adventure in ansanland [the mystic pyramind]

deery-lou.

on sunday i met up with vickie. she came to ansan because we wanted to check out the botanical gardens. with my trusty [or not so trusty as i found out later] map of greater ansan in hand we took off for our quest. along our journey to the "mystic pyramid" as vickie soon dubbed it since the building [according to the map] looked like a pyramid, we stumbled upon many little hidden treasures. one of the first things we encountered was a huge church. i can only imagine the amount of money that went into that thing. it looked like it had elevators! as churches go its very modern and cool looking. the church would later prove to be a much needed landmark for us. kind of like the emerald city. as we continued on our way we found this magnificent garden under the subway tracks. it was filled with sunflowers, my favorite, and various other flowers whose names i don't know. is this the botanical gardens we thought jokingly. as we wandered around this garden wonderland an old korean woman approached vickie and started talking. we have no idea what she was saying but i think she was pointing out various flowers and telling us which ones were best for photographing. also so helpful, those koreans. she asked vickie where she was from and then continued on her way. vickie and i did the same.

we next came upon a sculpture of a dragon holding a ball. i pretended that it was a crystal ball. around the dragon were giant claws that formed a kind of small gate. there were two paths on either side of the dragon that led up to the forest on the hill. we decided not to climb up seeing that we wanted to get to the "mystic pyramid" before it got too late. our plan was too return to check it out on the way home but unfortunately we didn't. that just means i'll have to go back on my own and see what lies in them hills. as we continued down the sidewalk i saw a big, yellow spider in the trees. a perfect photo op.

not far down the street we came upon an azalea park. most of the azaleas were not in bloom but we walk the path anyway. it was a bit more shader and cooler than the street. it was around this time that vickie and i busted out the "follow the yellow brick road" song. not sure why. vickie then asked who would i be the scarecrow, tin man, or lion. obvioulsy she was dorothy. i opted for toto. not really a fan of any them. we went on our merry way singing and acting like fools. there were people scattered here and there through the park. some having picnics, some resting, and a group of men just sitting and talking. off to my right i spotted a toilet that was sitting in the middle of the grass. it looked like a little house. the azalea park seemed much longer than it looked on the map. well actually we were just guessing about where it was on the map. eventually we came to a street. we crossed and there was another little green park. we continued through that park until came to a deadend. there were no streets to turn on. we realized we had to go right but there was no way to go because it was a giant highway. in front of us were woods so we decided to go straight. as we made our way through the woods there was a sofa and several kids were running around with nets. bug catching i bet. the trip through the mini-woods was about 5 minutes. when we came out we were standing next to the giant highway. across from us were waterfalls. this was the waterfall park that i've been wanting to visit. what a great surprise. crossing the giant highway was like playing frogger but we made it to the waterfalls in one piece. there's something about waterfalls. whether natural or man-made i simply love them. they're so peaceful to look at. i always feel relaxed. there were a lot of people. a little ways down from the waterfall were all these concrete pools with fountains. they were packed with soaked children. everywhere you looked there were people playing in the water. watch me! for a glimpse of children playing. there was one group of children that all had tuxedo t-shirts one. cute! a group of people were handing out "jesus water". it was the coldest water i've ever had. praise jesus! i stopped into the snack shop to ask the guy where the botanical gardens were. good thing i had the map because all i had to do was point. he then showed me using his hands how to get there. vickie and i were off again in search of the "mystic pyramid". to cross the yet another giant highway we had to go over a purple bridge that looked like a roller coaster from far away. from the bridge we could spot the top of the "mystic pyramid" through the trees. we were getting closer.

greeting us on the other side was a square filled with random sculptures. in the center was another waterfountain filled with korean children. they certainly do love their fountains. all around we different sculptures. there was also a path leading out of the area in the direction of the "mystic pyramid". according to the map we were now in danwon square sculpture park. dss, as i will now refer to it, was really cool. there were sculptures and statues all along the path. to our left was a soccer field. there was an actual game going on so i stood and watched for a little. i'm really starting to like soccer or am i just starting to like the players. its probably the later. or maybe i'm just getting sporty after all. who knows! we were probably on the path for about 20 minutes or so until we finally saw it. there standing before us was the "mystic pyramid" in all her glory. we were so happy. i almost peed. just kidding. we thought for sure it would be closed since it was almost 5:30 pm. luckily for us it wasn't. and it was free, too! what a score! as far as botanical gardens go it was quite nice. unfortunately a lot of the flowers weren't in bloom being summer but we did see a lot of greenery which was nice. i definitely want to check it out again in spring. especially now that i know where it is. we rested for a bit outside of the gardens. it was nice and peaceful.

on our way home we found a stretch of wholesale places. which is good to know since there are some stuff i want to buy before returning to the states. as we continued along we saw two young girls in a blow-up swimming pool in the middle of the sidewalk. thats one way to beat the heat. at one point we got sort of turned around then vickie noticed "the church". we were back on track and before long we were right where we started. by following the map vickie and i actually went out of our way to get to the botanical gardens. its actually a lot closer. it just took us forever. although had we known about the shortcut we wouldn't have seen all those cool things. and thats what it was all about.

later that night i met up with hyun-sik. we grabbed dinner in my new hood and then just chilled out. on monday we went into seoul. i was on a mission. i needed to get a new scrapebook. after looking all over ansan it was unavoidable that i'd have to make the trek into seoul [express bus terminal stop, blue line] to the most excellent art supply store. there's also an underground shopping area there that we walked around. its was hella crazy. one of these days i'm actually going to find something to buy there. from there we went to ewa's women university stop. there are a bunch of shops outside. i found a store that sold knock off pringles for a $1. bought some. the store also had nacho cheese. i was so tempted but didn't purchase any. there was also a store that had a barbapapa soap dispenser. they wanted 18,000 won for it. i'll have to think about that one. although knowing me i'll be back to get it. we grabbed some dinner at pasta 12. i had chicken and pasta in a teriyaki sauce. definitely interesting to say the least. they did have the best garlic bread though. still the best place for italian is the place vickie took me to in insadong. that kicked ass. i love though how they always give you a little dish of pickles. i love pickles. after dinner we walked down to hongdae. i found a superman tote for 4,000 won which i bought. i'm a geek. hyun-sik and i parted ways around 9:30pm and i got home around 11pm. i was beat. i stayed up reading harry potter until 1am.

be well...

snaps from my adventure in ansanland…
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