May 25th - Picnic in the Park

The official trip is really close to ending now, and I'm getting really sad (but also relieved, because these are some of the most tiring two weeks I've ever experienced). Today was a fun and relaxing day, and tomorrow will be too, so that's exciting. Yesterday was a "free day," so we didn't have to blog about it and had it to ourselves. Some of us ate in Samcheongdong, the neighborhood to the north of Jogyesa and Insadong, for lunch and dinner. I went back to Myeongdong and got some shopping done. Men's sizes here are way more convenient for me; if I lived here I'd be poor but dressed well.

Today we had a picnic in a park beside the Han River. The weather was very sunny and it was really hot, but it got better as the day went on and we moved to a cooler spot. But before we went on the picnic, we had to get some food, which we obtained from the Lotte Department Store in Myeongdong. As I've talked about earlier (I think) the department stores here have so many things. The lower floor is pretty much a grocery store and it's filled with foods, baked goods, and the seemingly out of place cleaning supplies and hygiene items. It was actually a little overwhelming. Right outside the grocery area (the divide between "grocery area" and "outside area" is very ambiguous) there are lots of smaller cafes with pastries and cakes along with a food court type area with chairs surrounding different types of foods, including a rotating sushi bar. We all ended up choosing our own groceries but paid together after about 20 minutes, which was a bit chaotic.

chomping on a Lotte-sponsored picnic

After buying groceries, we headed onto the subway and got off near the park, where we sat and ate for a while under some nice shady white things. From what I've experienced, Seoul has lots of great public spaces that I find visually pleasing and are clearly well-utilized, so high-five to the brains behind the development. As always, there were plenty of couples, but they were actually outnumbered by the families.

The great thing about today that made me really happy was seeing all the young families with young children all out together and playing happily. There were a lot of toddlers and babies just flying kites (but we got a kite too) and running around playing soccer, or riding bikes or rollerblading. The parents played well with the kids and it was just a really happy atmosphere. This aspect of living also reinforces the positive view that I have on Seoul's utilization of public gathering spaces. It's not like the park was empty either, it was actually quite crowded and busy, but just enough - not crazy and not uncomfortable.

family time

Another thing you'd notice when picnicking here is that people like to bring tents. I don't know if they stay overnight, but we realized how important the tents were once the giant mosquito-like bugs (and mosquitoes) started swarming us. The families tents are pretty serious and fancy too, like at the same level as the fancy ajumma and ajusshi hiking gear. They zip up and have screens and roofs; one family even had an air mattress.

civilization is literally a few steps away

The area we sat in after we left the white shady things was a more family-packed area with basketball courts, some open fields, a decently-sized shop, and a couple rows of tents selling street-style foods like meat kebabs, kimbab, and alcohol. From time to time delivery businesses went around and dropped fliers on or near peoples' mats and tents. We got hungry, so eventually we ordered from one of those moped-driving delivery guys and had some pizza and fried chicken, sans the alcohol. (Fried chicken and alcohol is hands-down the most popular post-work and social snack here).

Pretty much, the day was just relaxing and fun, which was much appreciated. The walking was less-intensive and less painful, though the sun was the same as always. We slept on our little blue picnic mat and took pictures and ate snacks. The park was also just a really nice place to people-watch, with all the families and couples around. Little kids liked to drop by every now and then, and we'd try our best to not creep them out with our "annyeongs."

By nightfall, we walked just a little bit over to look at the Banpo Bridge, which is a very pretty sight to see, but it's also really couple-y too - though surprisingly, couples were a minority tonight. The bridge is also part of another type of public-renovation project to help beautify the city. At certain times, the bridge shoots out jets of water that are brightened by multicolored lights. A quick glance on Wikipedia shows that the bridge is 1,140 meters long and has nearly 10,000 LED nozzles that shoot out 190 tons of water per minute. I'd be concerned that such a fountain would be very wasteful, but I hear that LED lights are good for the environment and if the water is coming from the river, then there's plenty of it. Perhaps Wikipedia's counting ability is poor or misinformed, but the sight is pretty breathtaking with the northern side of Seoul as the backdrop (we were on the southern side very close to Gangnam; remember that Seoul is divided in half by the Han River). My camera couldn't capture the nightscape very well, so I had to google the following image. We actually looked at the fountain from below/on its side; we were sitting on the left side of the fountain if you look at the image. My phone has better pictures, but they're not on my computer.

pretty

After taking some pictures and just watching the water flow, we walked across the bridge to the northern side of Seoul and took a cab back to Jogyesa. Now it's time for bed, because tomorrow will be a fun, exhausting, and somewhat sad day as we get ready to say goodbye.

goodnight seoul!