21st April 2013 - Getting to 인왕사 Inwangsa

Itinerary for the day started off with a hike up 인왕사 Inwangsan followed by a revisit to Buam Dong. I took the subway to Dongnimmun subway station, exit 2 for Inwangsan.  

From exit 2, walk straight for about 2 mins and you will reach a small road. 

I saw Saw Tous Les Jours before I reached the small road.
Went in to buy a bread since I only had a small bowl of cereal in the hotel.

Bought this milk bread becos I like milk, and was curious how a milk bread would taste like.

Nice?

No. Not for me. It tasted strange.

Walk straight from exit 2 and you will see this small road. Turn to your left as directed.  I think there should be directional signs to guide you to Inwangsa Temple/Inwangsan. Otherwise, how did I managed to find my way??

Walk straight after making the left turn.

Understood but I thought it sounds funny.

There is only one road, so you don't have to worry about getting lost.

Just follow.

Make a left turn as directed. 

After making the turn, you can see a lot of high rise apartments.
There is only one road, just walk on.

The road gets a bit steeper. 

Reminds me of HDB flats..

I always like to ask 재 whether the apartments are rental or sold.
Sometimes, its difficult to identify from the appearance.

Keep on going.

I am on the correct route ^^

Another signage along the slope.

Saw the entrance gate from far?
That's the entrance for 인왕사  Inwangsa ^^

Go straight if you want to check out 선바위 Seonbawi. Turn right, walk up the slope if you want to hike up Inwangsan and check out the fortress. Click Visitkorea to read more about Seonbawi. I walked straight into the temple ground becos I did not know that it was a more challenging route to Inwangsan back then. I only came to realise it on my return trip to the subway station..Therefore, if you wish to see Seonbawi, you can still check it out and come out to take the slope up to reach the fortress for the hike up the mountain. No wonder I saw some Koreans taking the right turn instead of heading into the temple ground.  It took me about 10-15 mins from Dongnimmun subway station, exit 2 to reach here.

Made my way into the temple ground and looked back. It was so steep...If you turn right instead of walking into the temple ground, you will be walking up that slope as shown by the arrow.

Not sure where to go but I made my way up anyway. 

선암정사 Seonamjeong Temple.
I did not went in to check out the temple becos I think there was some rituals going on.

Be careful and watch your steps.

Two is perfect and three is a crowd.

Some Korean ladies were making offerings here.

By chance, I came to the Seonbawi rock ^^

Amazing rock formation.

It was said that people came here to pray for a son. 

Behind Seonbawi.

I walked up and saw another small temple. 

Facing the small temple, I walked to the left and walked up a bit further.
It was a bit steep, so be careful.

Curious what's behind this boulder.

Woww....I was rewarded with great view of the city ^^

As I turned to my right, I saw a rock formation that looks like a human structure seated on the mountain. This link San-shin.net gave a very good description of the place. As described in the website, the rock structure is the Benevolent King in a seated position. Was that a natural rock formation or from hand carvings?  Whatever it is, I was hoping to get there for a closer look but how do I reach there??  I gave up eventually..

I walked back to Seonbawi and saw this from the top.
I tried both routes as pointed out by the arrows but both routes led me to nowhere.
Nevertheless, I will still show you the pictures for the route as shown by the blue arrow
(Errmmm...I think I took that route hahahaa..)

Fortunately, there were railings to hold onto cos the route was a bit steep.

Looks near but not that near.
I hate to give up :(

I saw a Korean couple ahead of me and assumed I was on the right track.

안녕 ^^

Why do they need to work out here??

I saw this carving of buddha on the wall.
A Korean uncle came out from a shack and told the Korean couple to use another route.
I couldn't understand what he said but I followed the couple ㅎㅎ

There is no directional signboard for guidance and the trail was a bit tricky.

We saw a few other Koreans and they talked to the Korean couple. From their body language, it seemed like the route ahead was not viable and they changed their directions. Of course, I followed suit. Remember in the beginning of this post, I mentioned about taking the right turn up the slope to get to the fortress for access to the mountain? That was how I derived that I had taken the "wrong" route to gain access to the mountain top. Well, I still managed to reach the fortress eventually..

At last, I saw the fortress!!  It was difficult to describe how I reached here becos there was no directional signboard, I merely followed the Koreans..

You will see this stairway that leads you to the fortress.