All things bright and beautiful: (2019) 5 days in South Korea --- Day 5 (Monday), Seoul

One common difficulty faced by travelers on a tight schedule is having to decide what places to visit out of too many good choices. It was all the more so in our case, as we had less than a day to spend in Seoul on the last leg of our Korean trip. Having already visited the magnificent Naejangsan, the historic Jeonju rich in Korean culture, and the beautiful Nami Island in splendid fall colours, anything more would be an added bonus to our trip. Still, for us as first time visitors to Seoul, or to Korea for that matter, it would be nice to see some of the best parts of the city to give us a lasting impression.

As we were travelling with two others, we wouldn't want them to visit some place that they had been to before, if there was something new they would rather see. Considering it quite likely we would return to Seoul for a second visit in the future, we let our companion travelers decide what to see on the day. In any case, any place would be new for us. Fortunately, all of us agree on seeing a small number of places in detail, rather than rush through a long list of attractions. In the end, we settled for just two places --- World Cup Park and Ihwa Mural Village 梨花壁畫村.

School trip by the pond in Pyeonghwa (Peace) Park, one of five parks that make up World Cup Park.

After a filling buffet breakfast at the hotel, we checked out of the rooms and left the luggage at the front desk. To save a bit of time, we took a taxi to the World Cup Park. The Park borders the Seoul World Cup Stadium, which was built for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. What led us to decided to go there were some beautiful photos that we had seen of Haneul (Sky) Park, one of the five parks that make up World Cup Park. We were particularly attracted by the clusters of ball-shaped pink muhly grass at the park, something that looked very pretty and exotic. In fact, the muhly grass seems to be a great crowd-puller.

Before heading to Haneul Park, we walked through the tranquil Pyeonghwa (Peace) Park, which features a nice pond. Maybe because it was a Monday morning, the Park was very quiet. We were among just a handful of visitors apart from a group of students possibly on a school trip.

Pyeonghwa (Peace) Park

Willow in Pyeonghwa Park

A pale-blue coloured bridge joins Pyeonghwa Park and Haneul Park. Before crossing the bridge, one can see the zig-zag staircase that leads up to the elevated Hanuel Park at the top of a mound.

Bridge (over a fairly busy road) connecting Pyeonghwa (Peace) Park to the bottom of the zig-zag staircase that leads up to Haneul (Sky) Park

Map of World Cup Park --- with Pyeonghwa (Peace) Park at the lower right corner, and Haneul (Sky) Park to its left

Seoul World Cup Stadium as seen from Haneul Park

View of World Cup Stadium and Seoul skyline from Haneul Park

View from Haneul Park, with World Cup Stadium on the left

Apart from the distinctive muhly grass, Haneul Park is also known for the fields of reeds in the park. Inexplicably the reeds were very mesmerizing. Maybe the bright blue sky just provided the perfect background for the beige-coloured reeds waving in the wind. It seemed that we could not be tired of taking photos of them, as the photos shown below, which are just a portion of the ones we took, bear proof.

Mesmerizing reeds waving in the wind, Haneul Park

Reeds, Haneul Park

Reeds under a blue sky, Haneul Park

Reeds, Haneul Park

Field of reeds, Haneul Park

Reeds, Haneul Park

Adjacent to the fields of reeds was an area planted with large patches of pink muhly grass. The exotic pink colour of the grass, with the funny marsh-mallow-shaped bunches, woolly looking from a distance, cause one to wonder whether these are actually man-made objects. No wonder why these draw such large crowds and serve as a favourite selfie background for many.

Haneul Park

Pink Muhly grass

Pink Muhly grass, Haneul Park

Picturesque

Haneul Park

Under gingko trees, Haneul Park

We easily spent well over two hours in Pyeonghwa Park and Haneul Park. As we had a very sumptuous breakfast in the morning, we were in no hurry for lunch. So we proceeded to the next place of our choice --- Ihwa Mural Village 梨花壁畫村. Located up a hill, the village had been hugely popular since the late 2000's. Apparently the murals attracted so many visitors that the locals complained of the disturbance, to the point where some of the murals were removed.

Trees at Naksan (Camel Mountain) Park near Ihwa Mural Village

View from Naksan (Camel Mountain) Park

Ihwa Mural Village

Shop at Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Overall Ihwa Mural Village seemed a fairly small community, with not many shops or eateries. However, we did find a nice-looking cafe where we had a late lunch.

Lunch at Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village --- seems like the mural once painted on this staircase has been removed

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village --- art works across the village are not limited to murals and graffiti

Ihwa Mural Village

Having an evening flight to catch, we had to bid farewell to the Mural Village as we made our way back to the hotel. Originally we had in mind another place to visit but decided against it in favour of a more leisurely itinerary. Instead, we checked out the area around the City Hall and finding the location of the bus stop, where we would be taking the bus to the airport. This brought a nice conclusion to our first visit to South Korea, a rapidly modernizing country with a rich cultural and natural heritage.