Yongsan Children's Garden

First, here's the horribly spelled Hanmauem children's park right outside the property.

Here's a map of the base.

This map shows green space in the lower left where the park opened. It also indicates some areas of note on post.

There's the welcome center. Everything on this side of the fence is the park, and you have to go through security inside the house to get there. I had to leave my camera behind in a locker there.

Quite a contrast.

These golf carts were driving all over the park. You can see a map of its layout on the driveway.

I nomticed quite a lot of landcape workers all throughout the base, trying to take care of the lawn.

One house had this light display. It was very dark and hard to walk around in.

Must be pretty difficult to mow.

More workers.

Curious why there's no grass up there.

Something about it just doesn't look all that North American to me. Maybe it's the building materials, the uneven landscape, or the Korean highrises in the distance.

I remember seeing those stone figures on a previous visit, although that Mashimaro was not there.

Compare to this.

What is sure to be the most popular figure.

I walked through the field.

And now it becomes apparent why I wasn't allowed to bring my camera into the park: there's the new presidential office.

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In this one you can see the grass looks a little patchy.

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Another statue, under a tree.

Closer look at the map.

I was made to delete this photo after taking it, but then later I found out it just moved to a recycling box. During my recent visit to Fleischfest, I was able to view this lot from the other side.

Down there you can see a tan fence crossing the road. On the other side is still-active Yongsan Garrison.

The National Museum of Korea, on land returned in the early 1990s.

Looking back the way I came.

I returned to the park.

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There's another gate down there.

It looks a little more welcoming in this picture.

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Following the path.

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Never thought I would get a photo with these three things lined up.

The tower hid because some people came by.

There's Dragon Hill Lodge in the distance.

A lot of paths had signs warning people not to approach.

Not this one.

A guy was sleeping on a bench here.

There were two houses to visit.

Here's the one on the right.

They displayed this photo over the fireplace.

Closer look at the sign. Click for full size.

The bedroom.

The Blue Falcons, a term with another ugly meaning according to one Marine friend.

I went to the second house and found another map of the base. I think this shows they've already destroyed one section of housing.

There's the embassy housing compound which I visited recently.

And Camp Coiner.

Marilyn Monroe.

They had a Key Boys albom that visitors could listen to. This was a rerelease from the early 2000s.

These records were sealed in plastic.

That little kid had walked by asking what all this equipment was.

A US No Trespassing sign.

Sue Cosner never mentioned the giant Mashimaro right next to her house.

This is the way back to the gate.

Looking down this road, I noticed Lotte World Tower standing out prominently. It adds to my theory that a lot of very tall buildings were built where they could be seen while coming down major roads on post.

A library.

There's the exit.

The library.

But I decided I wasn't done and had to go back to the far side to check something.

I was looking for the hospital built in a Japanese bunker.

That would appear to be it.

A look over the fence at the hospital. Click for full size.

Okay, now I'm done.

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There's a fence with more houses over there.

After I got my camera back, I took this photo.

One last shot up by the Hyatt, where you can see Lotte World Tower.