It was a beautiful weekend, so we decided to go on a picnic. My friend had taken O. and I there when we had first moved to Korea, but we hadn't been back and S. had never been there. So, we packed up lots of food, bought a picnic mat to actually fit all of us, and headed out on the subway. The arboretum is about 40 minutes by subway north of us, across from Osan University.
Because it was a beautiful weekend, and Children's Day, the park was teeming with families. So many kids that you forget that Korea has trouble convincing its citizens to have kids. The fact that the entrance fee was only a dollar probably didn't help either. But, we were able to find a spot on one of the many paths and sat down to eat lunch. All the while, there were kids with bright neon vests on, patrolling to make sure that no one tried to get a better spot by placing their mat off the trail. Good times.
After lunch, we explored the arboretum.
Hedge maze. Check.
Bonsai tree gardens. Check.
Small pond with fountain that sprays you if you stand in a certain place. Check.
Lookout point where the only thing you can see are some apartment buildings...check.
Water garden area where nothing is actually growing in most of the ponds? Check.
However, upon closer inspection, there WERE lots of tadpoles. We were going to just observe, but then two young women with high heels and fancy manicures caught a couple for O., and well...I couldn't let him think that his mother couldn't do the same, if not better. So, we caught tadpoles, watched tadpoles, caught the attention of lots of other kids and their parents, and possibly frustrated a whole bunch of ahjussis that were unsuccessful at catching said critters.
To visit Mulhyanggi Arboretum, you can take the subway from Dujong towards Seoul, getting off at the Osan Dae station - the station after Osan. More information here.
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