A day of hiking with new friends!

This morning, I set my alarm and got up nice and early, made myself a yummy breakfast and headed off to meet some new friends for a day of hiking!  Lacy, the girl who took over my job at Gamjung Elementary school, is part of a hiking club in Busan and she invited me to join in today.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, I decided it would be the perfect way to spend my Saturday!  ... And it was!

We all met in Nampodong and jumped on a bus to Songdo Beach where we would start the hike toward Amnam Park.  I'm checking out the map and pointing to some good spots!

Even with all the fog and gray skies, it was a gorgeous walk to Amnam Park from Songdo Beach!

Entrance wasn't permitted to Amnam Park until its opening in 1996, when visitors could finally experience the stunning mix of forest and seaside views, as well as completely untouched landscape! We finally made it to Amnam Park and hiked the path that ultimately leads to an extremely steep staircase leading down to the water!  If I had to guess, there were way over 100 steps!  We all stopped here and ate some kimbap and watched some old Korean women diving for sea treasures!

After relaxing by the water, we put our hiking caps on (metaphorically of course) and set off on a 3 hour adventure of steep ups and downs along the cliffside!  While I'd love to say I relished in all the details of the beauty around me, I spent most of the hike either panting histerically and trying to catch my breath, or finding myself deep in conversation with new friends!

 We ended the outing by sitting down to some delicious Indian food at Bombay in Nampodong, which I highly recommend to anyone who lives in Busan!  Nothing like spicy Indian curry to bring a smile to this girls face!
Thanks to Lacy, Sarah, Stephen, Jo, Bethany, Simon, Michelle, Crystal, Joseph, Daninella, JiHee, Alex and Alicia for such a fun day!