I remember mentioning and being in awe of how active this city is with the abundance of public workout machines, healthy middle age people and outdoor activities you can do here. Early mornings, the Hangang River and park areas are already busy with bikers, intense walkers and morning people leisurely strolling around. At my current accommodations, I am fortunate to be about a 15-20 minute to the nearest Hangang hotspot. In spite of all the walking I find myself doing in this country, inclusive of touring attractions, subway transfers (which some can be ridiculously long and complex), and walking up and down hills, I still find joy when I do go cycling, walking and people watching (couples alert!) along the river, and even hiking for seven hours (you can read more about it below!).
Mount. Seoraksan
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| Entrance of Seoraksan National Park |
My two friends and I headed to Seoraksan earlier this week and it reminded me so much of Canada. Seoraksan is located in
Sokcho City, which is about a 2.5-3 hours bus from Seoul and since the hike is about 5 hours one way (our goal was the highest peak,
Daecheongbong), that meant we had to leave Seoul at 6:30am in the morning to catch the earliest express bus into Sokcho, and from there it's another short local transit to get to
Seoraksan National Park. You can find more details
here and via other blogs, but it's definitely worth a day, if not an overnight trip. We didn't make it to the top due to timing as we had plan to head back to Seoul the same day, but the surreal view of eroded rocks and mounts, refreshing fresh scent of air, and natural elements combined was worth 3/4 of the way that we did reached.
Tip: make sure to bring lots of sustainable snacks/food as there aren't any food stalls or eateries you can purchase from as you hike up and also go to the washroom when you do sight one as they will be hard to come by when you do need to go!
World Cup Stadium Park & surroundings
This is a new found favourite area to reflect, people watch, and just sit and adore Seoul at. It was a day on my own where I decided to walk to the World Cup Stadium in Seoul where sport matches and concerts are usually held at (the 2002 FIFA World Cup was held here and there's also an small museum about it as well). I found out later on that it was actually a day before Dream Concert (K-pop obviously) was being held, so it was nice to have some white noise in the background while I was enjoying myself at the
World Cup Park across the street, which is made up of a few parks here. This park is super family friendly, has a manmade pond area, fishes to spot, great destinations for walks and picnics, a leash-free dog area (I was so happy dog watching!), AND an overpass that leads to the Hangang River into
Nanji Park. It was amazing and beautiful to just soak everything up and even have a spontaneous conversation on a bench with a grandma that sat beside me! I will definitely be returning here for some peace and surprises.
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| Overpass into Nanji Park |
Coex Aquarium
Though this wasn't all too outdoor-sy, it did consist of things from the wild that intrigued me. I must say I never thought of recommending an aquarium in a mall as it sounds like it was made for the very reason of tourists or young children, and secondly because I would've never known about this place if it wasn't for word of mouth mentioning that it was worth a visit, which I can finally agree on now. "Co-Ex"actually stands for COvention centers and EXhibition halls as this area in Gangnam is a growing area for businesses and and international showcases so it only made sense this complex is being populated with more hotels, shops, and restaurants of course. Though, this aquarium is actually quite impressive with over 40000 species and stretches from the main level where you enter to further below. Initially I thought it just consist of little fishes in various tanks, but it does get more exciting the more you explore it. My friend and I were lucky to have received a 30% discount off admission as they had this social media promotion going on via Kakao Story, so be sure to check out the website when you plan to go to to see what kind of discounts they may have!
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| A mailbox turned fishtank |
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| My favorite! Such an adorable manitee |
Posts
My two friends and I headed to Seoraksan earlier this week and it reminded me so much of Canada. Seoraksan is located in Sokcho City, which is about a 2.5-3 hours bus from Seoul and since the hike is about 5 hours one way (our goal was the highest peak, Daecheongbong), that meant we had to leave Seoul at 6:30am in the morning to catch the earliest express bus into Sokcho, and from there it's another short local transit to get to Seoraksan National Park. You can find more details here and via other blogs, but it's definitely worth a day, if not an overnight trip. We didn't make it to the top due to timing as we had plan to head back to Seoul the same day, but the surreal view of eroded rocks and mounts, refreshing fresh scent of air, and natural elements combined was worth 3/4 of the way that we did reached.
This is a new found favourite area to reflect, people watch, and just sit and adore Seoul at. It was a day on my own where I decided to walk to the World Cup Stadium in Seoul where sport matches and concerts are usually held at (the 2002 FIFA World Cup was held here and there's also an small museum about it as well). I found out later on that it was actually a day before Dream Concert (K-pop obviously) was being held, so it was nice to have some white noise in the background while I was enjoying myself at the World Cup Park across the street, which is made up of a few parks here. This park is super family friendly, has a manmade pond area, fishes to spot, great destinations for walks and picnics, a leash-free dog area (I was so happy dog watching!), AND an overpass that leads to the Hangang River into Nanji Park. It was amazing and beautiful to just soak everything up and even have a spontaneous conversation on a bench with a grandma that sat beside me! I will definitely be returning here for some peace and surprises.
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