Han River Ferry Boat Ride in Seoul, South Korea

This past Saturday Julianne and I headed down to the Han River in Seoul to check out the ferry boats. The weather wasn't too hot or humid and the sky was fairly clear . . . definitely a nice day to get outside.

The sidewalk just outside the subway exit had a map . . . but it didn't really help us figure out where to go. We just kept walking for about 50 meters and then worked our way down from the street to the riverside path.

The area is still under construction but they've gotten a lot done since I was last here for the Cherry Blossom Festival.

In the distance you can see the ferry boats just before the bridge.

Julianne liked this flower . . .

Arriving at the ferry we walked into the food area to try and find the ticket booth . . .

There are two floating dock food and waiting area locations--this one, and another further down from it (about 50 meters).

You can buy tickets here but it's hard to find and we walked around for a few minutes trying to find it until I asked a couple of Korean girls . . . they told me to go back into the variety store where they sell tickets.

After getting our tickets we headed outside to sit and wait--it was 1pm and our departure was for 2:30pm. There were 3 different types of ferry rides we could choose from. Julianne and I passed on the 'magic' ride . . . later we saw the magic boat: I wonder if Johny Depp and Disney are getting their royalty payments? Lol . . .

View from the ferry dock . . .

The Han River has a bizillion bridges . . .

Standing on the small deck of the ferry boat it was interesting to see that it had several different nationality flags . . .

In the background here you can see the 63 Building--check out my blog post here for more pics.

Another ferry going by . . . there are different sizes of ferry. The one we were on was not this big.

Julianne and I enjoyed the ferry ride but frankly speaking the riverscape was . . . not all that special. It was nice, and the day was nice, but I wish there'd been more of a view to see.

I'm still learning how to use my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens . . . I kind of like the warping that happens on the outer edges of the pics . . .

You can still see 63 Building on the right side just above the edge of the bridge.

In the center of this shot in between the bridge's legs you can see the National Assembly Building of Korea.

On the right side of the following series of pictures is the National Assembly Building of Korea.

This bridge has a neat covering/tunnel on the right side painted with a subway train . . . and out of which the subway trains actually exit . . . it's kind of neat to see.

More panoramic shots . . .

Like I said, Julianne and I enjoyed the beautiful sky and weather and being out on the water . . . the views were . . . nice . . .

I'm not going to comment on every shot--njoy.

In the above picture we turned around to come back--I got a nice close-up shot of the painted tunnel subway train . . .

For some reason, don't ask me why, I really like this orange bridge. It might have something to do with the lack of color in the modern architecture of Seoul . . . I donno.

Apparently this is the first and oldest power plant in Seoul. The speaker on the ferry said, "This plant is fueled by surfer oil . . ." Lol . . . I think she meant 'sulphur' but I'm not sure.

The tour guide also said something about this island, we can only see the remnants here, was broken up and moved because it used to cause flooding . . .

Here are a couple shots of Han river taxis . . . I want to try taking one some time.

Almost back at the ferry dock . . .

I took this shot cause being under all these bridges reminded me of the Korean movie, "The Host"--click on this link if you haven't seen it, the preview has a shot of the orange bridge--AH! That's why I like the orange bridge so much! The movie!

Unfortunately there were no monsters . . . lol, so I took this 'scary' picture . . .

The ferry boat has two levels. On the second level there was a sitting area and a GS 25 variety store. When it's really hot and humid outside I understand why people would want to sit inside while on a ferry, but the weather was really nice so Julianne and I spent all our time out on the deck.

Almost back at the dock . . .

It was such a nice day that after finishing the one hour ferry ride Julianne and I decided to take a walk along the Han river. Walking away from the ferry dock we saw this sailboat--and I was reminded of this, lol.

A little ways away from the first ferry dock is a second, and this is where we realized we should have bought our tickets (maybe, it could also be that this ticket booth is only for the second dock and boats, I'm not sure).

I was surprised that they have KFC here but then it may be to cater to the foreign tourists who haven't adjusted to Korean cuisine.

Walking further we came across some pigeons . . .

. . . and this cute couple. These are the moments in Korea that I love.

Here's one of the river boat taxi stations.

About a 3 minute walk from the ferry boats we ran into the paddle boat duck navy. I'm guessing, but don't know for sure, that you can rent a boat and go water-skiing too.

Julianne says she thinks she saw a sign saying the paddle boats cost about 20,000won per hour (but neither of us were paying attention so take that with a grain of salt).

Looks like a lot of fun--we'll probably go back and do this.

I really like the blue color saturation in this picture.

It would have been very easy to get in and go for a ride . . . so . . . easy . . . lol.

Around this point along the river we came across 63 Building. The lighting and our location and timing were awesome and I took a lot of pictures. Click on this link to see more pictures.

Julianne really liked the duck navy so I took a few more shots . . .

Further down the river path there were some ajusshi fishing . . .

And then we ran into this work crew overseer . . .

I'm continually amazed by the strength and ability of Korean senior citizens. These ladies were clearing the land and planting new flowers . . . wow.

After spending a great afternoon walking around Julianne and I headed back to my apartment . . . on the way there we walked past a wedding castle and saw them taking out the large flower displays used to congratulate the couples getting married. The display is bigger than the worker!

This coming weekend is the Seoul International Fireworks Festival and Mass Freeze at COEX Mall--I'm planning on going to both events, so look for stories and pics sometime next week.

J