Books and street, this nice location is a combination of both. Once an abandoned rail yard and now a cool park for locals and tourists. I’ve met my travel buddy here after my early walk at Sky park located at World Cup station, which is a 15minute ride to Hongik University Station.

train cabins housing books

Those14  train cabin like structures are housing books and all books. Certainly a haven of literary lovers. Unfortunately, the day we visited falls on a holiday as part of the Chuseok (Thanksgiving) holidays. We were not able to go inside and check for the books, all of those were closed.

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And in addition, I have known that this book street is close every Monday. However on the rest of the week it is open form 11 in the morning until 8 in the evening. Though it was a bit unfortunate for us, we just moved around and follow the walking path. And so we discovered sculptures, murals and interesting photo zone spots.

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Children played along and some adults were comfortably sitting and reading a book. It was indeed a perfect hideout for those who wanted to escape from the noise of the city. Small restaurants and cafes were also around, surrounding neighborhood was at peace.

Surely a worth place to visit for picnic and leisure. Want to check it out? Free and open for public also easy to find. Take the subway line to Hongik University station, (line 2, Gyeongui line or airport railroad) head towards exit 6.

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Semi-forest, insects, birds and wetland, these are what comprises the Saetgang Ecological Park at Singil Station. The famous Saetgang bridge in addition, lighted at night is what made this park popular too.

Saetgang bridge (photo credit to) Mikey Lahaylahay of FILIPOS

To locals, biking and walking paths are most likely what keeps them coming back, to some tourists and foreigners it is the landscape scenery of the bridge especially at night where the bridge connecting Singil and Yeouido is brightly and colorfully lit.

Trees and grasses are in luscious green. There were also some wooden foot bridges around the park and a boardwalks. Birds were a common sight.

We were in the park for a photo shoot, a common event of our group, FILIPOS. As I, explore the area they were also busy doing the fun shoot. The park was tranquil, fresh air and only a few people passed by so we definitely had a nice location.

Most probably, autumn would be a great sight too and it’s sooner as the leaves these days started to change color. Another season to look forward to.

… exit 2 of Singil station

…stairs that will lead you to the bridge…

the bridge…

Location: 48, Yeouidong-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 영등포구 여의동로 48 (여의도동)

Subway direction:

Yeouido Station (Seoul Subway Line 5 or 9), Exit 1 or 6.
Walk 370m forward towards the direction of Singil Station to arrive at Yeouido Saetgang Ecological Park.

Or

Singil Station (Seoul Subway Line 1 or 5), Exit 2.
Head right after getting out Exit 2.

To me holiday is not a holiday if I wasn’t able to visit a corner in Seoul. After five days of organizing a financial literacy seminar for Filipinos in Korea, I’m finally on my feet alone.

Great view from the top of Haneul park.

View from the middle of the stairs overlooking the Han river.

The 291 steps of the popular stair to Haneul Park.

Of course, it isn’t really that fun moving around companionless that’s why my travel partner  joined me after I visited Haneul Park or rather the Sky park at World Cup station and spent together the rest of the day at book street and Hongdae

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Haneul Park was certainly a huge park and categorically one of the most visited park by locals and tourists especially in autumn season. It may seem to be an ordinary park to many, however the eulalia or silver grasses which filled up almost a quarter of the entire meadow, was the main reason that attracts visitors.

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From the main entrance located at the base of the hill, I arrived early, however there was already a long line of people buying tickets for the shuttle car. Visitors usually get on that shuttle going up and leisurely walked down. I consumed 15minutes lining up for the ticket, 30minutes to get on the shuttle and 5minute ride to the top. Yup, that’s how it was! Well honestly, I did expect that since Korea was still embracing the golden holiday last Monday.

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Because of a long line in that early time, most of the people walked, I tried that once last year and it took us 20minutes to reach the top on foot and so I wanted to try the shuttle this time and got to walked down by the stairs where people use for a shortcut. 

I made a round, I walked and walked and saw the beauty of every corner of Haneul Park. The cosmos greeted the visitors in white and pink radiant colors. Eulalia or the cogon grass was tall and it’s everywhere. Some corners had photo zones provided. And the field of sunflower was great.

photo zone…sunflower field behind me

silver grasses taller than me…

cosmos field

Direction: Take Line 6 to World Cup Stadium Station.. head to exit 1. Walk past the stadium to the parking lot until you see the main highway. Cross the pedestrian and continue walking on the side of the road until you see the World Cup sign. There is another pedestrian ahead of you, cross and you’ll find the way to the shuttle ticket booth or you could just continue walking until you find the stairs. Most of the people from the station will probably go to this park so you could just follow them.

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Shuttle ticket cost 3,000won per person for a round trip and no entrance fee. So when you purchase the ticket say “wangbok” in Korean. It means round trip. Keep the rest of the ticket for your ride going down.

Girls day out and a Saturdate! The sun’s up, day was bright and the much awaited golden holiday in Korea was on. As we started our long workdays off, we visited the one and a half kilometer cosmos flower field at Guri.

Situated along the Han river, this flower bed was a sight of soft pink and white color that was so pleasant to look at. Those daisy-like flowers were so fetching that even though the bikers passing by to this area were tempted for a break to strike a pose.

The flower field was open and over looking the Han river. Thus, the picturesque view was just delightful. As we storm this sea of flowers huge smile painted our faces because less crowd means more blithesome time for us. Hence, we had a huge load of pictures, videos and fun day.

Reaching out this place was so easy. We took the bus from Jamsil station and traveled about 8minutes only and a minimum bus fare. Here’s more for the direction.

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Jamsil Station Line 2…head to exit 7 (that’s the underground shopping center so just continue following the direction to the end of the underground until you see the escalator). Walk to the bus stop and wait for bus #1670, #1100, or #2000. Get off at Topyeong IC, it’s just right before Jamsil station, it’s an expressway and yes, it’s only 1 bus stop away. As you get off, walk forward to the pedestrian there’s the stairs going down. Walk to your right and you’ll see those pretty flowers.

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Cosmos flower sprung on October and lasts a bit longer and prettyfies the start of fall, so head up and strike your best pose with those in your background.

Years ago, when I first arrived in Seoul, Hanwha Building was the highest building in Seoul at least that’s what I’ve heard. With 63 floors comprising the building, it also became popularly known as 63 Building.

river view

I was there once and enjoyed the Wax museum and Aqua Planet. But I wasn’t able to see the Art Museum with an observatory that’s overlooking Seoul and the Han river. So I promised to come back for that. So to fulfill that promise to my self, I went there again.

It was a rainy summer day, just the recent summer, I met my friend at the station and we headed to the building. Well, it’s not surprising that even though the rain poured hard that day, it didn’t bothered the visitors on their holiday to hang out on this tourist spot.

We bought a discounted package ticket for the Art Museum and Aqua Planet, they gave us a mini fan gift, thanks to that for a souvenir! We then fall in line to a lift that brought us to the museum. The elevator was surrounded by glass wall. We were able to see the beautiful view of Han river.

 The Art Museum

It wasn’t actually impressive at all but worth enough for a visit. Most probably the reason why people come here is the observatory, aside from those art works the museum is surrounded entirely by a glass wall and that you can see the entire city from there. It also has a café and we enjoyed our cup of coffee while watching the rain poured that day.

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The Aqua Planet.

After spending an hour I guess, touring around the art museum and a cup of coffee. We went down to the aquarium. It’s not as big as the aquarium in COEX actually. What I liked most was the mermaid show, which everybody does also like I guess. We only spent half an hour exploring it, eventually if there’s no mermaid show, I will regret visiting it again.

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Seoul International Fireworks Festival.

This amazing fireworks festival is sponsored by Hanwha. It happens annually by September or October. This year it is set to happen on September 30, 2017. It usually starts from 7:00pm on wards but the program along the Yeouido park happens whole day.

*Fireworks photos are copyrighted by Mario M. Ulant.

I am not pretty sure if the observatory is a good place to hang out during this fireworks show, if ever it is, it will be jam packed of onlookers for sure and they may have restrictions for the number of goers.

Admission Fees
63 Sky Art
Adults 13,000 won / Teenagers 12,000 won / Children & Seniors 11,000 won

Aqua Planet 63
Adults 25,000 won / Teenagers 23,000 won / Children & Seniors 21,000 won

Package Deal

63 Joint Ticket (Aqua Planet 63 + 63 Sky Art): Adults 30,000 won / Teenagers 28,000 won / Children & Seniors 26,000 won
63 Sky Art Couple ticket (63 Sky Art admission (2) + Americano (2)) : 29,000 won

To visit this landmark, you can check out these directions:

the Free shuttle bus from outside of those subway stations below..

Daebang Station (Seoul Subway Line 1), Exit 6.
– Take the free shuttle or Bus No. 11.

Yeouinaru Station (Seoul Subway Line 5), Exit 4.
– Walk to the intersection, turn left and walk to the bus stop.
– Take the free shuttle across Sambu APT, 80m away from Exit 4.

Yeouinaru Station (Seoul Subway Line 5), Exit 1.
– Take Bus No. 5534, 5633 or 261.

Yeoido Station (Seoul Subway Line 5), Exit 5.
– Take the free shuttle or Bus No. 11 in front of St. Mary’s Hospital Bus Stop.

Saetgang Station (Seoul Subway Station 9), Exit 1.
– Take the free shuttle bus.

Saetgang Station (Seoul Subway Station 9), Exit 3.
– Take Bus No. 5633 or 5534. 

Autumn is happening! Crisp air, less sunshine, cool weather and moreover the ginkgo trees that’s starting to change its color. This season never fails to give a fine weather as I remember. 

And of course, we know it is fall when cosmos flowers are spitting in a distance. These flowerets are on its prime from September to October. The vividness of this daisy-like flower comes in a variety of colors: yellow, orange, red, pink, white and maroon.

When I saw a picture of a friend sitting in the middle of a cosmos field I remember this hill filled with yellow cosmos flowers at Olympic Park. Currently it is the highlight of the park this time. Hence, my visit yesterday was a weekday I expected less crowd just perfect for landscape and a brief walk.

There were only few people and a couple having their pre wedding photo shoot. They were lovely to look at on their hanbok, the Korean traditional dress. I’m pretty sure they’ll going to have beautiful photos with those bright yellow flowers on the background.

And an additional attraction, the rose garden is still beautiful. Roses are still holding its vibrant colors. So if you’re going to visit the cosmos field you will see those roses as well, they are situated beside each other.

Tip: No admission and open year round.

Direction: Seoul subway line 5 Olympic Park Station, exit 3. Walk towards the direction of the park and turn left after the crescent moon like sculpture. Walk until you see a bridge. It will lead you to the entrance. It will take you 15minutes on foot from the station.

or from Jamsil station (Line 2 and 8) exit 11… at the bus stop get on bus #3413 and get off at Olympic Park Rose Garden bus stop approximately 10minutes. Once you get off, walk to the intersection and cross to the opposite road.

Photography is my diversion. For each time off and every weekend that I have, I leisurely wander around. When the sun shines bright I love landscaping when the rain pours I look for themed cafe or a museum.

And so gloomy, cloudy and rain seems to rush when we ended up at SeMA, Seoul Museum of Art. Beaming with of course a lot visitors, the museum holds a special exhibit when we visited and will last until August 15, 2017.

Walking from the entrance, sculptures were eye-catching and we can’t help ourselves took pictures of those. Later I found that this place was a filming location of Korean drama.

Those are in addition to the usual Korean art display and photographs. Apparently, the exhibits are ecstatic. Photographs are one of a kind, inspiring and wondrous.

So much piece of art in an exquisite display. The museum has three floors of deviating art works and each are so lovely to look. I hold in high regard the simplicity of Korea’s artwork. Simple and detailed. Does our visit to SeMa made my day.

Free admission and easy to reach. Take subway line 2 or 1 to City Hall Station and head to Exit 1.

Walk passing KFC restaurant and turn left on the first corner before the gate of Deoksugung Palace. Walk straight for 3 minutes until you see the big flower structure on your left.