Omokgyo is nice. I can’t think of another part of Seoul we’ve visited that’s more aptly described by that adjective, with its satisfied, bourgeois, slightly anodyne tones. With its upper middle to upper class housing, ample parkland, abundance of shopping, and well kempt streets, it struck me as what a friendly urban planner might come…
Three things stick out when you arrive at Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station. First of all, there’s the enormous field of construction to the west, which we also mentioned in our visits to Balsan and Sinbanghwa Stations. Second is the sizeable CJ Gimpo Factory to the east. Third is the not-unpleasant bourgeois atmosphere surrounding the neighborhood’s clean…
Dongmyo Station takes its name from the nearby shrine, built to honor the Chinese general and deity Guan Yu (162-219). Near-ubiquitous on the other side of the Yellow Sea, shrines like these are rare in Korea where, despite its long history as an on-again off-again vassal state to China, the strong Confucian tradition prevented worship…
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,…
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…
Seoul Sub→urban 