Day 96: Yangjaecheon Stream & Ilsan Park

I only have a few days left in Seoul. I decided that, rather than rushing to try and see a bunch of things last minute, I would just pick one place for each day and walk lots. My destination today was Yangjaecheon Stream. I had been there a week or so ago, but I was late to meet Ella at the time and couldn't look around. It seemed like a good place to wander and it was somewhere I hadn't explored yet plus there was lots of walking involved in getting there. The stream is near the south part of Gangnam so it took me a little under an hour to walk to it. I stopped by a birthday cafe along the way to grab a drink to keep me warm. Unfortunately, the drink only lasted so long. My hands were super cold by the time I started getting close to the stream so I caved and bought a heat pack at a convenience store.

Everything looked pretty dead when I made it to the stream, but it was still a nice place to wander along. I was starting to feel sad about leaving so I tried to just stay in the moment and enjoy the scenery. I played chill music and looked at the people and the area around me. It was nice to have time to myself to just wander, but it was also super chilly so I only walked for half an hour or so before I made my way up to a main road. I had decided to go back to Ilsan to see if I could magically find some more Christmas lights, but first I needed to find a subway station.

I passed by a macaron place where Namjoon filmed a video for a BTS comeback show while I was trying to find a line 3 station. The location must have closed recently because the sign was still there, but it was completely empty inside. I was pretty sure that this was the same area where I went walking with Sunny and his family a few months ago and I was surprised that I recognized it.

It took forever to get to Ilsan and it was fairly dark by the time that I arrived. The sky was beautiful though! I stood in the cold for a few minutes trying to get a good picture, but they never seem to turn out as nice as it looks in real life sadly.

There was another birthday cafe in Ilsan so I took the subway past the park and hoped that I could find some fun photo cards there. They must have run out because I had seen a bunch of cool ones in pictures online but they only had a few when I arrived. I did get a sparkly 'Taehyung' sticker though! I had my usual yuja tea and I treated myself to a huge chocolate bun/cake that was covered in syrup and all sorts of other sugary stuff (sorry mom)! Then I took a bus to Ilsan Lake Park and hoped I could find some lights. I thought they may have put some more up for New Years, but I was wrong. It was still nice to walk by the lake and see a little bit of Ilsan though so not a wasted trip, plus it was better than sitting in my room and thinking about leaving.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(December 30, 2018)