How To Use an Urban River #2 — Exercise with Your Mom

Welcome back everyone, and hello to all of you new subscribers! Thanks for joining The Possible City. This is the second installment in a series exploring the curious and wonderful ways that people in Daejeon, Korea use their local waterway.

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5:30AM — I know, Mother’s day is not quite here yet. But maybe this week’s illustration can give a little preemptive nudge?

Let’s be honest. At 5:30 in the morning, I am usually asleep. But on the occasion that I am not buried under blankets, you will likely find me on the river, or in the mountain.

Where I am from, these kinds of places are peaceful at this hour. A forested riverside might be alive with birdsong, the trickle of water, or a deer rustling through the grasses — the normal kind of early morning action.

In Korea, the expectation is … a bit different.

Here, 5:30am is prime time — rush hour for people wanting to get a bit of fresh air and exercise before the official working day begins. It is no wonder that people in Korea regularly boast the longest lifespan in the world — often vying for the title with Japan, who have their own admirable morning routines.

If you were to walk along an urban river in Korea at this hour, you might come to the conclusion that some kind of national fitness festival was going on. But then, if you came back the next day, and the next, and the next, you would see the same crowds, the same energy, the same fitness routines, every day.

For many, this is simply a part of daily life in Korea.

At least, for the older people.

Few young people take part in morning exercise. But the few that do often seem to be enjoying a special intergenerational bonding time in addition to their exercise.

Regardless of why they do it, people are out here in the hundreds — making the trusty old exercise machines clustered along the river come alive.

Old men huff and moan on the leg press. A young woman rotates her arms on a giant wheel while her mother swings her hips side to side on a pendulum machine.

“It slims your waist!” the woman announces cheerfully to her daughter, who smiles and rolls her eyes.

Nearby, people cheer and laugh as they swipe at a shuttlecock across a court, or jump and twist together in a group dance class. Then, a few middle-aged men seem content just to cycle slowly along the river with their stereos blasting Trot (트로트) music and that’s fine, too.

Meanwhile I’m sitting in place on my bike, stopped, in awe, jotting down notes — about how this early morning scene might be one of the most overlooked strengths of a livable city.

It is not only about access to green space, but about encouraging and enabling a national culture to fill those spaces with meaningful activity every day. Even at the crack of dawn.

Well, that’s exercise enough for me this morning.

The illustrations in this series were originally commissioned by the Daejeon Sejong Research Institute.

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Questions: What is your 5:30am routine — or aspiration?

Next Week: Time on the river floats along to 8am, when we look into a riverside relic that is still in use, but no longer for its original purpose.

Another Story: In Seoul, I sometimes walked through the forest to get to work. It took two hours. But many beautiful experiences and ideas came of that time. This photo essay explores some of that…

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