Nau speak: Korea: Yangjae-river Neighborhood Park

Seoul is a city that puts a lot of consideration into the creation of and maintenance of shared public spaces. The city as a whole is one of the most easily traveled I've been to with an extensive network of subways, trains, buses, and taxis connecting every corner of the city along with rideshare services taking the streets...all on top of being an exceptionally walkable place... but all that vehicular transportation would still fall short if there weren't places actually worth going to! Luckily for any visitor or resident to the city, Seoul has no shortage of things to do during the day. At night your options might constrict slightly due to trains stopping in the early morning, but you still have plenty of options for getting around. Most neighborhoods are so well stocked with convenience stores and restaurants that you wouldn't need to go far to find food or beverages, alcoholic or otherwise. Drinking in public is perfectly legal, too, so long as you aren't an ass about it, so feel free to pick up a beer and have yourself a lovely little picnic while out strolling! On a warm day like this one it would certainly be a refreshing idea. I opted for an iced coffee this time through.

The Yangjae-river neighborhood park is quite close to the Citizen's Forest park, though I believe they're separate entities. There's a train station that will deposit you directly in front of the park, but that would have required changing train lines and looping out of the way and back around from my particular angle of approach, so I got out about a mile away or so and walked. I certainly needed the exercise and the day was so lovely out that it would have been a waste to not take the stroll and soak up some sunshine. There's always something of interest to see! I was able to find my way to the park with little difficulty and took plenty of photos on the way and after arrival.

I found my way to the Yangjae river, where I sat upon a stone as the water rushed by. I was talking to Antho, able to connect over Facebook messenger using my portable wi-fi egg to get my phone online. I'd send him photos spontaneously and we'd talk about our days, trying to stay connected as best we could despite the oceans between us. It wasn't always easy, and I remember being particularly distraught during this conversation, but that's life. No one ever said that a long-distance relationship would be easy, and a disturbing number of our acquaintances had dismal condolences and lackluster predictions for our success. We made it, of course, and are still going strong years later! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, though Antho is determined to never let us be separated like this again. He'll be with me next time. So for those of you who might think that a LDR isn't worth it, or can't survive, you're really underselling yourself. Have some faith in yourself! We did, and here we are. I'm able to share my adventures with you all and get a foot rub and snuggles from the guy who's been there for me the whole time. That's pretty fantastic. We even pledged our loyalty in front of the Dark Knight, so you know we're not kidding around. 😉