Unless you join a gym or buy a high-rise apartment, you're probably not going to have access to a pool in Seoul. We're not huge swimmers but we do enjoy a dip every now and then, especially in the summer, so we were really happy to see that multiple public swimming pools had opened on the park along the Han River. We often hang out at the park and had been dreaming about these pools long before they opened for the summer. Finally, on one hot and humid day after work last week we grabbed our bathing suits and headed for the pool. We went to the one near Sinchon Station because we like that area, and we were sweating bullets as we went to pay our 5,000 won admission to the huge, near-empty pool. There were tears forming in our sweaty eyes as we were told by a giggling middle school girl that we couldn't use the pool because we didn't have swimming caps! And the on-site swimming supplies store had closed.
Swimcaps! We should have known. Requiring swimcaps to swim in public pools is one of those Korean rules we learned years ago when trying to use the waterslides at Caribbean Bay and we'd completely forgot. We were going to give up and go home until we saw an ad for a Daiso dollarstore nearby Sinchon Station. We decided to walk there and buy a swimcap. As soon as the swimcaps were purchased we stepped out of the store and it had begun to pour! Screw it, we weren't meant for the pool that day!
On Monday we grabbed our swimcaps and spent the afternoon in the pool. It was a sunny day, and if you can get past all the ridiculous poolside posing by the Korean men (who ARE they posing for- there were almost no women there!) it was a very relaxing place to spend the afternoon. There's a separate kids pool, so it's pretty quiet too. Grab your swimcaps and head to Hangang, Seoulites!
Swimcaps! We should have known. Requiring swimcaps to swim in public pools is one of those Korean rules we learned years ago when trying to use the waterslides at Caribbean Bay and we'd completely forgot. We were going to give up and go home until we saw an ad for a Daiso dollarstore nearby Sinchon Station. We decided to walk there and buy a swimcap. As soon as the swimcaps were purchased we stepped out of the store and it had begun to pour! Screw it, we weren't meant for the pool that day!
On Monday we grabbed our swimcaps and spent the afternoon in the pool. It was a sunny day, and if you can get past all the ridiculous poolside posing by the Korean men (who ARE they posing for- there were almost no women there!) it was a very relaxing place to spend the afternoon. There's a separate kids pool, so it's pretty quiet too. Grab your swimcaps and head to Hangang, Seoulites!
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