Continuing our recent explorations of northeastern Seoul, this post brings us to Banghak Station, which is a bit inconspicuous on a backstreet just off Dobong-ro (도봉로). Exit 1 drops you off within sight of the main drag, and just outside the walls of the tracks are cheerfully painted with bright pictures of people riding the…
If you’ve ever been to the top of N Seoul Tower after dusk you’ve no doubt noticed a conspicuous swath of the city to the south where the sparkling metropolis has gone almost completely dark. This is, of course, the Yongsan U.S. Army base, and though it’s not marked on most city maps it most…
As with so many of the stations that ring Seoul’s outer edges, Danggogae sits in the shadow of the nearby mountains, in this case Buramsan (불암산) to the southeast and Suraksan (수락산) to the north, and just outside of Exit 1 you’ll find a large map that outlines the local hiking trails, which a fair…
In the 1960s and 70s, as Seoul’s modernization shifted into high gear, large numbers of residents living in Hannam-dong (한남동) and around the Cheonggye Stream (청계천) were relocated to make way for development projects. Overwhelmingly poor, many simply living as squatters, a large number were resettled in Sanggye-dong (상계동), in far northeastern Seoul, where roughly…
Nakseongdae is a classical Chinese name meaning ‘the place where a star has fallen.’ It was here, in 948, that the great Goryeo General Kang Gam-chan (강감찬) was born. Depending on which version of the legend you prefer, either his mother gave birth to him after dreaming that a star had fallen to her breast…
Seoul Sub→urban 