a new pastime

the other day i discovered what may be a new pastime for me. i went to the Namsan Public Library. there they have a periodical room with a few English magazines such as National Geographic, Time, and Newsweek. so, after checking my purse into the cubby lockers (as requested by the librarian) i took a seat in the quiet room among all silently reading Koreans and flipped through some magazines. it was very nice, very peaceful. i could have spent more time there but i was on my way up to the top of Mt. Namsan and as the days are shorter i wanted to make my hike the priority so i had to leave the library territory only half discovered. plus, it's only a 20 or so minute bus ride from my apartment to this library. cool.

this same day i also discovered that the Namsan Botanical Gardens and Sodong's Zoo are now a part of history. Both of these were located on Mt. Namsan but according to this article:

Namsan’s Botanical Garden will soon disappear into the pages of history after thirty years of bringing joy to its citizens. Seoul City began knocking down the facade of this building on Oct. 30, at 10 am, due to its aged faclilty as part of Seoul City’s castle wall restoration project.

The 2000 pyong removal site including Namsan’s Botanical Garden (826 pyong), Sodong’s Zoo (112 pyong), and the fountain, will be recreated into a national forest park harboring 3,000 trees including pine trees, zelkova trees, ginger plants, and azaleas. Foot paths will also be created to allow citizens to stroll through nature. According to a Seoul City official, “the replacement of Namsan’s Botanical Garden and its zoo with a new national forest park along with the restoration of the city walls will revive the vitality of Seoul citizens.”

i never went to the botanical gardens. it was on my list but if it was as sad as the mini-zoo then i didn't miss anything and from the outside it looked rather dilapidated. the newly created forest park is nice. no foot paths were visible. "castle wall restoration project" sounds interesting ...

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