Today I reunited with an old restaurant colleague for chueotang (loach soup) and later took a night walk along Cheonggyecheon stream.

History:

While I was a cook at Canoe Restaurant in Toronto, Gloria (a student from Korea) worked as an intern for a few months. I have not seen her for over 20 years but today we had lunch together at a chueotang restaurant near her home.

Chueotang 추어탕:

Cheonggyecheon Stream:

Tonight we walked home along Cheonggyecheon. The stream cuts through the middle of the city for around 10km. It is peaceful place for a quiet walk surrounded by nature and city lights at the same time. After the Korean War this natural waterway was filled with concrete and the Cheonggyecheon Expressway was built overtop of it. In 2003, the government decided to remove the freeway and restore the stream as part of its urban renewal project. It was all finished by 2005. TWO YEARS! I can’t believe how fast. It is one of my favourite places in Seoul.

The Seoul subway is shy about getting photographed.

SOUNDS OF THE SEOUL SUBWAY

The subway system has a few different sounds for different purposes.

This one is for the arrival of a southbound train:

Here is the one for the arrival of a northbound train:

Doors closing/doors opening announcements:

Transfer announcement music: This one is interesting because there is a pre-pandemic song and a post-pandemic song. The new song with an upbeat 4/4 tempo was chosen by Seoul Metro to “give a sense of vitality to citizens as they prepare for a new daily life, now that the end of the pandemic is in sight.”

Pre-pandemic transfer song (you can still hear this one on line 1 sometimes)

Post-pandemic transfer song

If i can get a picture of a naked train later, I will update this post…

Getting Around Seoul

Here is a link to the Seoul Metro website for maps, fares and user guides: Seoul Subway. In Japan, Google maps and Apple maps seem pretty reliable but, I find local mapping apps much easier and much more accurate in Korea. I would recommend using either Naver Map or Kakao Map instead. They both have excellent apps which will work (mostly) with English too.

If you do end up using Google or Apple for directions in either Korea or Japan, I would suggest selecting the “direct” or “easiest” route (if there is a choice) rather than the “fastest” which often goes through alleys, construction sites and backyards to save a few meters. Trust me on this one…

If you enjoy subway sounds, check out this post from Tokyo or this one from Busan.

COEX Aquarium

We love aquariums so we went to see the one at Coex Mall in Gangnam. The aquarium was pretty good, lots of sharks and rays. The Coex Mall itself was not that interesting. Just lots of shops and food courts, same as any big mall. There were some cool places to take photos but otherwise, not for me.

COEX Aquarium …in case you want to visit. If you like aquariums there are a few pics of Sumida aquarium in Tokyo in this post.

Kalguksu 칼국수

Hwanghak-dong Flea Market

These are just a few quick snaps of Hwanghak-dong Market. It goes on for blocks and blocks. You can buy anything here but you have to do a little work to find it. It is a fun place full of clothes, books, records, electronics, food, antiques, army surplus, kitchenware, ingredients, car parts…everything!

For a more detailed look at Hwanghak-dong check out this post.

Before heading up Naksan to look for cats and and eat mandu, we had to go to Seoul station:

KTX can’t take payments with foreign cards online right now so we went to Seoul Station to buy tickets. The station is huge and open and full of light and the buzz of travel. There are cafes and food vendors everywhere so you can buy a snack, sit on the steps in the sunshine and wait for your train. And you can go right down to the tracks even if you don’t have a ticket.

Snow!!

Today is the first time I have seen snow in Seoul so we decided to go out and take a morning walk around Gwanghwamun Square. We tried to go to Gyeongbokgung Palace to take some pictures but unfortunately it was closed today. You can check here for information and hours..I should have too!

Seollongtang

We walked back through Hwanghak-dong. During the day this is a massive outdoor flea market crawling with people. After dark it is empty. I love the look of these old shops when they are closed up…the colours and the signage. Look at that coffee vending machine: it has a print of an old grandpa taking a little kid fishing.

Jeju Air from Tokyo to Seoul

We flew Jeju Air from Tokyo to Seoul. The onboard service was efficient and friendly and we departed right on time. Once I sat down and pulled my seatbelt tight, I began thinking of the tragic Jeju Air accident in Muan that had happened only 2 months earlier. I was a little nervous every time we hit some turbulence and especially during the landing in foul weather. I knew that the chances of something bad happening was almost zero. But watching that crash footage on the news left impressions on me that logical reasoning had no power to erase.

Looking at the faces of the young flights attendants in the jump seats facing me, I wondered if they knew any of the crew onboard Flight 2216. I wondered if the pilots knew each other. I worried about them. After a bit of a rough landing in heavy rain and gusting crosswinds, the plane rolled up to the gate and we walked off into the airport. The flight attendants smiled and thanked us. For some reason, it all felt a little strange. Maybe I was just tired.

Our house in Seoul

Our 19th floor apartment in Sungin-dong is warm and spacious with a big sunny window looking west over the city. We have 2 queen sized beds, a couch and coffee table as well as little kitchen with laundry machine. The floors are heated (best Korean invention). Sungin-dong Airbnb

Dinner with Minu

Minu! For our first meal out, my old friend and coworker took us for BBQ chicken and beers in the neighbourhood. I have known Minu since the early days of Pearl Diver when he was a cook in my kitchen on his working holiday visa from Korea. We meet up every time I come here and I am always happy to see him. For some reason, we always end up eating chicken! And it is always delicious! We have already discussed our next chicken meal : 닭한마리 (kind of a soup that has a whole chicken in it). 🐓 🐓🐓

An afternoon trip turned up some real treasures at Gimbab Records. I’ll post about music later…