Day 164: Getting Around

I've fallen behind on posts a few days. It seems that whenever I sit down to use my computer I get drawn into a conversation or invited out to do something. I'm not complaining, since I like doing those things, but it means I haven't had the chance to write much. Since each day has been fairly eventful I don't want to group them together, so I'll see how much I can get to now.

Wednesday, despite the weather reports, turned out to be a lovely day. This was good, because one of the departing people in the hostel stole my umbrella less than a day after I bought it. While it was sunny I wanted to see as much of the city as possible. I began by walking to some of the nearby markets and taking a look around.

The aisle between the shop vendors was a line of stalls with people cooking and serving a variety of food. Since it was all very cheap I tried a few of the safer-looking finger food, but stayed away from things like the pig heads.

Next I took the subway to Gangnam station to explore the district and try to figure out what exactly Gangnam style is. I walked from the station east until the Trade Tower and COEX shopping mall, with a few detours along the way. This is the part of the city (at least one of them) with big shiny office towers and department stores. When you wander down the side streets things are less built up, but on the main roads things are very modern urban looking.

Then it was back onto the subway to explore the area around Hongik University. I liked this area a lot, and you could definitely see the university's influence on the area. There are a lot of bars and cheap, diverse restaurants and street food vendors and a lot of shops just targetting a younger crowd.

I explored the side streets in the area for awhile then began walking east towards Seoul Station. About halfway there I came across a tiny park of old men playing baduk (the Korean name for go) so I stopped for a break to watch them play some.

From Seoul Station I took the subway back to the district I'm staying in and met up with somebody else in my hostel for a dinner of Korean dishes we didn't know the names of, and just chose by picture.

After a few days of hanging out in Seoul, I have a few comments on the city (or possibly country). You can see that I used the subway a lot, which is rare for me. There are two main reasons I've been using it so much in Seoul. First, it's very cheap and organized. The cars can get pretty crowded at times, but it costs about $1-$1.50 to get anywhere in the city that I'd be interested in going. The other reason I take the subway is that I find Seoul very unfriendly to pedestrians. Many places have small sidewalks, or none at all; the crosswalks at intersections take forever, and worst, apparently motorcycles can (and do) use sidewalks just as freely as they use the roads. It's not terribly fun to constantly be dodging motorcycles weaving through pedestrians and trees to avoid traffic, and it's a nearly constant occurence. I also find there's more of a western/American influence than in Japan, which surprised me a little. They have the big 4 fast food chains that are everywhere (McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, KFC), but I've also seen Taco Bell, Quiznos, Dunkin Donuts (everywhere), and others. Speaking of Dunkin Donuts, I don't think I've been to any other country with quite the saturation of coffee shops as Seoul has. They really seem to love coffee.