Seoul at Night

Two nights this week, my aunt has taken us to Naksang Park. It's a large, sloping hill with several lighted, paved trails (some very steep), staircases, and, surprisingly, exercise equipment. We always go after dark, a time my aunt says is typical for most Koreans to venture out. To get there, you walk some of the steepest roads I have ever encountered, rivaling those in San Francisco. The weather has been perfect each night, cool but not cold, and tons of people of all ages have been out in the park with us. Grade school-aged kids ride their bikes and play badminton. Grandmas power walk along the trails in pairs or by themselves, wearing warmups and visors. Teenage couples sit atop the thick, stone wall that stretches across the top of the hill. It used to serve as the division between ancient Korean kingdoms -- now, from its vantage point, you can see a million lights in every direction, and the murky outline of Bukhan Mountain to the North.

My aunt tells me the park gets even more crowded later into the night, around midnight, though I've never seen this for myself (both times we visited the park, it was about 10 o'clock). Still, it was quietly liberating to find out how freely people wander about at night in Seoul, and not just in the bustling, neon-lit city parts that constantly suggest you should be "doing" something.