Yongsan Family Park

Yongsan Family Park or as I discovered, a small piece of solitude in the middle of 12 Million people.

It is man-made but you take what you can get

One of the new experiences for me living in Seoul is the adjustment to the noise. There is always noise, at night, early in the morning and after a year it has become the norm. So imagine my surprise when I discovered, quite by accident, a place where there was no people-made noise. There were no cars, trains, weed eaters, no people jostling around, no noise except for what nature makes. Between the grounds for the National Museum of Korea and Yongsan Family park I found a waterfall and a small fast moving stream. 

It surprised me so much I sat down and stayed for 20 minutes. I listened to the water, the birds, the crickets and the cicadas. Not a single person walked by and I heard nothing. It was wonderful. 

This park really is a lovely place to get back to nature. There are several ponds, sculptures, a playground, and walking paths. It bumps up the grounds for National Museum of Korea and you can walk between the two. I guess that on the weekends it would be crowded but on this Thursday morning it was very quiet. I need to go back when the weather is cooler and the sky is clearer for better pictures but here are few. Enjoy!

My favorite sculpture

Pagodas from the 11th century

Bosingak Bell from 1468

Eurwangni Beach (을왕리해수욕장)

Euwangni Beach is found on the west coast of the Korean peninsula near the Incheon International Airport. Having experienced an east coast Atlantic beach, a west coast Pacific beach and a Gulf of Mexico beach, I was pretty excited to add the Yellow Sea to my list. 

The beach is described by one website as white sand. It is not, it is brown with lots of tiny rock, shells, glass and, sadly, some trash. The water was perfect for swimming although the riptide was pretty strong and the tides move at lightening speed. Seriously the tide came in 30ft within 10 minutes. It was a little scary. 

At this location there are 3x5 platforms with umbrellas for rent and it was great to have a place to put food and stuff. It was very windy that day and the man in charge of renting the platforms would come around and tie down the umbrella to ensure it didn't fly away. In additions to the platforms there were umbrellas in the sand.

The picture above shows just how far out the low tide was. When the tide came back in this boat was floating. At one point there was a tractor pulling the boat closer to the water. Makes me wonder how it became beached.

One cultural difference in Korea is sun protection. It was very common to see people completely covered from the top of the head to the feet yet still swimming in the water. It is very different from the states where most people tend to wear as little clothing as possible. The gentlemen with the umbrella even took his into the water.

All in all I will say that my first Korean beach was a success. Lots of people, lots of food vendors and lots of sun. 

Noryangjin Fish Market

Markets. There are markets everywhere in Seoul. Flower markets, herb markets, veggie markets, and fish markets. Anywhere there is a space, there is an enterprising person set up selling his or her wares. The Noryangiin Fish Market in Seoul is no different. Underneath this huge roof there are a lot of vendors selling fish, mussels, squid, octopus, shrimp, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and the list goes on and on. 

 As with most markets, it is so overwhelming when you first enter. There is just so much to see. I went with an experienced friend and with a list; to buy a white fish. There are a lot of fish to choose from, fresh and still swimming, to recently removed from the water and lastly frozen.

In the end I bought prawns, mostly because I know what a prawn looks like and it was easier to make the transaction in my VERY limited Korean. I got 1/2 kilo for 10.000 won ($9.80). Cooked them with lemon and butter and kong namil as a side dish. They were fresh and delicious!

 Outside of the fish market along an alley way, there were 20 vendors selling vegetables. There were so many selections and I bought a large bag of soybean sprouts for 1000 won ($0.80). I'm not familiar with a lot of the vegetables but wish I were. I can see myself frequently these "stands" daily for my fresh produce.