Daegu: Hiking Apsan Mountain

Assalamualaikum and hi! ((waalaikumussalam))

The dumb cemerlang squad went to Apsan Mountain where 2 of us hiked (me and yasmin) and the other 2 (jojo and jingwen) rode the cable car. We kinda plan to meet at the Apsan Observatory because it is where the cable car is located. Since yasmin and I chose to hike, we took the earlier bus at 7.30AM (the bus ride took 1 hour from university).

For introduction;

Apsan is a 600 meter-high mountain in Nam-gu, Daegu. At the front and back of the mountain are Sanseongsan Mountain (653m) and Daedeoksan Mountain (1307m)... credit to visitkorea website

We started off slowly, following the Poet's Trail where throughout this trail got monuments of popular poets and their poems. I kinda like poems though, but too bad the monuments doesn't have any English translation. I can read, but can't understand a thing.

There are signboards provided along the trail, showing which way to go and how many kilometres left to that point. So don't afraid that you will get lost (the amount of trust I put in the signboard)

There were only uncles and aunties when we went there. One thing I notice is that, when you greet them, they actually like it. It seems like they are proud that a foreigner is greeting them in Korean. So dont forget to greet them! 

One of the uncles gave us this (don't know what kind of fruit is this tho but sweet!)

2 hour and a half passed and I was like 'Woah, our pace is so slow' and the peak is nowhere to be seen. 3 hour passed and finally we saw the peak and we're so happy to meet Jasmin and Jingwen. However, deep inside, I know it is not the observatory because...there's no one. I mean, come on, even on weekdays, there must be tourists at the observatory. That's when we realized that we can't see any wire for Apsan cable car...

At the peak, we looked at the map...and we can just laugh. It is just 1.2km left to Sanseongsan Mountain and Apsan Mountain is wayyyyy down.WE HIKED EXTRA KILOMETRES UP. No wonder it took us so long to reach the peak (read: excuses). We even met another group of uncles there, and had small conversations;

Uncles: Which country are you from?

Me: Malaysia :)

Me: We actually want to go to Apsan Mountain. Which way to go?

Uncles: But this is all Apsan Mountain...

Enjoy, another episode of me being dumb ahahha

Cut story short, we've arrived at the place where we can see the wire of cable car (it means the observatory is not that far!) We just walked and walked when suddenly I heard Jasmin's voice. Squad reunited! Then we went directly to the one and only restaurant at the observatory and ordered Kalguksu (our favourite) and seasonal menu, Kong-guksu (cold soybean soup noodle). I tell you what, Kalguksu here is damn good! Much better than the one in Daejeon I swear but in order to eat this, you either have to hike up or spend a good 7,000KRW for the cable car ride. You choose ;)

When in doubt, just choose kalguksu. Kalguksu would never disappoint you :) 

After filling our stomach with good Kalguksu, we go separate ways (hiking down and the cable car gang). Obviously me and Yasmin didn't choose the trail that we came just now, so we chose another trail. The way down is no joke either but thank god it was much more faster than the way up.

All in all, I had a great experience hiking Apsan (its actually my first hike). However, if u ask whether I would hike Palgongsan (another notable mountain in Daegu).... brb asking my legs :P