Ask about shopping and for sure you will end up in a department store in Korea. Ask about a place for sight seeing and you’ll end up on one of those popular landmarks where locals and tourists flocked too. Those are the shopping and touring scenario you might have.

On the other hand, I’ll show you around to a shopping complex, a good place for sightseeing and in addition a pleasing place to enjoy leisurely walk. Distinctive places are booming in Korea. From themed cafes, interactive museums, character shops and more.

Common Ground is no exception, located at Konkuk University station. It is a shopping complex built with shipping containers. Designed and architectured for a diversed purpose.

This pop-up store contained stores of dresses, restaurants, character stores, photo booths, cafe and a night market that every visitors enjoyed, just like me. It is a one-stop shop literally and becoming a popular tourist attraction.

Location: Line 2 or 7….Konkuk University Station head to exit 6 and walk straight for 3 minutes.

Ttukseom resort is my favorite swimming place from among those six public swimming pools hanging around Han river. This one’s the most popular among the foreigners too.

Not only it’s the biggest but it is also the closest from the subway station. Thus, the most accessible place to beat the heat of summer.

I guess, it’s also the most crowded one especially weekends. Summer in Korea is literally hot that most of my weekends eversince the season begun had been spent in those nearby pools already.

Last Sunday, we visited Ttukseom and deeply enjoyed the water. Pools are available for kids and adults, separately for safety purposes.

Entrance only costs ￦5000 for general admission, kids and teenagers are discounted. This resort will be open until August 27 this year.

……. ticket booth

Tube and life jackets rental

• Direction: Ttukseom Resort.. Line 7… exit 3.

Looking for places to drift this summer? Categorically, beaches and pools are of course the best places to delve into. While those sandy areas and calming sea water are needed to be traveled for hours or so, public swimming pools on the other hand can be checked in easily in Seoul.

With that moot point, I have listed down outdoor pools, indoor swimming pools and water theme parks for you to choose and try. I had been to mostly of these cool places and definitely had a good time.

1. Han River Side Swimming Pools  

             Open for general public and entrance fee costs 5,000won-8,000won for a day. Opens from 9:00am to 7:00pm usually. Note that proper swimming attire is highly observe and swimming cap is a MUST!

2. Woongjin Playdoci: Water and Snow Park

      An indoor water and snow park located in Bucheon. I enjoyed this place last winter and you’ll definitely like it this summer. A huge water theme park to play around with indoor and outdoor pool, spa and sauna, slides and more. It’s a bit costly though, but no worries…. check this link, book directly from my website and it will just cost you 10 bucks. 

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3. Potto Pop Corn House Pension and Pool. Best for overnight stay as reservation includes pension house. A nice play to unwind in countryside. Located near Cheongpyeong Station, the way to Gapyeong. Reservation is needed to this site.

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Want further, bigger and more adventure?

4. Ocean World Water Park

This water park is located in Vivaldi Park Resort on the slopes of Palbong Mountain at Hongcheon region of Gangwon-do. Two hours and a half travel time from Seoul. Ocean World is one of the most popular summer destinations in Korea, it is in fact dubbed as the 4^th Top Water Park in the world. It has a grandest Egyptian inspired architecture.

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Book here for your 60% percent discount and free shuttle bus.

The farthest and with the best scenery.

5. Suncruise Resort and Yacht Hotel 

The best resort with sea water pool and the breathtaking scenery of nature. Hotel reservation is quiet costly, but the resort is so much affordable. In addition, we were able to explore the entire resort and the Gangneung beach nearby.

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There you go! I provided the link for each and every places I went to.

Enjoy summer.

Did you get the chance visiting Seoul rose festival and other rose gardens which started on the third week of May?

Good news! It isn’t late for you, sweet roses are in bloom to mid of June and certainly if you love these flowers you still have time to check it out.

After the longest rose tunnel from Taereung station, I found time revisiting Olympic park rose garden in Olympic park station.

Both are located in Seoul yet in opposite direction and both displays hundreds of roses varieties. It so happen that the day I went to Olympic Park, just last Saturday, it holds a Jazz festival. A lot of people falling in line from subway to the venue. 

Well, if you aren’t aware this park is often a venue of concerts and festivals in Korea and year round it’s wonderful to go around especially fall, so love the scenery here.

Rose garden isn’t that big here, but roses are in beautiful display and lesser crowd. In addition in front of rose garden, there awaits an English poppy hill, which in fall is a home for cosmos flowers.

You see, this garden is well managed in seasons, thus a nice place to visit year round. The 146 species of roses in this garden is admirable in May-June.

Never miss it out this month!

• 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 untill you see the small bridge. It will lead you to the entrance. Will take you 15minutes on foot from the station.

Remember that hilarious serving of coffee in a toilet bowl cup which I wrote before? Recenty another poo themed attraction opened in Insa-dong. The Poopoo Land, a poo museum!

• Visitors in Hanbok, Korean traditional dress is a common sight in Insa-dong.

Korean’s never run out of great ideas, really! Fun and gross at the same time, Poopoo Land it is!

With an obstacle and a little adventure for visitors, the attractions inside are enough to try for less than hour.

…. a musical pots.. upon entrance they will give a token to use here. Aim for the pots with medal and a dance song will be played if you throw the token in.

It has a second floor which the obstacle starts and you can try on a 90degrees slide down to the first floor.

This museum is located at the annex of Ssamziegil building. Not spacious and not really amusing, just if you want something different you can try to check on it.

• Direction: From exit 6 of Angguk station line 3. Walk towards Insa-dong alley. Ssamziegil is on your left. Walk to the end of the ground floor stay on your left.

A souvenir shop before you exit.

• Admission: ￦6,000 and children below 120cm are not allowed to enter.

An overpass turned to a park is the latest sensation of locals and foreigners in Seoul. Opened to the public last Saturday, May 20th.

We took an early visit last Sunday to this new attraction in Seoul station. We started the course from exit 2 of Line 1 Seoul station and there surprised us the emblazon of old footwears. 

From rubber shoes, sneakers, ladies and kids shoes were stuck up in an unusual way. Some footwears were used as a flower pots. A garden of shoes and flowers.

From exit 2, passing this shoes spectacle we took the spiral staircase to the top of the Seoullo 7017 Sky Park which plants and flowers awaits, merely like a sky garden.

It even have a rose garden and rose cafe where we rested a bit. Seoullo 7017 has three walking paths. 

Yet as we feel the summer like weather we shorten our course and choose to walked on the middle path. We ended up going back to Seoul station early.

There were two more patha that awaits, so will try going back when the sun is down. Night panoramic view of the city will surely be great from this overpass turned park.

• Direction: Seoul Station exit 2 of Line 1. You’ll find the stairs on your left after the pile of shoes. A 2minute walk.

As we took the walking course in Seoul Fortress from Dongdaemun, we also wandered around Ihwa Mural Village in Hyehwadong. 

Ihwa Mural Village is one popular spot for Koreans and foreigners. The murals around the village are colorful and charming that’s so impossible not to take pictures. It’s a quite neighborhood completely invaded by visitors.

I have known from a news before that some villagers living here often complained of the noise that visitors made and there were also some murals who were removed.

Yet, despite some vanished murals. There were also some new and I guess the visiting guests doesn’t also subside. Cafe’s, museums, galleries were packed with people.

Looking around murals, this is one place in Seoul that I really love to liesurely spend time. Different murals, different meaning and sometimes it literally express all.

I’ve also noticed that some Korean couple visitors were wearing some kind of costume, a student and an a marine like uniform. Later found out that there is that studio which they rented out those outfits. A photo studio was even available for souvenir keeps.

We also happened to stumble on a small doll museum inspired from the collection of the owner. Another wonderful day to keep memories.

Direction: Follow the Seoul Fortress course from Dongdaemun station Line 1, exit  6 or from Hyehwa Station Line 4, exit 2.