Anyeonghaseyo! This means hello in Korean and I hope I wrote it correctly. Here is the latest installment to my Korean trip with my friend.
The day we went to Seoul Forest, it was raining, so it was even colder than usual. We armed ourselves with our umbrellas, and yes, we brought our umbrellas as rain was forecasted. I checked the temperature and weather for the week that we were going to be there, and saw that there was going to be rain, so I asked my friend to bring hers and I did mine.
Dealing with the rain was not too bad, it was just a bit of a hassle to have the umbrellas with us and our hands were not as free as we would have wanted when we took pictures. We had to put something down, or put something in our bags.
First, Seoul Forest is the farthest we went to during this trip. Although it is still in Seoul, distance wise it was the farthest. And whenever we took the subway and we were not sure which platform to go, we would ask locals, I tried to talk in my version of Korean, and they try to answer, sometimes in sign language, sometimes in Korean, and some in broken English, which made it all the more fun.
To go to Seoul Forest, take the subway Bundang Line and get off Seoul Forest Station. Get out on Exit 3 and walk for 5 minutes. The entrance to the park will then be visible to you.
Welcome to Seoul Forest! The quality of my pictures are not very good since I was just using an iPad, and since it was raining, the pictures didn't come out as nice as I would have wanted them to. Seoul Forest was opened in 2005 to cater to people's need of a green recreational space.
Seoul Forest covers an area of approximately 141 acres. It includes a cultural art park, hangang river waterside park, ecological forest, wetlands ecological field and nature experiencing study field. We spent half a day here, just walking around, and I'm sure there were areas we were not able to explore.
Since it was raining, all the benches were wet, so finding a place to sit and rest was impossible. The only time we sat was when we had lunch at the only cafeteria in the whole park. So if you're planning to stay long, and it is dry, it's a good idea to buy and bring food with you and you can have a picnic.
The rain could not dampen our excitement in taking pictures though, and since it was cold, it was okay to walk around, even for hours, because we were not sweating at all. The only discomfort we had was when our feet got tired and we had nowhere to sit as the benches were all wet.
Again, we just randomly chose where to go, and we kept clicking our cameras to take loads and loads of pictures. This area is near the place where animals are kept.
There were several kinds of animals in the area, but I think I only took pictures of the deer as they were fighting each other. Actually, these two guys had their eyes on a female deer and so they were fighting over it. Ha!
Here she is, happy to see animals in a park. She thought she is an animal whisperer as she has various cats at home. :-) And as you can see, we were not the only brave souls walking around the park that day.
There was also a playground where children can climb and play. Not sure if this is their version of Spiderman or something, ha ha!
It would have been nice to be able to walk around not having to lug an umbrella and take pictures unencumbered, but alas, that was not to be the case, so we just had to grit our teeth and click away!
Again, the iPad does not do any justice to the pictures. It definitely looks different when you are seeing it with your own eyes and looking at pictures taken. So you'll have to go there yourself to see it personally.
The umbrella added a bit of flair though, ha ha! It's just rows and rows of colorful trees and you can't just help but exclaim about the beauty of it all.
When I took this picture, I saw the three ladies almost evenly spaced out on the path, and I thought, ah, I gotta take a picture of this even if I already took others. And the yellow leaves of the ginkgo trees just look so lovely.
Like I said, there are different areas in the park, and you can just walk at your own leisure and explore.
It would have been nice to try and sit on the ground or even roll around, had the ground been not wet from the rain. Even so, we really enjoyed our time here.
Here is my friend trying to sweet talk the deer, ha ha. And it looks like the deer was really listening to what she had to say!
There was also a butterfly garden- actually it was like a mini-museum where there were various butterfly displays- preserved ones and some other live animals.
If you look at the picture closely, you see that it is made of butterflies of the same species arranged beautifully. Nice, isn't it? But I also feel sorry for the butterflies. :-(
Here is another one made of butterflies. Pretty neat, huh?
There was also a garden area where there were herbs and vegetables. These radishes looked so big I wanted to dig them out and make them into kimchi!
When you get out of the park, you get out to Hangang River Park, where you can cycle, or walk, or see beautiful roses on this side.
We just quickly took a picture as our feet were getting really tired, so we went to the cafeteria to have lunch and rest. After lunch, we tried walking around some more, and after a while decided to leave and go somewhere else.
Another place we went to is Yeouido Park, although this was on another day. This park is a large recreational area located on the island of Yeuoido in Central Seoul. To get to Yeouido, you have two options: Take the Seoul subway line 5 and get off at Yeouinaru station exit 1. Walk 10 minutes toward SBS TV station. The other way is the same subway line, get off at Yeouido station, exit 3 and walk towards National Assembly building.
The park is divided into theme-based sections: the traditional Korean forest, Grass Square, Culture Square, and Nature's Ecosystem Forest.
In the Korean traditional forest, only Korean trees are planted to reflect the changing of the seasons.
There are several walking trails to give it a sense of an elegant Korean garden. I could walk here all day!
Here people can ride their bikes, or just walk leisurely to enjoy the view. Seeing this view makes me wish to be there again right now. Good thing I could always go back as I was already given a multiple entry visa.
There are bikes for rent, of course, so that you can cover more ground, if you like. Since it was raining, and we wanted to walk leisurely, we did not rent the bikes. My friend wishes we could have something like this in the Philippines though. They also have these in New York and you can read about it in my previous blog here.
In this area performances are held here, and the variety show Running Man and also 2 Days 1 Night have also shot segments in their shows in this park.
Since the area is full of trees, and there's also a pond, there are a lot of animals living there like this bird.
Here is the Yeouido Park taken from across the road at KBS station. You see color every where you turn.
Now it's time to go to KBS, one of the major TV stations in Korea. This is the first time that I went here, because we did not go during my first trip. There is a museum inside the KBS building, and again, of course, there is no entrance fee.
A lot of famous dramas has been produced by KBS. Some of them include the drama Descendants of the Sun, starring Song Joong KI and Song He Kyo, and yes, their romance continued on in real life and soon they'll be getting married! Another drama is Moonlight Drawn by the Clouds starring Joong Ki's friend Park Bo Gum and Kim Joo Hyung.
As you go up the stairs, you are taken to various sections of the museum. Sports section, news, drama, etc. This is the sports section as you can see, and obviously I did not take a picture of everything.
Here is the part where they display all the old equipment that they used back in the old days.
There is also an area where you can try your hand at being a news anchor- you do see yourself from various cameras, and you do get to sit at a news desk. Cool eh?
Here I got to chat with the Winter Sonata stars, and telling them that I will visit Nami Island soon, ha ha ha.
Here we also got to try our hand at being a DJ- KBS also has a radio station. It was really a fun experience being able to do these things, even if it was just pretend.
Here is where the 'dubbing' section is. This is for cartoon shows, for example. You see the screen, you see the action, and you dub your way.
The building is right across Yeouido Park, so we went to these two places on the same day. One of the must-see areas in Yeouido Park is Yunjunro St., behind the National Assembly building. Here rows and rows of cherry trees are in full bloom during spring and it is indeed a sight to behold.
This is gonna be the end of this installment, and the last article will be about all the other places we visited, the food we ate, and all the rest not included in this article.
Til the next installment!
For more articles about travel, click here.
The day we went to Seoul Forest, it was raining, so it was even colder than usual. We armed ourselves with our umbrellas, and yes, we brought our umbrellas as rain was forecasted. I checked the temperature and weather for the week that we were going to be there, and saw that there was going to be rain, so I asked my friend to bring hers and I did mine.
Dealing with the rain was not too bad, it was just a bit of a hassle to have the umbrellas with us and our hands were not as free as we would have wanted when we took pictures. We had to put something down, or put something in our bags.
First, Seoul Forest is the farthest we went to during this trip. Although it is still in Seoul, distance wise it was the farthest. And whenever we took the subway and we were not sure which platform to go, we would ask locals, I tried to talk in my version of Korean, and they try to answer, sometimes in sign language, sometimes in Korean, and some in broken English, which made it all the more fun.
To go to Seoul Forest, take the subway Bundang Line and get off Seoul Forest Station. Get out on Exit 3 and walk for 5 minutes. The entrance to the park will then be visible to you.
 |
| Seoul Forest entrance |
Welcome to Seoul Forest! The quality of my pictures are not very good since I was just using an iPad, and since it was raining, the pictures didn't come out as nice as I would have wanted them to. Seoul Forest was opened in 2005 to cater to people's need of a green recreational space.
 |
| Row of ginkgo trees |
 |
| A row of pine trees |
Since it was raining, all the benches were wet, so finding a place to sit and rest was impossible. The only time we sat was when we had lunch at the only cafeteria in the whole park. So if you're planning to stay long, and it is dry, it's a good idea to buy and bring food with you and you can have a picnic.
The rain could not dampen our excitement in taking pictures though, and since it was cold, it was okay to walk around, even for hours, because we were not sweating at all. The only discomfort we had was when our feet got tired and we had nowhere to sit as the benches were all wet.
 |
| colors abound |
Again, we just randomly chose where to go, and we kept clicking our cameras to take loads and loads of pictures. This area is near the place where animals are kept.
 |
| deer fighting each other |
Here she is, happy to see animals in a park. She thought she is an animal whisperer as she has various cats at home. :-) And as you can see, we were not the only brave souls walking around the park that day.
 |
It would have been nice to be able to walk around not having to lug an umbrella and take pictures unencumbered, but alas, that was not to be the case, so we just had to grit our teeth and click away!
 |
 |
When I took this picture, I saw the three ladies almost evenly spaced out on the path, and I thought, ah, I gotta take a picture of this even if I already took others. And the yellow leaves of the ginkgo trees just look so lovely.
Like I said, there are different areas in the park, and you can just walk at your own leisure and explore.
It would have been nice to try and sit on the ground or even roll around, had the ground been not wet from the rain. Even so, we really enjoyed our time here.
Here is my friend trying to sweet talk the deer, ha ha. And it looks like the deer was really listening to what she had to say!
 |
| Butterfly garden |
 |
| butterflies |
If you look at the picture closely, you see that it is made of butterflies of the same species arranged beautifully. Nice, isn't it? But I also feel sorry for the butterflies. :-(
Here is another one made of butterflies. Pretty neat, huh?
 |
| radishes |
There was also a garden area where there were herbs and vegetables. These radishes looked so big I wanted to dig them out and make them into kimchi!
 |
| Hangang River Park |
We just quickly took a picture as our feet were getting really tired, so we went to the cafeteria to have lunch and rest. After lunch, we tried walking around some more, and after a while decided to leave and go somewhere else.
 |
| Yeouido Park |
Another place we went to is Yeouido Park, although this was on another day. This park is a large recreational area located on the island of Yeuoido in Central Seoul. To get to Yeouido, you have two options: Take the Seoul subway line 5 and get off at Yeouinaru station exit 1. Walk 10 minutes toward SBS TV station. The other way is the same subway line, get off at Yeouido station, exit 3 and walk towards National Assembly building.
 |
| Ecosystem forest |
In the Korean traditional forest, only Korean trees are planted to reflect the changing of the seasons.
 |
| walking trail |
 |
| bike and pedestrian lane |
 |
| Bikes for rent |
 |
| Cultural Area |
Since the area is full of trees, and there's also a pond, there are a lot of animals living there like this bird.
 |
| Yeouido Park taken from KBS station |
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| Yeouido |
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| KBS Yeouido station |
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| Sports section |
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| old equipment |
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| pretending to be a newscaster |
There is also an area where you can try your hand at being a news anchor- you do see yourself from various cameras, and you do get to sit at a news desk. Cool eh?
 |
| Jun-Sang and Yu Jin from Winter Sonata |
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| Playing DJ this time |
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| Dubbing section |
Here is where the 'dubbing' section is. This is for cartoon shows, for example. You see the screen, you see the action, and you dub your way.
 |
| KBS building |
This is gonna be the end of this installment, and the last article will be about all the other places we visited, the food we ate, and all the rest not included in this article.
Til the next installment!
For more articles about travel, click here.
0canmofric-da Patty Walker https://wakelet.com/wake/_T1eGb-TABFRJgwWPwOMQ
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