KOREAN SPRING

For some reason, I'd never tried Chicago-style pizza before. I'd seen it and heard of it countless times, but never got round to actually trying it until yesterday. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision; I noticed a pizza place while I was on my way to have Mexican food, noticed a long line of people waiting for a seat, and decided I needed to come back to try for myself. So I researched other blog posts about it, learned that you couldn't make any prior reservations, and so raced over after work to Gangnam station with my colleague. We actually got confused - the one I saw was in the CGV alleyway, but the one my map told me was behind Lotte Cinema. I'm still not sure whether it's the same chain, but we went to the one on the map and decided they'd probably taste similar anyway. We arrived about 10 minutes before 7, while it was still light outside. Luckily there were a few seats available, but about an hour later people were lined up all the way

I'd been to Bulamsan a couple of times before, and always considered it a fair and enjoyable hike. Lots of boulders, which I'd prefer over dirt paths any day, and a reasonable walk of only about 2 hours. If I were hiking solely for the incredible view I would definitely go for Bukhansan, but that mountain always has me completely wiped out and the way up to the peak is just so long and exhausting. Which is why for my second hike of the year, I chose Bulsamsan, which is only a little over 500m high and full of only good memories. I figured I'd prepare myself for Bukhansan by conquering all the smaller mountains first. So Evan (my new hiking buddy) and I met at Sanggye station, which is where my brief research told me we should start. To be completely honest, I didn't have any set trails in mind; I thought we would just follow the colorful flock of ahjussis. Surprisingly, however, there weren't any hikers in sight when we left the station, which I found very strange

Easy, but not to be overlooked if you're covering both mountains, as I learned today. I'd hiked up Achasan before, which is a super easy mountain, less than 300 meters high. Since I hadn't gone hiking since last fall and felt a little rusty, I decided I'd hit it up for my first hike of the year on Children's Day. My friend and I started at Achasan station exit 2, line 5. We didn't have any maps or directions; all we had to do was follow the groups of middle-aged people in ridiculously colorful hiking clothes and gear, and we knew we'd end up at some sort of hiking trail. The trail starts off fairly easy, with a mostly dirt path and a slight slope. About halfway up our particular trail, we ran into a pavilion called Goguryeojeong (고구려정), which I assume has to do with the Goguryeo kingdom but I was too lazy to read more about it.   Just a few more minutes of hiking and you're pretty much at the top. There are a few ancient forts that aren't