Another mandatory trip from my region in South Korea is to Palgongsan Mountain. This destination is quite the interesting mix of nature and culture. Not getting much time off, it is a treat to have both aspects combined in one outing.
The transit trek there from the city has the potential be a bit long and complicated, but completely possible if you just follow the people dressed in hiking gear. Those comfortable with subway transfers and long public bus routes that involve yanking your arm while holding a pole and flinging into other passengers for a bit will find a fine reward of sitting down as this ride drives closer to the destination. One can then relax toward the end of this bus voyage and watch the city bustle dwindle down and release into the suburbs, where one can notice the reduction of building concentration as this vehicle gradually reaches the hills.
Palgongsan is hopping with an assortment of hikers of all ages. In the United States, it is rare to find grandmothers decked out in hiking clothes, navigating a steep hill, but here, it is pretty normal.
This hike involves hundreds of stairs carved out into a steep mountain slope, a very direct ascent. About every 20 minutes of hiking, you must rest and catch your breath, but at these breaks, you are rewarded with some strikingly epic Buddhist temple or statue, perhaps with some interesting music playing in the background. Other breaks involve Korean mothers handing out complimentary fruit to you, or monks standing to the side of the trail, consistently beating on a simple percussion instrument.
The top of the mountain seems a bit other-wordly. Personally, you are worn and heated and undergoing pleasant physical and mental sensations in your head and body. At this time, you are simultaneously greeted by a large, gray Buddha carved into the rock. Dozens of people are on mats, bowing in front of this sculpture or lighting candles.
Though likely cold and windy at this peak, you are immune and able to remove your top clothing layers from all of the workout warmth, and peer over the sides of the summit fences and try to make out the network of hazy hills.