This morning I have to return my trusty steed to Lotte Rental at Gimpo airport.

I have become very fond of my car over the past two months. It has treated me well and, with the exception of the small bump we had on Namhae that morning, I have looked after it to the best of my ability while braving the roads of South Korea. I even gave the car a bath last night. That’s right. Nothing says trying to fit in like a local more than visiting the self-service car wash. By the way, this requires about 75 ₩500 coins and the ability to read the Korean instructions on the wall to find out what all of the buttons mean – soap, water, wax etc. It was an interesting experience, made even more so by the fact it was freezing cold and dark when I attempted this. Still, we got there in the end, and you could hardly tell I had driven it all the way around the country and up and down muddy mountain tracks to my heart’s content. By my incredibly rough estimation, I figure I probably put somewhere around 5,000km on it during my trip, a bit over 3000miles. Though honestly, it could have been way more than that. I drove a lot.

Returning the car this morning was nerve-wracking though, yet more driving through Seoul and then ensuring the car was full of petrol when it was returned. To be fair, Lotte gave exceptionally good directions here, providing me with a map of the petrol stations nearest to the airport and the exact location of the drop off point at the airport is marked as the home destination in the GPS.

A quick glance over by the staff member and that was it, I bid my car adieu.

Getting back to Jongno was incredibly straight-forward, I just reversed the trip I took when I left two months ago – hop on the metro and ride the line all the way to Jongno 3-ga. Admittedly, I am carrying rather more luggage than when I left, for I have accumulated a second suitcase worth of ‘stuff’ as well as my very delicate and precious celadon pottery. I will admit, I got a fair few stares on the metro.

Nevertheless, I made it back to my original hotel and am happy to be ‘home’.

In some ways, I am viewing my surroundings in a slightly different light. I immediately notice that I am not feeling nearly as nervous being here as I did before, and when I say nervous, I mean this in the sense of being a foreign tourist who was looking at everything for the first time and not knowing how people would react to me. Now, in a way, I don’t care. I am fully ready for people in Seoul to either stare or ignore me as they did before, it doesn’t seem to faze me as it once did. Rather than looking down at the floor and trying to just fit in as much as possible, now I have the confidence to look up and around; I feel I understand how things ‘work’ a little better and am less unsure of myself.  I also have walked these streets before; I know where things are and am now more confident with going in and out of shops and trying or ordering food. While my Korean is by no means fully functional, I now at least feel sure enough about rolling out one or two simple sentences and saying yes or no to questions I have been asked numerous times in my travels. This is really brought home to me when I enter the local 7-11 and want to pay the gentleman in exact change and apologise and politely ask him to wait a moment while I quickly count my change. I quickly get an appreciative smile and the ‘you speak Korean well’ phrase I have come to know. And while this has become a fairly regular occurrence in my travels, it is the first time someone has said this to me in Seoul. The first time where someone has actually looked at me, acknowledged me, and spoken off the cuff. And for me, that is a good feeling. It feels like something has changed.

With only five days remaining, in some ways I feel a slight pressure to make the most of them, my last five amazing days! Having said that, I really do feel that I accomplished most of what I wanted to do the first time round in the city and so I am unsure of what to really focus on. So I decide to go in the opposite direction, and just stop planning in detail and try to see what crops up.

The first thing that pops into my mind is the memory of Andrew telling me a place worth taking the time to visit in the city is Seodaemun Prison. This is not an active prison mind you, but the remains of one which has been turned into a museum.

Seodaemun Prison has a terrible and sad history associated with it. Built by the Japanese administration in 1907 when they occupied Korea, it was a place to house and torture independence and pro-democracy activists and continued to be used for 8 decades, eventually housing activists demonstrating against Korea’s own corrupt previous governments.

The prison is indeed an enlightening and sobering experience for those of us who have never lived through such challenging times and undemocratic regimes.

There are sections of building you can walk through which house the basic cells prisoners were kept in, tiny isolation rooms, torture rooms, walled exercise runs, and even the execution room (no photography is allowed in there out of respect for the people sent here).

There are exhibits throughout telling the story of many of the independence fighters who ended up here, there are many sad stories and many inspiring ones. But all of these people must have been very brave. I couldn’t imagine being as strong and filled with such conviction. What an incredible gift.

After spending the morning amongst a fair amount of horror and sorrow, I feel the need to be in nature and be comforted. Luckily for me, right behind Seodaemun Prison is one of the entrances for the Ansan Mountain walking trail, a rather wonderful boardwalk trail that wraps itself around the mountain, suitable for anyone to walk. Yes, admittedly you have to climb a few steps to get onto the trail, but honestly it isn’t hard to do this at all.

I spend my afternoon here enjoying a wonderfully relaxed and unhurried stroll. With the leaves having well and truly abandoned the trees, you can see glimpses of the city as you walk; the man-made environment mingled with the natural one. I pass plenty of people, have a fair few exchanges of hello, and even passed a couple of older ladies who I thanked for stepping aside for me and got yet another ‘good Korean’ spiel which again made me very joyful.  

While you can continue the trail around the mountain’s circumference, you do also have the option of heading to the ‘peak’ of it. Do you really think I could resist?

It’s not a hard climb, just a bit of a short rock scramble (at least the route I went, I do believe there might be a more sensible path up), and at the top I am exceptionally pleased with what I find.

This is to be my last full look at Seoul from above. And it tickles me pink that I can see so many of the city sights that I have visited during my time here or recognise as landmarks. Namsan Tower as always dominates the view sitting atop the mountain, I can clearly see the Lotte Tower too, a place I will need to come back to in the future to do the walk at the top of it. I can pick out the golden sheen of the 63 Building, the glimmering Han River, and the bridges I have traversed many times. I look across to Ingwangsan and the Seoul City Wall disappearing into the distance, the very portion I hiked twice! And of course Bukhansan National Park in the background as always. I can spot the prison I just visited this morning and off to the other side I can see the World Cup Stadium and the Haneul Sky Park I visited the other day.

I look at this view and feel a great fondness for it. For this city, and this country in general. In an odd and unexpected way, I feel at home here. This city and this country have given me happiness, joy, fun, excitement, and comfort in spades. I love it here. And this is a wonderful way to appreciate all it has given me, to see it like this one last time.

I celebrate these happy feelings by heading to my favourite eating place, the market! And it is without any fear or hesitation I approach now, take my seat at the bench and order myself a meal. The people at the stall are kind, there is a gentleman sitting there worried I may get cold in the chilly wind and indicates for me to move behind the tarp area to stay warm. And happy to feel included and seen, I eat my meal with a full heart.