There are some neighborhoods in Seoul that have their own distinct character or spirit. Then there are neighborhoods like Chungjeongno that don’t feel quite like their own place but rather sponge up elements of the neighborhoods around them. West of the station, you quickly find yourself on the edge of Ahyeon’s large furniture market; to…
Hidden among the soaring glass and steel towers of southeastern Seoul is a wormhole, a portal to a land that physically exists within the Songpa-gu dimensions of time and space but which could seemingly secede and declare a sovereign one block corporation-state at will. Behold, ladies and gentlemen, the People’s Republic of Lotte. You don’t…
If there’s one station that can be said to be the center of Seoul’s subway system, the nexus from which everything expands and to which it returns, it’s Jongno-3-ga. One of the system’s oldest stations, it’s also one of the few that connect more than two lines, and it sits right in the heart of…
Sitting at the foot of Namsan, Dongguk University Station is of course the jumping off point for Dongguk University (동국대학교), one of Korea’s most prestigious Buddhist-affiliated universities. Just after riding the escalator up to Exit 6 you’ll spot a second escalator that leads up to the school. It drops you off on a small plaza…
Not to be confused with next door Dobongsan, Dobong Station sits perched on concrete pillars above Dobong-ro (도봉로). Below the tracks is an arcade lined with small restaurants, and due west a handful of apartment towers line up like dominoes. I started on that side of the station, crossing the street from Exit 2. Shops…
Seoul Sub→urban 