Day 13: YG Entertainment and Han River

I slept in super late, got my yummy potato bun and tea, and then went back to bed (oops?). By about 4 pm I decided I should probably move, although it took a lot of convincing myself. My plan was to visit the YG Entertainment building and then walk down to the Han River.

A little background in case you don't know what YG Entertainment is... There are 3 major entertainment companies in Korea that train and then manage k-pop idols and sometimes actors. There are lots of other small companies but YG, JYP, and SM are the three largest. YG Entertainment manages some of my favourite groups including Winner, iKon and Big Bang. They also used to manage my favourite girl group, 2NE1, before they disbanded (broke up). Big Bang is one of my favourite k-pop groups and I have been a fan for many years. The entertainment company building usually has lots of studios where the idols practice as well as meeting rooms, cafeterias, etc. The building was fairly close to my hostel (less than half an hour) and I only had to take one subway line to get there so I thought it could be fun to check out.

The Korean at the top before YG Entertainment says 'Room in Korea'.

The building is super ugly. The shape is interesting, but for being one of the richest entertainment companies in South Korea it could be a lot cooler. There was someone out smoking on one of the balconies and I could see music videos playing on a huge screen in one of the stairwells. There were tons of fancy looking black cars and a couple security people outside the building, but unfortunately no artists. A few other people were wandering around and taking pictures as well!

There was also some cool graffiti and street art nearby.

After briefly walking around the building I tried to figure out how to get to the Han River. It's a huge river that runs through South Korea and people are always posting pictures about it so I thought it would be easy to find. I spent so much time Googling it to try and get a subway stop or straightforward answer about where to go to find the walking trails, but I couldn't find anything. There was a big green space on the other side of the river so I figured that had to be something good.

It took a little over half an hour to get there. There were faster routes by bus, but I really love the subway system so I always choose to use it if I can, even if it means more walking. The app I use to get everywhere is called KakaoMap and all the information is in Korean so I am very thankful that I learned how to read Hangul before I came here. One word that I have learned very quickly since I have been here is 역 (yeok) which means station. So when you look on the Kakao Map directions it shows the line number in the coloured circle and then the station name. For example, the station that I got on at by YG Entertainment is called 합정역 (Hapjeong Station) and it is on line 6.

The bus stop near YG had a living wall inside of it as well as tons of book cases. It was the prettiest subway station I have seen so far haha.

The stop that I got off at ended up taking me to a park and sign that I had seen in tons of photos! It wasn't the walking path I was looking for but it was still something that I had on my list of things I wanted to see. I was super happy that I went in the evening because I could look across the water and see the city lit up. People had also started setting up tiny tents wherever they could find green space. Some had even decorated their tent with little fairy lights. Everyone had cards, games, or some kind of take out container with food and they were just sitting, relaxing, and enjoying the view. There was someone busking near the I Seoul U sign and there were tons of food stalls at the top of the stairs as well as balloons with lights inside of them. This would make for such a cute date spot!

Super blurry picture of a tent because I felt rude/awkward taking a picture of someones tent so I tried to sneak a picture while walking.

After taking a picture of the sign and city I started walking in a random direction and it took me past the 'photo zone' which had all these chair things that were metal bars set up in a square with mesh across it. They are large enough that multiple people can sit in them and the mesh just sinks down so it's comfortable. I had my chill Korean music playlist going and it was very calming to just walk and look around. I eventually got to an area where people could take a ferry to see a water and light show in the middle of the river. There were trees, archways, benches, and railings covered in lights.

I wandered around for a bit and then went back to my hostel. I ate dinner at this little restaurant around the corner from my room that makes yummy bibimbap and then went to bed.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(October 8, 2018)