One of the first touristy things we did in Busan, South Korea's 2nd city, was to escape the crowds and visit Mt. Kumjeong (or Geumjeongsan), the mountain overlooking Busan and, not surprisingly, the city's most popular hiking destination. It's topped by a fortress, the Geumjeong Sanseong, which has some 17km of walls, four gates and four observation towers. It was built between 1701 and 1707, its aim to repel invading Japanese and Chinese armies. It's kind of ironic then that most of the structure was destroyed during the Japanese occupation if Korea (1910 - 1945). Restoration work began in 1972 and continues today. While I pretty much walked the whole 17km of walls last January, this time around myself and B, thanks to the intense heat, didn't venture too far off the beaten path and were quite content with looking at the views back to Busan and a few of the fortress gates, the ones near the cable car station. Busan, South, Korea. July 18th, 2004
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