An icon of Seoul, the Han River stretches for 494 kilometres
from Taebaek Mountains to the Yellow Sea. It serves as a water source for over
12 million Koreans. Numerous parks dot the embankments of the Han River
including popular recreational spaces at Yeouido (famous for cherry blossoms
and also the 63 Building, the tallest building in Seoul),
Jamsil, and Ttukseom which offer ferry cruise services on Hangang River.
The park that we visited was the Banpo Hangang Park. The
wide and spacious park was a great place to see and enjoy nature as well as to
take part in sports and recreational activities. You can see many people
strolling or jogging along the trail paths, in-line skaters, and cyclists. A summer tradition was also to have a
picnic and hang out with your friends at the park and that’s exactly what we
wanted to do too!
We were really craving chimaek after seeing so many people eating fried chicken at the park. We wandered around the park but couldn’t find any restaurants nearby. Where did these people get their chicken from?
 |
| Rent one of these cute buoy-shaped boats and eat food there! So fun! |
 |
| there really is a CNN cafe at the floating island next to the Banpo Riverside Park |
 |
| waiting for the sun to set |
 |
| Lovely sunset |
We were really craving chimaek after seeing so many people eating fried chicken at the park. We wandered around the park but couldn’t find any restaurants nearby. Where did these people get their chicken from?
That’s when we realised that everyone was ordering take-outs
and delivery boys would then come and deliver the food. That’s why there are so
many ahjusshis circling the park on their motorcycles - to distribute flyers
from various fried chicken restaurants!
 |
| Snacks from Family Mart while waiting for our fried chicken delivery |
We plucked up the courage to approach one of the ahjusshis and to our relief, he spoke a little English. We were able to place our orders with him by pointing at the menus and he told us to come back to the same spot in half an hour. We paid him and then he sped off.
Thankfully he really didn’t run away with our money coz he
came back 30 minutes later with our piping hot food. HOORAY!!!!!!
We ordered a mixed set which came with two flavours of fried
chicken (original and sweet & sour sauce) and the delivery meal came with a
side dish of pickles and two cans of Coke. It was also thoughtful of the
restaurant to pack plastic gloves and loads of serviettes! Thumbs up for
service!
 |
| BBQ Chicken Ambassadors - Lee Jong-Suk and Suzy! |
 |
| We ordered the Half-and-Half. It was sooooooo good! |
We happily stuffed our faces with fried chicken while we enjoyed the lovely sunset views of the Hangang River. As the evening turned to dusk, the twinkly lights of the skyscrapers on the opposite bank also came on, and the atmosphere was quite romantic. No wonder so many K-drama couples like to come and have secret dates at the Hangang Parks! Now we know!
One of the highlights of the Banpo Hangang Park is the
Rainbow Fountain which is built on both sides of Banpo Bridge. It is the
longest bridge fountain in the world with a total length of 1,140m! Every
night, the fountain will come alive in a 20-minute light show where colourful
jets of water will dance in synchronization with music. It was such a
captivating sight that we stayed on till 8 plus that night to watch the show
twice!
After our park outing, we walked back to Express Bus Terminal
Station for late night shopping!!! The shops start to close around 9-ish and we
didn’t have a lot of time to buy stuff, but we managed to get quite a
respectable amount of loot. What a fabulous and productive day but our legs
were totally aching by the time we returned back to our hotel!!
How to get there:
The nearest subway station is the Express Bus Terminal
Station (Seoul Subway Line 3, 7 or 9), Exit 8-1.
- Go straight for 250m, and turn right at the Express Bus Terminal 4-way intersection.
- Continue going straight for 400m and cross the street at the crosswalk.
- Go straight through the underpass to arrive at the park.
- Go straight for 250m, and turn right at the Express Bus Terminal 4-way intersection.
- Continue going straight for 400m and cross the street at the crosswalk.
- Go straight through the underpass to arrive at the park.
If you’re coming from Sinsa-dong, you can take a bus (i can't remember the bus number) at the north end of
Garosugil to the Hangang Riverside Park.
 |
| Banpo Bridge Moonlight Rainbow Fountain Showtime |
Hello... may I know is it difficult to find way from exit 8-1 to the park ? How many minutes by foot to take from subway to the park ? Am thinking of having some picnic with fried chicken also along the park. Do they have tables or seats around the park ? Or should we bring our own mat to sit on ?
ReplyDeleteHello... may I know is it difficult to find way from exit 8-1 to the park ? How many minutes by foot to take from subway to the park ? Am thinking of having some picnic with fried chicken also along the park. Do they have tables or seats around the park ? Or should we bring our own mat to sit on ?
ReplyDeleteHello! Thanks for dropping by my blog. It takes about 10 mins to reach the park from the subway. I followed a bunch of people who were walking in the direction of the park, so i didnt have any problem finding the place. There are not a lot of tables/seats in the park though, i had to wait for a while to get an empty bench. A mat sounds like a great idea! Hope you have fun there!
ReplyDelete