Hiking a Mountain and Eating Octopus

The title of the post got your attention didn't it?  You will just have to keep reading to find out how these two activities fit together.  

San means mountain in Korean, so when I say we hiked Gwanaksan it means we hiked Gwanak Mountain.  In the past few months we have hiked this mountain 3 different times, but I am going to combine all 3 hikes into this one (long) blog post.  This is one of my very favorite mountains to hike here in Seoul.  It is easy to get to, just a short subway ride, and it is a great challenge.

The very first time we hiked this mountain it was just Russ and I on a day he had off when the girls were in school.  We had heard this was a fun hike from some other people but we had no idea how difficult the hike would be.
I found some fairly good directions online.  They said there were two different options for hiking this mountain- the simple way or the challenging way.  Of course, there was no decision in my mind, we were going to hike it the challenging way.  It was fairly cold still and unfortunately not very clear when we set out on this first hike of Gwanaksan.

I had read that there were a few Buddhist temples on this mountain and near the beginning of our hike we began to see these piles of prayer rocks.

There are quite a few areas at the bottom of the mountain where you are hiking on huge rocks with ropes to help you along the way.

 Like I said it was not a very clear day which was unfortunate because this hike would have had  beautiful views.

 I climbed to the top of this massive rock and Russ took my picture.  It wasn't as easy to get down as it was to get up.

 The higher up we got the colder it was.  There was quite a bit of snow on the ground towards the top.

 So, we got a little off the main trail and ended up blazing our own path for a little bit.  Thankfully we eventually met back up with the main trail.

 The higher we got the rockier and steeper it was. 

 At the top we started to see these o-rings for hikers to attach their ropes to.  You know you are doing some serious hiking when there are huge rings for you to attach your gear to.  Of course, Russ and I didn't have any of that gear.  Thankfully they also had some ropes already attached that you could use if you didn't bring your own.  At the top you had to use the ropes in order to pull yourself up the rocks.  It was a great time.

 See that man in the green jacket?  That is where we were heading on our hike.  I have to admit I was a bit scared.  There was absolutely nothing to keep us from falling off that rock wall. 

 Here I am at the exact same place the man in the above picture was (total coincidence that we both had green jackets on).  After we got going in this part it actually wasn't to bad.  We both really enjoyed this part of the hike, but we were also thankful we were alone and hadn't brought the girls.  It would have been a bit much for them.

 Russ taking a break before he heads up to the next level. 

Since it was so overcast we couldn't really see much from the top of the mountain and it was REALLY cold up there, so we didn't stay long, but we did see this Buddhist temple at the top.  We climbed down to it and looked around, but in respect of the people that were there I didn't take any pictures.  After we were a little ways down the mountain we saw the temple from a distance.  It would have had an awesome view on a sunny day.

 Our "on the way home" picture from our first day hiking...

The second time we hiked this mountain was another adventure with just Russ and I.  We had heard you could also hike to the peak from the other side of the mountain.  Since we had so much fun the first time we hiked we decided to go back and try it again from the other side.  I got what I thought were good directions and we headed off.
When we got off the subway at what I read was the correct stop this is what we saw...

Not exactly the mountain I was expecting.
We saw these two ladies and decided to follow them.

 A picture of us following the ladies.

 They unknowingly led us straight to the mountain which was just behind the big, tall city buildings.  When you get off the subway you would never know there is a huge mountain just a few blocks away.
This side of the mountain had all these very old military bunkers. 

Of course, the curious boy combined with the military man in Russ couldn't resist getting a closer look at them.

This side of the mountain was also very rocky.  The whole first part of our hike was up these huge rock steps.

 Thankfully this day was much more clear than our first time we hiked this mountain and we saw some beautiful views.  One of the things I love most about Seoul is that you can be in the busy city, surrounded by all kinds of chaos and just a few minutes later be on the side of a peaceful mountain looking down at the craziness.

 We got to this point of our hike and had a choice to make.  Which of these signs, that we cannot read, should we follow?  In the end we decided not to follow any of the signs and just keep going straight up the mountain on the small dirt path.

 This small dirt path turned into some major boulder climbing again.

 At the top of this side of the mountain were these huge Korean flags.  It was really windy up there and chilly so we didn't stay long, but the sky was too blue and the flag was to awesome to not take a few pictures.

 After this first flag we hiked over a small peak and could see what lay ahead to get to the second peak.  Thankfully there were steps to help us get up this part of the mountain.  If you can see that big peak all the way in the background that is where we actually were on the first day we hiked.  This is a small mountain chain and we were at the opposite end of it from the first time we hiked.

 Here we came upon a second flag with another awesome city view to one side of us and more mountain/forest to the other side.

 We hiked a little bit farther on that day, but we were both tired and decided to head home.  There are some huge rocks on mountain.  I was completely fascinated by them.  This one looks like it is barely balancing on the bottom rock.  I tried to push it off, but it wouldn't budge.  :)

 We saw this sign and quickly figured it meant you could take the upper more difficult route or the lower, easier route.  Guess which path we took...

 We made a stop for some warm coffee (and maybe a doughnut too) before we headed home.

The third time we hiked this mountain we did it with the girls and a small group of people.  Russ' boss loves to hike and he invited us to hike one Saturday with him and another couple from Russ' office.  Since I shared so many pictures from our first two times hiking this mountain I will only share a few from this hike and I will share some of our adventure after the hike.  (I know you are still trying to figure out how the octopus fits into this post.)

Hiking is very popular in Korea and on the weekends in the spring and summer the mountains will often get so crowded that you need to wait in line in order to keep moving up the path.  I don't like to hike this way; I get impatient and want to keep moving.  Thankfully, we had started early and didn't encounter to many crowds until we were close to the top.  Here is a picture of the first flag that I was posed with in the above pictures and a line of people climbing the steps.

In the distance you can see Lucy's pink backpack as she is climbing on a rock with no fear.  The light blue and gray backpack is mine and I am freaking out at her to be careful. 

The day was beautiful for taking pictures of the city.

Lucy attracted quite a bit of attention at the top.

 From the peak we were on you could see the other peaks and see there was still snow on them.

 

 A good family picture.

 It was beautiful at the top and we got some really good pictures.
This is Russ and his two bosses.  It was fun to spend some time with them and their wives outside of the office.

 A group shot of all of us at the top.

One last picture of Lucy posing before we headed down the mountain to get some lunch.

The real adventure of this hike was what we ate for lunch.  We decided to stop for lunch at a fish restaurant that Russ' boss knew about.  The fish was delicious and but the highlight of the day was eating octopus.  When you walked into the restaurant you passed tanks full of these small octopus.

 When you ordered an octopus they would get one out of the tank and take it to the back and cut all the tentacles off of it and bring it to your table on a small plate.  The only problem is the tentacles were STILL MOVING!!!  The nerves were not dead yet so they were moving all around on the plate. 

You can't tell it by this picture, but trust me they are still moving on this plate.

They would suction themselves to the plate, your chopsticks or even your lip if they could.  It was a crazy experience.  There was no way the girls were going to try this without me trying it first, it took me a bit to get over the moving part...

 But after I did I really actually enjoyed the taste.  It was a little bit chewy but they brought you a salty sauce to dip it in and with the sauce it was delicious.  Russ tried it too and really liked it as well.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of him eating it.

 Next Lucy decided to try it.  Her facial expressions say it all.

Giving it the thumbs up.  Check out Taylor watching her.

Now it was Taylor's turn.

In the end, both girls decided that while they liked it and they were excited to tell people they had tried it they probably wouldn't eat moving octopus again.

My next lunch adventure was silkworms.  A very popular hiking snack over here are these silkworm that they often sell at the bottom of the mountains.

Here is the explanation I found for these silkworm from Wikipedia: 

Beondegi (Korean: 번데기) are a popular snack food in Korean cuisine.  Literally meaning "chrysalis" or "pupa" in Korean, Beondegi are steamed or boiled silkworm pupae which are seasoned and eaten as a snack. Beondegi are often served by street vendors, as well as in restaurants and drinking establishments. They are also sold in cans in grocery stores and convenience stores, but they must be boiled in water before serving.

I have not ever tried them before for 2 reasons:
1.  They really stink.  You can smell them a long way off before you can ever see them.  The smell alone has kept me away.
2.  They are silkworm...part of a bug.  I really don't even need the first reason.  This one is enough.


But they were served as a side dish at this restaurant.  I figured since I was there and they were sitting right in front of me I should take advantage of the situation and try them.  

 Here is my reaction. 

 I won't be trying them again.  To be honest it was the texture that was worse than the taste.  The guts kind of squished out in your mouth and the outside was a bit crunchy.  Once was enough for me.  Russ had tried them before and he decided to pass this time.  Both girls passed immediately after seeing my reaction.

After our lunch adventure we headed back down into the subway and what did we come across but a large,  discount shopping area!  It looked like it was all last season's clothing at a huge discount.   There was no way I could pass up this opportunity to find a few good deals so we made a bit of a pit stop before we headed home.

Overall, this mountain has so far been my very favorite mountain to hike in all of the hikes we have done so far in Korea.  I love the rock climbing challenge and the views of the city are beautiful.  When you come visit us if you are up for a good hiking adventure we will be sure to take you back to Gwanaksan.