Today, our day started around 9 AM with a subway ride to the Oil Tank Culture Park. After about a 40 minute commute by bus, we arrived at the park, which was across from the Seoul soccer World Cup complex from the 2002 World Cup. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the park, we found out the oil tanks were closed and there was nothing to see. It was also super hot and insanely humid. We did a lap around the park and we left.
After the park, we took an hour subway ride to the area near our next company visit. Here we were able to get lunch and enjoy some free time. Two groups got treated to a meal by Dr. Yun, and the rest of us went out to get our own food. Roughly half of the people went to get sushi, and the other half of us went to get Korean fried chicken. John typed in “fried chicken” on my Google Maps and we found a place called “Let’s Eat Chicken” so we decided to go there. When we got there, the menu looked great, and I got an order of Nashville Hot fried chicken. The frying and juiciness of the chicken was tremendous, but you could tell this was a Korean interpretation of Nashville Hot, for I wouldn’t say it was quite accurate. Nonetheless, the food was delicious.
Following lunch, we went to a Seoul water-treatment facility and the Seoul waterworks museum. At these places, we learned the logistics of water treatment in the city and the overall history of water treatment in Seoul. We got to see the process of turning the dirty Han River water into clean tap water that arrives at people’s homes. We also learned that there are six water treatment plants that supply tap water to people in Seoul. It was fascinating to see the control room where four workers could observe all the measurements and logistics of the facility. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take a picture. The craziest part of our day was when we were in the water treatment plant and walked into a room that a bird got trapped in. I tried to lure the bird out through the door with my bird call, but it didn’t work. Thankfully, the bird got out eventually, and all was well.
