A Late Summer Dip at Yeouido Hangang Park Swimming Pool
I still have two more concert posts to write, but let me share my water park story first.
I only learned that Hangang Park has outdoor swimming pools that open only in the summer, with a long history, now that I've started learning to swim(?).
I wanted to visit a Hangang swimming pool before summer was completely over, and I finally made it just before closing. Since I dislike crowds, I went on the very last Friday afternoon with weekday operations. Why afternoon? Because I was told to pick up my altered clothes that I had left the day before in the afternoon, and I also skipped my morning yoga class because I was exhausted from doing the butterfly stroke the entire swimming lesson the day before.
There was a rain forecast for the evening, and it was raining on and off in the afternoon, but it seemed like they would operate unless there was heavy rain, so I packed my bags and left home. It was quite a load, but I packed ice, water, and iced coffee. That's why I had three tumblers.
Yeouido Swimming Pool is the easiest to get to among the pools suitable for adults, so I chose Yeouido Swimming Pool. The path there was a forest path. If you follow the path where there is really nobody, you will soon find the swimming pool. I even met a cat far away while walking.
I arrived during the break time, so there was nobody in the pool. The pool wasn't very small, but it was smaller than I thought, and there were more people than I thought even though it was a weekday afternoon. The crowd exploded during the night opening. Even though the daytime closing was just around the corner, it was a really good choice to come during the day and play for even 30 minutes. It's a public outdoor swimming pool, so you can't say the facilities are great, but the entrance fee is only 5,000 won. Still, the paint peeling off the pool floor... I hope they repair it before next year's opening?
At the entrance, they were giving out waterproof gym bags for free if you needed them, so I took one as a souvenir and it was so fortunate because it protected my luggage that shouldn't get wet from the heavy rain that poured down from time to time. I'm really glad I took it. I also used the body wash I received at this time very well before and after swimming.
They said the water turbidity was good on this day, but even though it was good, I could still see some floating debris, like residue from sunscreen, in the water. I guess it will be much worse than this if the population density increases? You should come when there are fewer people.
The good thing about outdoor swimming pool water play is seeing the sunlight shining on the pool floor and the shimmering light on the beautiful tile floor of the pool, but I learned for the first time that the Hangang swimming pool has a flat floor, which made it less fun, and it's even worse if the water isn't clear. I must have been living the life of Riley until now, so I didn't know... But it was still nice because I found that moment. It was also nice to float on the water and look up at the sky when there were fewer people. I couldn't do it for long though. It was also nice to find stars in the sky that I looked up at briefly at night when there were a lot of people.
I spread out the mat I had prepared and looked at the sky. I also watched the passing clouds. The speed at which the clouds were moving was unusual. Indeed, the heavy rain was scheduled?
There was a separate lane for swimming enthusiasts, but there was no guide line on the bottom, so I kept going off course and awkwardly moved to the general area twice. I wish they would draw a line on the floor next year. At first, I was intimidated and didn't go to that area, thinking that I wasn't that enthusiastic about swimming, but after seeing the people swimming in that area, I thought I could mingle with them, so I went and swam a little. As more people came, there was a line and it just became like a sports center swimming pool vibe.
Yeouido Hangang Swimming Pool at sunset. Until the sun was up, it was still about 50% water and 50% people. The dark clouds are abundant. As it got darker, they turned on the string lights.
Hangang ramen, the actual purpose of the visit.
I don't usually eat ramen after swimming lessons or free swimming because it's completely night time, so it's burdensome to eat ramen, but I've always had a desire to eat ramen after playing in the water, so tonight I'll have ramen for dinner. I swam freestyle in the swimming enthusiasts line to burn more energy so I could eat it even more deliciously. The water was warm, so it seemed like I got out of breath faster than I should have for how hard it was. Anyway, I starved myself a bit and ate ramen late.
I've lived in Seoul for quite a while, but it was surprisingly my first time eating Hangang ramen, so it was fun, and it started pouring rain while I was making the ramen, but it was also fun to eat ramen at the standing table in the rain. I was already wet anyway, so getting a little more wet wasn't a problem. The taste of the Hangang ramen itself that I ate for the first time... it's just ramen that we all know, but it's the feeling, the feeling.
I left 4.5 hours after entering. Surprisingly, I stayed quite a while. I didn't use much energy compared to the time I was there. The breaks were also long enough, and after the night opening at 7 o'clock, it was 15% water and 85% people, so I could hardly swim at all... There were so many people that everyone was just dipping their bodies in the pool. There's nothing to do...
If I can come next year, I want to come during the daytime on a weekday and do some actual swimming. I don't want to do laps of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly here, but I just want to float on the water, do some dolphin kick water play, do some diving, and do some underwater frog swimming. They had a season pass, I wonder if I should get one? But I'm afraid of sunburn... I've had it badly before, so I want to avoid it because I know what the pain is like. But I don't like swimming in a rash guard. It's too uncomfortable because of the water resistance. That's why I kept putting it off and only came now. I'll do something about it when the time comes next year.
The luggage that got wet with water is unusually heavy, and I can't sit on public transport seats while wet because I can't dry my body properly while carrying it, so I bought some snacks at the local supermarket because I was hungry when I got home. I wanted to eat Bbangtoa (Korean ice cream sandwich) these days, but there aren't many Bbangtoa at convenience stores? I kept an eye on it because it was in the local supermarket, so I bought it at the supermarket. I started watching the Netflix drama "Ae-ma" series while eating snacks. It's fun, I'm still watching it. It's so fun that I'm almost done with season 1 with about 2 episodes left, and I feel bad about each remaining episode.
I'm drying the sarong I bought in Bali that got wet yesterday on the chair, and looking at it reminds me of my last trip to Bali.
Ah, my summer is over.
(But it's hot again today)
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