KMK: Ilsan Northern Seoul

A couple weekends ago I finally made it out to Ilsan Northern Seoul. For those of you who may not know, Ilsan is one of a few satellite cities that surround Seoul, making it like a suburb of sorts. I didn’t really know what to expect. I couldn’t picture it being like the suburbs back home with acres of strip malls, schools, churches, and Denny’s restaurants.

To reach Ilsan you can go either by subway straight up to the end of the Orange line, number 3, or you can hop on one of thousands of busses that zip throughout the city. My friend Ian and I jumped on one of those busses and made it to Ilsan in about fifty minutes. Now Ilsan is not really the name of the city, which is Goyang, and it’s been split into two sections, eastern and western, named Ilsanseo and Ilsandong.

Ilsan is like the Gangnam of the northern suburbs, full of restaurants, boutiques, and plenty of shopping opportunities. The best part of Ilsan is that it’s so freaking wide and open! It has such a different feel than Seoul. You have big wide thoroughfares and huge open spaces as well as the towering skyscrapers it’s just that there not so clustered together so you don’t feel like you’re living in concrete jungle.

Color me surprised. We immediately went out in search of fun with Ian taking the lead since Ilsan is his hood. Our first stop was La festa. It’s a huge mall with several floors and an outdoor area. Now let me mention my surprise with Ilsan reached new levels and almost caused my infatuation to falter when I laid my eyes on the sign Island Coon. From the looks it’s a sort of restaurant bar. Now my better nature and general common sense believes that the signage is the result of some unfortunate vocabulary cherry picking. Koreans wouldn’t have the knowledge of this particular slur which is steeped in the cauldron of American racial prejudice. Someone probably saw the word and went oh, how cute, and presto: instant jaw dropping neon sign.

Anyway, our tour of La Festa continued to an outdoor area where a bunch of b-boys and b-girls were out doing their thing. They had a dj booth set up and the dj spun classic rap to mixed up funk as the kids popped and locked their way across the courtyard. Then we made our way over to Lake Park, Korea’s biggest man made lake. The park has all sorts of facilities for concerts, skating, biking and hiking. There’s also an arboretum and botanical garden. It’s a great spot to get your exercise on or just take a moonlit stroll with your significant other. Next, we hit up the Western Dm which is another shopping complex like La Festa. In the Dom you can find hundreds of stores, restaurants, cinemas and bars just waiting for you and your won. We ate at the Uno Pizzeria.

I know I only spent a day and a half in Ilsan, but I enjoyed it immensely. I always thought that the only city in South Korea I could live in was Seoul, even Busan didn’t have the oomph to make me reconsider my city of choice, but I’m telling you, Ilsan definitely has caught my eye. Be sure to give it a chance and take a day trip up there. You won’t regret it one instant.

Red Bus 9700 going North or the Orange Line