Ichon and Oksu, Han River: A Tteokbokki Picnic, a 6 km Run, a 6 km Ride and a 63 Building Sunset

Saturday. The weather was perfect.

A tennis lesson with a friend, takeout tteokbokki on the Han River, a run to Oksu, a few pull-ups, a bike ride back and a sunset to finish. My watch kept two records.

A 6.07 km run and a 6.45 km bike ride.

Morning: a tennis lesson with a friend

The weekend started with a tennis lesson with a friend. A red indoor court, yellow balls piled up in front of the net.

Lunch: Hot Star tteokbokki by the river

After the lesson I picked up tteokbokki, sundae and eomuk (fish cakes) to go from Hot Star (핫스타), a tteokbokki shop in Sindorim, and spread it all out on the Han River bank in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu.

A green-striped paper bowl of tteokbokki (rice cakes in spicy red sauce), with thick rice cakes and flat fish cakes sunk in the sauce. It sits on a black mat on the grass, among black plastic bags.

Bottom line: seriously good. No exaggeration.

The next bag held fried snacks in white paper, and a plastic bag of sundae (Korean blood sausage) with slices that look like liver and lung. Tteokbokki, sundae, fish cakes, fried bits: the classic street-snack spread, picnic edition, under a perfectly clear sky.

A heron at the water's edge

Near the picnic spot, a grey heron stood on a rock in the shallows: a long-necked grey bird just beyond the riverside bushes.

Ichon to Oksu: about 6 km on foot

Fed and ready. At 2:30 p.m. I ran east along the river from Ichon all the way to Oksu. My Apple Watch recorded this:

Item	Record
Recorded	14:32–15:08
Distance	6.07 km
Workout time / elapsed	33:01 / 35:56
Average pace	5'26"/km
Average heart rate	167 bpm
Active calories (total)	388 kcal (439 kcal)
Elevation gain	10 m
Average cadence	166 spm
Weather	25°C, 37% humidity

The 1 km splits:

Split	Pace	Heart rate
1 km	5'23"	149 bpm
2 km	5'22"	168 bpm
3 km	5'21"	170 bpm
4 km	5'28"	170 bpm
5 km	5'26"	174 bpm
6 km	5'39"	163 bpm
Final 0.07 km	5'07"	-

Each of the first three splits was a second faster than the last; the slowest was the sixth (5'39"). Heart rate peaked at 174 bpm in the fifth.

Catching my breath at Oksu

At Oksu, the Hangang Bus Oksu pier floats on the river below the bridge. The Hangang Bus is Seoul's river-bus service.

A bottle of Powerade Mountain Blast on a wooden table, glugged blue into a cup full of ice.

A little later a white boat marked Hangang Bus on the side and GO SEOUL at the back went by.

Pull-ups at the Oksu outdoor gym

Under the overpass at Oksu is the Hangang outdoor gym Oksu (한강헬스장 옥수): big white letters on a blue floor, with bars and outdoor exercise machines behind them. After the run, I knocked out some pull-ups here.

Back to Ichon on a Seoul Bike

For the way back I took a Ttareungyi, Seoul's public bike, from Oksu to Parking Lot 4 at Ichon Hangang Park.

Item	Record
Recorded	16:01–16:23
Distance	6.45 km
Workout time	21:56
Average speed	17.6 km/h
Average heart rate	162 bpm
Active calories (total)	138 kcal (167 kcal)
Elevation gain	6 m

Dusk beside the 63 Building

Back in Ichon, the sun was starting to drop. The sky above the apartment blocks across the river turned yellow, and the riverside street lamps carry a small wind turbine and a solar panel on top.

Around 5:30 p.m. the undersides of the western clouds turned orange. On the right, the gold 63 Building, a Yeouido landmark.

The photo at the top of this post came a few minutes later. The sun dropped between the towers to the left of the 63 Building, and its light stretched across the water below the bridge.

Bring the grassy bank into the frame and the sun hangs between buildings, a column of light standing on the river.

Once the sun was gone, only pink and purple clouds remained. From the first orange to the last pink, I stayed on the same stretch of bank for more than half an hour.

Pork barbecue in Noryangjin

Dinner was across the river at a barbecue place in Noryangjin-dong, Dongjak-gu. On a round grill over charcoal: a strip of pork belly with visible layers of fat and several chunks of pork, kimchi in a dish at the edge. Rice, gyeranjjim (steamed egg) in a stone pot and lettuce came with it.

The route

• 🎾 Morning: indoor tennis lesson with a friend
• 🧺 Lunch: tteokbokki, sundae and fish cakes to go from Hot Star in Sindorim → picnic on the Ichon riverbank
• 🏃 Run: Ichon → Oksu, 6.07 km
• 💪 Oksu: the Hangang Bus pier, pull-ups at Hangang outdoor gym Oksu
• 🚲 Seoul Bike: Oksu → Ichon Hangang Park Parking Lot 4, 6.45 km
• 🌇 Dusk: the 63 Building sunset from the Ichon riverbank
• 🍖 Dinner: barbecue in Noryangjin-dong
• 🗺️ Maps: Hot Star, Sindorim · Ichon Hangang Park Parking Lot 4 · Hangang Bus Oksu pier · Hangang outdoor gym Oksu

Jayden's verdict

Weather, tteokbokki, a run and a sunset. One Saturday had all of it.

• Highlight: Hot Star tteokbokki from Sindorim, eaten by the river. Seriously good.
• Who with: a weekend that started with a tennis lesson with a friend.
• Route tip: run about 6 km from Ichon to Oksu, do pull-ups at the Oksu outdoor gym, then ride a Seoul Bike back to Ichon Hangang Park Parking Lot 4.
• Sunset tip: from Ichon, looking west, the 63 Building's silhouette lines up with the sunset. That day the sun dropped between the towers a little after 5:30 p.m.