Nestled away not far from the bustling shopping district of Myeongdong is something entirely different. So much of the Republic of Korea's capital is crowded and fast paced that you wouldn't expect such a place to exist at first. If you're getting tired of seeing the same kinds of things in places like Myeongdong and Itaewon, I highly reccommend that you may a visit to this place. What I'm speaking of, of course, is Namsan park - a surprisingly large naturalistic area of Seoul near the famous Namsan tower.

Like so many of the places I've enjoyed visiting during my time in Korea, Namsan Park is free to visit. To get there you'll need to get to the Dongguk University station and then walk just a little ways to reach the entrance to the park. The lowest levels of the park have a lot to see on their own - the pagoda below is just one of them. Numerous monuments dedicated to Korea's struggles against Japanese imperialism dot the lower tier of the park as well. Interestingly there was a statue of Ahn JongGun, the man who assassinated former Japanese prime minister Ito Hirobumi in 1907. Branded a terrorist by Japan, he is lionized in Korea and there's even a musical about Ahn's exploits.

A sight all too familiar to a SoonChunHyang University student: stairs.

If your feet are in need of some relief there's also this walking path near the park entrance. What you're suppposed to do is remove your shoes and walk across the stones all the way around. I imagine this is supposed to have a massaging effect on the person walking, though I didn't try it myself. A large stone foot near the entrance to the path explains its purpose, I think (my Korean isn't good enough for that). It's the kind of thing you only find if you wander off the beaten path and have a look around at anything that seems interesting.

A teahouse near the bottom of the park, also where public restrooms are located.

Visible behind the teahouse is a hotel named after a past dynasty - the Shilla Hotel.

Finally there's also a nice walking path built through a man-made pond just before the teahouse. The biggest surprise was that at one end of this path was a waterfall, which you can see above. It's very peaceful to sit and reflect in this part of the park even though the street isn't far away. One can even see birds occasionally amongst the brush and trees at the park's entrance, again contrasting quite a lot with the modern metropolis that is Seoul.

Modern Korea amidst the natural wonders of Namsan park: a little league baseball field.

Even more stairs!

I saw this gate while on the hiking trail: it looks like it should be in a horror movie.

A map of the Namsan park hiking trail.

Namsan Tower, just visible from the trail.

Once you're done taking in all the sights of the monuments and walking paths near the park entrance you can ascend further into some truly beautiful terrain. Just up another flight of stone stairs is the beginning of the Namsan hiking trail. This trail goes all around the park, and can take you to the tower itself as well as to the Namsan Hanok Folk Village. To get to the tower from the park entrance is just over a kilometer, so it'll take a little while to reach it.

What I did was to just relax and enjoy the trail itself, a nice break from the crowded subway train I'd been on just a couple of hours before. Having somewhere to get some fresh air and not be harried by urban movement was very relaxing and rewarding. I ended up at Namsan originally because my friend wanted to go somewhere natural. As it turns out I enjoyed it just as much because of the peaceful solitude Namsan provides.

When we went there were very few people present. Most of those who were out taking in the park were middle aged or older and even then they were few and far between. While we didn't have the whole park to ourselves it certainly felt like it at times. And along the trail there were little things here and there that I noticed mainly because I wasn't looking for anything in particular. Such as the metal gate pictured in this blog that looks like it's straight out of a horror movie. And in another picture there's a green tent visible - someone was camping out in Namsan Park it seems.

Nearby Namsan Park is the Namsan Hanok Folk Village. You can take the hiking trail as a long way around and to take in the supreme beauty of your surroundings. Or to get directly to the village you can take the subway to Chungmuro and exit about a block away from its entrance. While the park is free the activities in the folk village are not, though they're not prohibitively expensive. Touring the village and taking pictures is free of course, so if you just want to look around it won't cost you anything.

Traditional structures clustered amongst a separate park tell you that you've found the folk village. Here you can catch a glimpse into Korean life from the Joseon period, as well as partake in the aforementioned activities. These include an art gallery, making a traditional Korean flute or kite, and trying on hanbok, the traditional Korean costume. Doing this in the folk village is cheaper, but there is also building for the National Traditional Theater nearby that appears to have a wider range of costumes to try. Doing it at the theater office will cost you 10,000 won, but this is cheaper than going to a photography studio elsewhere and paying for such pictures. In addition the folk village has a tea house, where drinks are fairly reasonably priced and served in the traditional fashion.

And if you really want to be cheap, there are these standups where you can put your face in and pretend to be wearing hanbok... or armor. Doing it this way is both amusing and free. So in total Namsan Park and the folk village are worth a visit if you want to get away from the bustle and hurry of urban Korea. You can do things relatively inexpensively here, if you have to pay at all, so it's very much worth a look if you're in the neighborhood.