I had expected Gaehwa to be one of the dullest stations in the entire course of this project, a visit that I’d finish up in under an hour and have written in less than that. Its most prominent feature is, after all, the fact that it’s the headquarters of the Seoul Metro Line 9 Corporation,…
Exits 4 and 5 at Sinbanghwa Station are closed off; they lead toward the huge expanse of land between here and Yangcheon Hyanggyo and Balsan that is in the process of being developed into a massive new complex of high-rise apartments and retail spaces. I first emerged from Exit 6 instead, where there was a…
On the north side of Heogi Station, maeul buses were pulling up and people in suits and fancy dresses were piling out, heading to the several wedding halls nearby. Most of them crossed through the station to Exit 2, where, past a row of pojangmachas, guys in red jackets waved batons to direct cars out…
The heavy canopy of Bukbu Expressway (북부간선도로) curved along overhead, while underneath, the Hwarang-ro (화랑로) sidewalks were coated in a thick layer of ice thanks to a slurry-like snow that thousands of footsteps had pounded into an undulating rink, leaving everyone on this afternoon shuffling along like wary geriatrics. Things were only marginally less hazardous…
My girlfriend and I got off a mid-afternoon train at Jegi-dong Station along with about 40 other people. From a quick scan down the platform, it looked as if we were the only ones under 50. This may not be especially surprising, given that Line 1 runs through older parts of town popular with an…
Seoul Sub→urban 