Inwangsan Shamanist Hillside Walk in Insadong, Seoul, S. Korea

These are Seonbawi (Zen rocks) and are said to look like a Salvador Dali painting by Lonely Planet writers. It's true. The rocks have been "so eroded that they look like robed monks." This is where women come to pray for a son. There is another photo below of the Seonbawi from the opposite side with the cityscape in the background. I could definately feel a spiritual energy while in this area. Sometimes I almost felt creeped out.

After nightfall, they unfurled the razor-wire to enclose the lookout points. We were hiking along the wall that divided the city from the surrounding area back in the day. Now I think it is just one big Seoul sprawling area. It was the first time I consciously felt confronted with teh fact that S. Korea is still in a war. We saw a lookout that had a mesh fence around it, a barking guard dog, and a sparse slab of concrete with a naked basketball hoop. Two guards around 20 years of age were playing ball. All the guards wore matching plaid shirts and resembled American office workers on a Friday casual day. Then, once nightfell, men with big guns began to patrol the wall. We hiked back along the steps painted in white (we realized the reason they were painted once it became dark--we were all of a sudden able to make a somewhat treacherous and lengthy journey more timely and safe). A Korean man was on the journey with the four of us. I wrongly assume that Koreans can't understand what I am saying. This was more of a problem when I first arrived, although I still slip up. For example, during this outing we took a break and ate squid and tangerines on a large boulder. As we were sitting there, the sun began to set and people were hiking past us back to the temple area. It was becoming brisk out. I exclaimed as two older Korean men passed, "HEY, we should get some Mickey Mouse gloves like them!" They stopped and chatted for a bit. The older gentlemen mentions that he used to live in FLORIDA!! I could have just died. Furthermore, we are starting to curb our habit of speaking about highly inappropriate material as dinnertime conversation. So, back on topic, we were afraid we would get lost and I said, "Maybe we should follow this guy." It turns out that he is very well versed in English and he was actually trained by the US Army. He still works for them.