Gayang is a neighborhood that can pretty succinctly be summed up by saying this: It’s a good place to raise a family. You know this neighborhood. Maybe you even live here. It’s a pretty new part of town. The apartment towers and commercial buildings are clean, tidy, probably less than a couple decades old. On…
The word saetgang (샛강) is one of those uber-specific words, like schadenfreude or 木漏れ日 (komorebi) (the Japanese term for the dappling effect of sunlight filtering through trees), that makes you feel your own language is missing out. It refers to a small channel or tributary in a river that separates an island from the…
I like Yeongdeungpo-gu. It doesn’t have much charm, but it has more interesting and idiosyncratic spots than most people realize, or at least remember: the machine shops and art scene in Mullae, the Chinese neighborhood in Daerim, the parks and behemoth Yoido Full Gospel Church on Yeouido, Seonyudo’s industrial island oasis. It’s also the (mostly)…
The star attraction at Seonyudo Station is the eponymous island, and to get to there I stepped out Exit 2, whereupon I was greeted by a rush of cicada song. It was hot, but the humidity had broken, there was a breeze, and Yangpyeong-ro-22-gil (양평로22길) was a pleasant street, with a number of inviting cafes…
Dongjak’s best real estate sits on a large hill below the city’s southernmost bend in the Han River, giving it unobstructed views of the slowly moving waters and the northern half of the city spread out beyond them. It’s home to some 165,000 residents, all of them prominent though few famous, the identities of some…
Seoul Sub→urban 