Being a foreigner in South Korea and far from home, I always try to entertain myself with thoughts of discovering a new city, or a new country for that matter, by looking around my so-called new home’s sights. This I do to shut the emotions of homesickness out of my system. And ever since, amusing myself with what I can see from my office window is part of the ritual.

And every time I look towards the northern highlands of Seoul, I always saw this structure which looked like a long fence, much like a mini Great-Wall-of-China-ish structure. From afar, it was like a concrete snake meandering its way on the face of a small mountain just behind the Presidential Residence, the Blue House.

Curious, I wanted to check that structure out.

So after making some calls and browsing the Korean tourism websites, I decided to venture into that area. So, on a bright summer Saturday morning, I joined a group of hikers climbing that small mountain, meeting them at the mountain’s hiking trail starting point near the mouth of the Samcheong Tunnel in Seongbuk-dong.

Pugak-san, or Pugak Mountain, one of the mountains lying around the city, is on the northern side and is only 342 meters high. There are actually several trails along the mountain, but we chose the easiest one for us, thinking that it should be an enjoyable hike, and not a cardiovascular workout. The hike around the mountain is monitored and controlled, requiring hikers to make a reservation and submit proper identification beforehand. Why? Close by is Cheong Wa Dae, or the Presidential Residence. So, the military tightly secures the area to make sure the incident of 1968 does not happen again (more about it later).

The trail around the mountain runs alongside the ancient fortress walls built by King Taejo of the Chosun Dynasty in the 14th century. The original length of the fortress was about 18.2 kilometers, but today, only 10.5 kilometers remain. I learned that most of the fortress walls’ destruction was done by the Japanese during their occupation of the country, and of the remaining length, 4.3 kilometers, aptly named the Pugak Fortress, run the trail around Pugak-san. But even with the destruction, King Taejo still would have been proud of his achievement as the fortress walls snaking around the mountain, which look like a mini-Great Wall to me, still stand strong and solid like the indomitable Korean spirit. The Fortress has gates, the Sukcheong-mun and Chang-ui-mun, through which hikers pass through.

At the highest point, we were able to enjoy the amazing view of Seoul. Though the day became a bit muggy, we were able to identify the downtown buildings and avenues, Nam-san and its pine-needle symbol, and even the structures south of the Han River. Had the day been clearer, the daily class struggle would have been conspicuous as well.

The mountain also has its violent history. A pine tree along the trail still bears the bullet holes from the exchange of gunfire between the authorities and North Korean assassins who, on January 21, 1968, made their way through the mountain to kill, though unsuccessfully, then sitting president Park Chung Hee. A monument for the policeman, who died during that gunfight, can be seen near the Chang-ui-mun Center at the end of the hiking trail.

Pugak-san was actually closed to the public for about four decades but was recently opened in April 2007. While discovering Pugak-san, what struck me was its serenity. I was still in the city, but I could not feel the city: no noisy car engines, no chit-chattering of people on the phone, no loud vendors. In other words, the mountain protects its visitors. I guess the view from my window didn’t give me any clues of the peacefulness and the serenity the mountain has successfully hidden from me from afar. Until that day.

Back in the city, and standing again on my office window, looking towards what I know now as Pugak-san, I wonder what hidden sanctuary I just discovered and the nature up its heights I just enjoyed - which was all just a bus ride away from the busy downtown. And tracing that snake-like structure along the Mount Pugak’s shoulders with my eyes, I am amazed at the hard work Koreans hundreds of years ago had put in. Their goal was just to build a fortress to protect the ancient kingdom, but I guess they never realized that the fortress many of them might have died for is now appreciated by those who visit the mountain, or by those who just admire it from afar.