes. Namsan also has some historical significance; for a long time it was the end of the line of beacon fires that would warn the city of an enemy invasion. Lighting one through five chimneys indicates a different threat level, from "all clear" to "battle has been joined". Historical re-enactors currently guard the area and we had the opportunity to briefly join in their vigilant protection of the city.
We hiked down the mountain via a different route and walked a ways to the nearby Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Hall, built to commemorate a Korean patriot noted for his efforts towards Korean independence, especially the 1909 assassination of Ito Hirobumi, the Japanese governor-general of Korea and one of the main architects of the Japanese invasion / colonization. As can be expected, he was tried and executed by the Japanese colonial government but is revered in Korea as a martyr and national hero.
We weren't really sure what to expect from the memorial, but it turned out to be a very impressive museum detailing Ahn Jeun-geun's life. A devout Catholic, he spent a good deal of time in exile in China trying to raise an army to liberate the Korean peninsula; he managed to win a few encounters but it seems that his forces dissolved after one battle where he refused to execute the Japanese POWs, citing international law and setting them free instead. He then formed a secret society called the Danji League dedicated to winning Korean independence -- at its inception the league members chopped off the first digit of the right ring finger to prove their loyalty to the cause; and then wrote a postcard with the blood
A blown-up version of the blood-postcard is in the background. To be sure, the memorial was all about Korean national pride and full of propaganda terminology, but it was an interesting historical lesson nonetheless, that certainly reveals more about the perspective and tribulations of the Korean people. To further highlight this guy's importance, "Jung-geun" is the name of the red-stripe ITF Taekwondo form, in his honor.
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Amusing photo of the day!
Literally "pah pah ee seuh" (I can read some basic Hangul now)
say hi to chris + stacie for me! also, did you get to see the demonstration of old-school fighting at namsan tower? last time we went, we got to see that, which was pretty cool :D
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying your blog - it brings back a lot of memories. Glad you're catching on to hangul - it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. One of our favorite places just south of Seoul is Namhansansong - it's a mountain fortress with a path that you can climb and there's a beautiful Buddhist temple at the top. I'd hope it hasn't gotten too touristy.
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