Travel Stories: Yongma Land, Abandoned Park by singleelderly

Seoul is a modern city. Everything looks new and shiny. Even traditional architecture are renovated to look very neat and tidy! It’s enjoyable. Yet… are there any abandoned places there?

I wanted to see the other side of Seoul other than the tourist spots. I remembered a video by a Korean skater group called Style Board, which was shot in an abandoned park. After researching on the Internet, I found out that the place is called Yongma Land (용마랜드).

Yongma Land opened in 1986. Under fierce competition against other large amusement parks, it finally closed in 2011. Its life might be short but its story does not end there: it actually became popular after it closed! Some famous Korean pop stars shoot music videos in this empty, old park and caught the interest of photography lovers, couples, and cosplayers.

It was a Monday afternoon. My companions and I took a bus, got off at the nearest stop to the park, and walked for about 15 minutes, after which we arrived at the gate of Yongma Land. Here's a map from Naver (Google Maps is not convenient in Korea. If the address is entered in Korean, it’s always not found. The Naver map is much more accurate and helpful in finding traffic information. One of its features is searching by typing the phone number! The app is in Korean. Please see an English tutorial for using it. Once you have learned it, you can go anywhere in Seoul!).

As what I have found out from blogs, like this one, visitors need to call the park keeper and pay ₩ 5,000 (about US$ 4.29) for each person to enter the park. We hesitated, wondering how to communicate to an uncle in English (from our experience of talking to local people, we learned that some young people can speak English. As for most older people, we can only communicate through body language). Luckily, there were already some visitors inside. A kind young man helped us to call the park keeper. Finally, we got in together with some high school girls who arrived after us.

There were only about 20 people in Yongma Land that time. Some were shooting with a model. The school girls were cosplaying. Some couples were having fun taking selfies. It was not a large place, but it had lots of amusement rides which were, of course, not operating any more.

The first attraction was the merry-go-round. The paint on horses were already peeled off, making them look a bit sad. Yet it was the charisma of this park, the natural and beautiful decay. Some machines were demolished into parts and scattered around the park. After years, bright color turned to faded pastel with rust.

The karts, the swing, and the mini planes looked like they’re more than 30 years old. Yongma Land has the classic setting of parks in ’80s. I could imagine the crowds and laughter in it when it was still popular. Then fewer and fewer people came because it was not as interesting anymore as other modern parks. People are strange. When we grow up, we end up missing the good old days. This closed park symbolized memory, which is precious and special. Thus, it becomes attractive again.

I couldn’t stop taking photos at Yongma Land because I had associated it with my childhood memory of Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park in Hong Kong, which is closed already, too.

There was a small building inside the park where visitors are allowed to enter the rooftop, where one could view the scenery nearby at sunset. There were two pairs of lovers taking photos at the time so I had planned to come back later and shoot other parts of the park first. But I forgot to do it! For the folks who would want to come, please don’t forget this rooftop with a nice view!

Yongma Land was unlike other abandoned places because it was clean and relatively safe. Thanks to the park keeper for tidying up the place (thus, the entry fee is reasonable!). This “lo-fi” park is great for taking portraits and any other interesting photography projects. It is worth visiting!

See the rest of @singleelderly's photographs in this album.

Additional information in this article was sourced from Hankooki.com and as cited/linked within the article.

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2015-07-28 #places #seoul #location #south-korea #travel-stories #yongma-land