Han River Cruise

June 19, 2025

It's a rainy morning here in Seoul. When I checked the weather forecast leading up to this trip it showed rain every single day. As much as I've complained about the heat, we really have been very lucky with the weather. We had a couple hours of rain a few days ago when it really came down in buckets. But that's been about it. Today looks like a complete washout, but we are packing this morning and then are boarding a train for Gwangju. It looks like rain in the forecast for most of our days in Gwangju, all the days on Jeju Island, and most of our time in Busan. Let's hope that the forecast is wrong just like it was for Seoul.

Last night we took a Han River Cruise. The subway ride there was quite easy. It was a much easier park to get to than the one Aiden and I visited a few nights back. Right by the boat launch there was the popular Korean convenience store, Nice to CU. The boys and I bought ramen. There were ramen making stations right there. Just as our ramen was about cooked, we were instructed to board the boat. It seemed urgent, so we quickly grabbed our food and prepared to board. One of the workers started yelling at us, "No, no, no" which we realized meant that we could not bring our food on the boat. Aiden was very disappointed. He was hungry and had been looking forward to that ramen! We set it on a table inside the building and then boarded the boat.

We settled in and discovered another Nice to CU shop right on board the boat. There was no ramen, but there were plenty of snacks. For 3,000 won (about 2 bucks) you could also buy a bag of snacks to feed the seagulls. No thanks.

We spent most of our time outside on the top of the boat enjoying the beautiful night. The seagulls followed the boat the entire trip. And why wouldn't they? People had bought bags of seagull food and were stretching out their hands to feed them. The seagulls would swoop by and snatch it. What is seagull food, you may be wondering? Just a small, dried fish. There seem to be plenty of those around here. I was a bit annoyed with the seagulls until I spotted a young Korean boy with his family standing next to us. He was trying so hard to feed a seagull. But when they would swoop by he would instinctively pull his hand back feeling a bit afraid. Finally, he did it. A seagull flew by and grabbed the fish. And the little boy beamed and beamed. Luke captured a perfect picture. Luke showed the picture to the parents and then they offered us a fish to feed the seagulls. Luke and Jordan both fed one. I passed. Aiden was inside the boat at this time eating his snacks. I have a feeling he would have passed as well.

I struck up a lengthy conversation with a Korean woman on board who I learned was a fellow teacher. We teachers are kindred spirits and manage to find each other no matter where in the world we may be! She was a native Korean living in Seoul who taught English to kids ages 10-13. She was on the boat because she was hosting people from Saipan which is an American Commonwealth in the Northern Mariana Islands. Have you heard of it? I had not as I was very embarrassed to admit. The Korean woman was shocked that we didn't know of it since we were American. It's a beautiful island located in the Pacific between Hawaii and Korea. We met some of the people from Saipan, but never admitted to them that we had never heard of their island!

When we returned to the dock, we saw our neglected bowls of ramen still sitting there undisturbed. Aiden wasn't interested in eating cold ramen, so he bought a new pack. Luke dug right in, though, and enjoyed every bite. I was hot and sweaty and in no mood for ramen, so I bought a Snickers instead. Not a healthy choice at all, but it sure tasted good!

The night was beautiful and felt like a perfect ending to our time in Seoul. Once again, Luke was lamenting the fact that we don't live in Korea and was trying to convince me to move here. Don't worry, Mom and Dad! We will come back to Michigan despite Luke's desire to move. Maybe someday we can spend longer here, but this is not the phase of our lives when this is doable. In the meantime, we will try to soak up as much culture as we can during the week and half we have left.

Preparing to board. Don't let our clothing fool you. It was hot!! I brought a sweatshirt in case it got cold and Aiden was worried about mosquitos. I did not need that sweatshirt!