When my plane landed on Incheon International Airport, a flight attendant informed me a shocking message that my connecting flight had been rescheduled for 8 hours and recommended me to spend time in airline lounge or take a city tour, I decided to combine both recommendations by had breakfast, took a shower in the lounge, gathered all transportation information by airport free Wi-Fi and then went to Namhansanseong, this year new World Heritage Site. Since this is not my first time in Seoul, I promptly took a comfortable airport rail to Seoul Station and directly took a metro system to Sanseong Station. From exit no.2, I just followed a group of hikers to a nearby bus stop and took bus no.9 and within 30 minutes I was arrived in my destination, Namhansanseong. The bus stop was located in the center of tourist village with many restaurants and cafes. I was confused and did not know where I should go. At first I planned to follow other tourists but they went to every direction! I saw a sign mentioned about a palace so I decided to visit the place, the palace turned out to be a very new rebuilt and still a construction site, and suddenly I saw an elderly hiker using a small lane behind the palace's shrubby garden so I decided to follow him. Unknowingly I entered one of the hiking routes to the Westgate, along the way I saw a nice traditional pavilion in the middle of beautiful autumn forest, a lovely spring and picnic ground, the route actually was not hard, but I was not proper equipped with hiking shoe, so not really a good time at all.

At last I reached the top of the mountain and finally saw the wall of Namhansanseong. From the interior view the wall was a part of the mountain top flatland with short parapet, but when I looked beyond the parapet, I found a very high and steep wall with thick forest. The design really provide no chance for enemy to keep stronghold on the foot of the wall, while provide broad area to hold bigger army inside the fortress. From the impregnable Westgate I could see a great view of Seoul, then I visited Gukcheongsa Temple, but there was nothing much to see, after that I walked along the wall, saw many elements of fortification designs until I reached the Northgate. I saw hundreds of full equipped local hikers from all ages that were enjoying the beautiful autumn foliage along the way. Since my first visit to South Korea I noticed that hiking is one of national obsession, and surely Namhansanseong is one of the easiest places to hike near Seoul. I really enjoyed the route for its beautiful nature and the wall was liked a white dragon swimming in the sea of red leaves. Near the thick Northgate also has great pine tree forest that really enchanted the valley. After 3 hours I decided to end my hiking and walked back to bus stop and ended my trip in Namhansanseong.

In my opinion, Namhansanseong is not a stunning or impressive site, the wall indeed has its own charm and really interesting design, but for casual travelers and hikers, the lovely surroundings and view are the main reason to visit. The old temples, shrines and pavilions in the forest are nice but have no architectural outstanding merit compared to other World Heritage Sites of South Korea like Bulguksa or Haeinsa. Another comparison would be Hwaseong of Suwon. While Hwaseong is city wall that built on mountain and river plain, Namhansanseong is truly a mountain fortress. The designs of both are so different. However the design of Namhansanseong is almost quite harmonious with countless parapets, while at Hwaseong I could see many styles of fortifications from mountain fortress, unique water channels, high wall, towers, turrets, and impressive city gates, so for me visiting Hwaseong is more interesting than Namhansanseong. I have a single advice for anyone who is planning to visit Namhansanseong; a nice hiking shoe would be your priority, if you don't want to raise other hikers' eyebrow like me.