Seoul Grand Park

It's a bit late to be telling you about what I did for the long Chuseok weekend—you know, seeing as it was the first week of October—but I'll go ahead and tell you anyway, because it was cool.

On Saturday, September 29, we went to Itaewon to see the the musical Wicked. You might have heard of it. Big Broadway show. Miss H is a fan. I must say, I'm a convert. I was pleased by the creativity, the spin on the old Wizard of Oz mythos, and the clever storytelling. The music was pretty good, too.

On Sunday we took a scouting trip to Seoul Grand Park (also known as 서울 대공원), a zoo/art museum/theme park nestled in the mountains south of the capital. It was the zoo we were interested in. We came, we saw, but it was too late to do anything, so we went to Myeongdong for some delicious street food instead.

Then we came back on Monday, primed and ready for action.

I was led to believe, by my outdated Lonely Planet guidebook, that Seoul Zoo was nothing more than a public walking-space with a few exotic animals in small, muddy enclosures.

Either they've refurbished the place since my edition of the guidebook came out, or the writer was an extreme cynic. The place was gorgeous.

But it was, on the other hand, a zoo. If you know what I mean.

This was Chuseok, something like the American Thanksgiving. On this three-day holiday, everybody runs home to their families and spends their vacation feasting, hobnobbing, and paying tribute to their elders. Mothers and fathers pack up their kids and go see the grandparents. Deep bows are given, and the elders then bestow their offspring with gifts. This is one of my students' favorite holidays, because the traditional gift for a respectful grandchild is cold, hard cash. Grandmothers whip up some songpyeon (rice cakes or something) and everybody chillaxes for a few days.

They also take family trips to places like Seoul Grand Park.

Everybody and their mother was there. Literally.

Fortunately, SGP is rather large. So large, in fact, that you must walk a kilometer and a half from the entrance at the subway station to the actual ticket booths. Fortunately, it's a scenic walk. They even provide nourishment for you if you get fatigued. There were snack stands which sold everything from ice cream to potato chips to charcoal-grilled squid. You may be sure that I partook of the latter. And loved it.

This initial long hike is greatly facilitated by an open-air tram that runs up the mountainside, like so:

It also happens to take in the gorgeous mountains, a large lake, and the botanical gardens on its way there.

After absorbing this breathtaking spectacle, Miss H and I stood in line for 45 minutes to catch the next leg of the tramway up to the highest foothills, so we could meander our way back down the mountain and through the zoo proper.

We saw the tiger feeding, and would have seen the dolphin show if it wasn't for that aforementioned crowd. We settled for moseying among the enclosures, taking in the sights and sounds of the surprisingly numerous animal exhibits, and then having a quiet snack on the grass before we left and went home.

And that's all I'll tell you about that. Tune in for the next Chuseok-related post, in which Heather and I explore Incheon's Chinatown area.