Day 92: Ilsan Lake Park

More BTS places today! The two locations that I planned for us to see were Seonam Water recycling centre where BTS filmed the music video for Euphoria and Ilsan Lake Park. The subway to the water recycling plant took a little over an hour and it was so cold when I walked outside! I met Ella near the plant and we both wandered around to try and find the entrance. Ella had looked up pictures of the place before we came to see if we could actually go in to it and the entrance had looked like it was open to visitors. We eventually found what seemed like the entrance and we tried to walk in as discreetly as possible. There was a golf course on one side of the road and a small pond with benches on the other side so it did seem like a place that people could visit. There was also a huge field of solar panels near the golf course! The plant that looked like the place BTS filmed at was behind the pond. We walked beside the buildings, but it really didn't look like a place that people could just wander around so we decided it would be best to leave. The colours of the buildings looked cool and I'm sure it would have been an interesting place to film at!

It took a long time to get there for us to not actually enter the place, but at least it was in the direction of Ilsan Lake Park. Ella and I walked to a subway down the road and took a few transfers to get to Ilsan. It took an hour or so to get there and it was almost dinner time when we arrived. We found a kimbap restaurant near the station and stopped there for soup and kimbap. Yes we eat lots of kimbap. It's super cheap (around $3-5), there are many different kinds we can get, and it's yummy, so we do tend to eat it quite often. The food was great. I'm not sure if it was because we were so cold outside and it was warm and filling or if the place really did make better tasting food than the other places we have tried. Regardless, it was a delicious meal.

The main reason I wanted to come to the park in Ilsan was to see Christmas lights. Namjoon had posted several photos on Twitter last year from this park and the lights looked really pretty. (Side note: the Twitter account that I use to find the BTS places is called @btsinfo1, they look at their photos, music videos, etc. and somehow figure out where they were taken/filmed. All I do is scroll through their feed and pick ones that look interesting).

I was so excited to see a Christmas light display and I was heartbroken to find only a windmill and tunnel that were decorated. I'm not sure if the lights weren't running this year or if they had taken them down after Christmas, but I was sad that I didn't get to see them. I had looked online a few days ago to find information about the lights and the site I found said that any time after December 18 was a good time to visit. Oh well... At least I got to see the park. It looked like it would be a really beautiful place to wander around, especially in slightly warmer weather. It's definitely a place that I want to come back to.

The park was very close to a big city centre:

Ella and I walked back to the main street to catch a bus home. We decided to go to a Taehyung birthday cafe in Hongdae to finish the night off and we were able to find a bus that would take us straight there, no transfers yay!

It took so long to get to the recycling plant, then to Ilsan, and then to Hongdae. I spent lots of much money on transportation and I was very frustrated that nothing worked out. I felt bad for dragging Ella all over the place when we never actually got to do or see anything that I said we would. Bad days happen though and at least we got to end the night with warm churros and chocolate.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(December 26, 2018)