One of the best ways to experience any city is by renting a bike, and Seoul is no exception. For those who don't have a bike in Seoul and don't really want to bring a bike to Seoul, no worries. Seoul has an excellent public bike rental program called Ddareungi. The stations are everywhere and the cost is something like a dollar an hour to rent. There are a lot of options to rent it, but the most convenient is using your phone.
Today we start our 25km 2hr Journey near Hongje Station in the North West of Seoul. Hongje Station isn't known as a tourist hotspot, however, it's near where my mother-in-law lives and also the most obvious place to find the Hongje Stream which is the first stream I followed. My wife was visiting her mother and I was meeting some friends in a few hours somewhere else, so I took the ride up to the city and decided to take a nice bike ride.
As you may notice up this far, the stream is quite nice and it appears natural. That's because this is mostly a residential neighbourhood and I'm staring at a small mountain and not the city. You will see more of that later, so enjoy the peaceful tranquillity of carefully designed natural areas while it lasts.
I told you to enjoy it while it lasts, actually, the Honge Stream is famous for being under the Naebu Expressway. Seoul built a lot of elevated highways above and beside its streams because it's not really a suitable place to live and people need roads. Some such as the Cheongyecheon have now been torn down, others are in the process of being torn down or buried and others persist. This one isn't going anywhere. And to be honest, it helps me get to my MIL's house a lot faster and keeps me shaded while I ride my bike. Win-Win!
Across that little stream, you can see the World Cup Stadium. Korea and Japan co-hosted the World Cup in 2002. I can't believe that was 20 years ago. In any case you need to make a small detour to get to this slightly smaller stream. It also has a bike path along it. I made the detour just to take this photo for you, so I hope you like it.
Finally, we arrive at the Han River. It's the main river in Seoul. You aren't going to get much of a view yet because where the stream meets the river is Battleship Park. Here you can see the ROKS Seoul. It's actually an Ulsan-class escort frigate and not a battleship. Sorry to disappoint you, there are no battleships in battleship park. Despite not having battleships, Korea has a very impressive naval history and an ever more powerful modern navy. In any case, the ship museum was closed because government workers will use any excuse to not have to work of COVID.
Finally we get to an unobstructed view of the river. What you are looking at it the majestic isle of Yeouido. On the far left is the 63 building - a Seoul landmark and the highest building in Korea for several decades. And on the far right you can see the National Assembly - a Korean landmark for obvious reasons. Despite living here over 15 years, I've never actually been to either. Actually, my destination today is those 2 tall towers with red detailing toward in the center-left. I'm going to meet some friends to have dinner at the mall in the basement.
There are bike paths on both the North and South sides of the Han River. And there are quite a few bridges you can cross over. The river is a flood plain so it can be quite wide in some areas, but far narrower in others. I like this area because of the trees. It helps cut down noise from the highways.
There are many bridges crossing the river. I had a few hours to kill so I wasn't taking the quickest route. These are the main railroad bridges over the river and they are actually a little past my destination. I came here because I think that the iron statue of the monster cat is really cool.
Finally it's time to cross the river. As you can see I'm well past the place I'm headed to now. That golden building in the center of the photo is the 63 Building and I have to go a little ways past that. I chose to cross over the Hangang Bridge which is the oldest road bridge in Seoul. I took this photo while on the channel between Nodeul Island and the South bank of the river. There are signs all along the bridge saying things like "I love you" and "don't give up". These uplifting messages are supposed to deter people from jumping off the bridge. This bridge is not the most popular bridge for jumping off in Seoul, however, it is famous because during the Korean War the South Koreans blew it up with thousands of kg of TNT and killed over 500 civilians who were desperately trying to escape the city.
The Southside of the river here is probably the ugly section of the Han River bike path. This isn't the worst photo, but maybe you can see why it isn't nice. Fortunately today it wasn't smelly. Going the other way is even worse because you are on the other side of that concrete wall and can't see the river and it's like riding through a grimy tunnel. If you are lucky, you may even have a pigeon poop on your head or some nasty run off water drip on you. Wear a helmet!
Finally, I've reached Yeouido. Fortunately, it's far less crowded than usual because of COVID. A lot of people really like the riverside park here. Everyone just has picnics in the same spot, probably because it is in central Seoul and easy to get to from anywhere in or around the city, especially since there is a subway station nearby called Yeouinaru. No there isn't a festival, it's called Saturday. Anyway, if you think this is crowded you should try coming here during the fireworks festival or some other festival. Just wait until after the vaccine, or booster shot, or whenever they feel like opening up the country again.
For those who don't want the riverside, there is a very nice park called [Yeouido Park[(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeouido_Park). At this point, I was almost at my destination and I had just ditched my bike at one of the stations on the perimeter of the park. This view is beautiful and modelled after a fishpond in one of the main palaces in Seoul. There are a few signs that remind you "No Fishing". You would have to be a total sociopath to think it is okay to go fishing in this decorative koi pond. However those people do exist and they've probably been caught trying to fish here. Are pond koi even delicious?
My favorite part of the park is the statue of King Seojong the Great. This is Korea's 2nd most beloved statue of their most beloved king. Among other reasons, he is most famous for making the Korean writing system. If you look at the trees behind him, those are Rose of Sharon trees (Korea's national flower) and they are blooming because it's mid-July. Actually, there are a ton of national symbols of Korea and Korean culture in this park.
Finally, I reach the end of my journey. Although I rode 25km in mid-July (2020), I'm not even tired. Actually, I was riding at a leisurely pace and stopping for a lot of photos.
So why am I writing this blog 574 days after taking these photos. Well, how long should I wait? Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow, I suppose. Anyhow, I'm happy I finally got around to telling this story. I hope you enjoyed my bike tour along some of Korea's interesting riverside bike paths.