“Come to Gwacheon, a place that’s nice to live. It has the Seoul Land theme park, a tiger, and an elephant bahruuuuuhhaaaaaa (trumpet sound) in Seoul Grand Park. Gonna be the ambassador of Gwacheon and Seoul Land,” explained by the official BTS account in 2018.
Gwacheon is the hometown of Jin (the handsome prince of BTS) in the province Gyeonggi-do. It is also close to the Seoul National Capital Area, just east of Anyang. After having a fun trip in Ilsan, what is there to see in Gwacheon? As it has already been explained by the official BTS account on Twitter - it is a lovely place to live with lots of things to visit! Where shall we go first? Seoul Land!
Seoul Land was opened in 1988 and has a huge theme park that is divided into five different areas: World Plaza, Samcheoli Land, Future Land, Fantasy Land, and Adventure Land. Here, you can ride forty different roller coasters that will make your world turn upside down, or you can also watch various special shows.
Next, let’s drive to Seoul Grand Park, the first and the largest theme park in Korea, located at the foot of Cheonggye Mountain in the city of Gwacheon! We bet you’re wondering what you can do in this place... quite a lot actually! You can see the animals living at Seoul Zoo (also known as Seoul Grand Park Zoo), which is the main attraction of Seoul Grand Park. The history of the park goes back many, many years to when Korea was under Japanese rule; it was built in 1909 and relocated in 1984. Another highlight that you can see here is the Botanical Garden - the largest in South Korea. There is so much to see in this garden, from tropical plants to a cactus garden to a multitude of other plants that can be found in the greenhouse. There are also over 250 kinds of plants native to Korea in the outside garden.
From here, you can walk 7.4km down the forest path that goes around the zoo and enjoy the magnificence of nature. Additionally, you can see the mountain forest exhibition (close to the Seoul Zoo entrance), displaying trees, grass, insects, mushrooms, and birds. Opposite the zoo entrance, there is another garden that has a rose garden and a children’s zoo where you can see sheep, rabbits, black goats, ponies, parrots, squirrels, and other animals up close. You can also visit the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art where you can see a variety of Korean art such as different crafts, fashion, design, and textile, as well as Modern art like industrial designs.
Before we start our next adventure, there is a fact that you have to know about Gwacheon. According to soompi.com, ARMY donated 344 sets of feminine hygiene products to this city, costing about 6 million won (about $5400), to celebrate Jin’s birthday in 2008. These products were given to 86 female students from low-income families through a comprehensive social welfare center in the city. Moreover, ARMY explained their intentions for this donation - this amazing donation reflects the sincere and warm heart that Jin has.
So, are you having fun so far in Jin’s hometown, Gwacheon? If you are, then you have experienced a wonderful trip that holds a lot of special memories for everyone, including BTS. But, don’t forget to wake up and pack your bag again next month because we are going to fly to SUGA’s hometown, Daegu.
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Written by Tobing
Edited by Ash
Checked by Clare