Chueotang and Cheonggyecheon

On March 7, 2025 0 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

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.

Canoe Restaurant Toronto crew circa 2002 — Around 23 years ago…That’s me sitting in the middle with a beer in my hand. Gloria right in the front.

2 old coworkers meet in Guri Korea for chueotang — 23 years later…wow

Canoe kitchen crew Toronto circa 2002 — Gloria also sent me this picture today. That’s me in the back with the crumpled chef hat. With the hat on I was almost 7 feet tall so I was always crushing it on the edge of the exhaust system hoods. David Castellan of Soma Chocolatemaker is right next to me. I worked for him shortly after I left Canoe and my daughter works for him now.

Chueotang 추어탕:

a bowl chueotang at a famous Seoul restaurant — Chueotang 추어탕 at 담터고개추어탕 This soup is made of ground up loaches that live in the muddy water around rice paddies. They are small fresh water fish like you might see in an aquarium. The soup is rich and strong flavoured. It is a favourite of mine. We also had some fried whole loaches…also very tasty.

The table and side dishes at a chueotang restaurant

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.

Cheonggyecheon stream at night looking around a bend in Seoul

Two young women taking pictures under a bridge at Cheonggyecheon stream at night — Popular spot for photo shoots

Grey Heron on the walkway at Cheonggyecheon stream at night — Grey Heron (i think)

Couples walking under a bridge along Cheonggyecheon stream at night

Rapidly moving water on Cheonggyecheon stream Seoul

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korea, photography

Seoul Subway

On March 7, 2025 0 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

The Seoul subway is shy about getting photographed.

Seoul subway station showing entry doors open to stopped train — Train stations are sealed and you enter the train via sliding doors once it has arrived, like getting on an elevator

Long photo showing closed doors in Seoul subway station

Seoul subway train photographed in station with glowing windows and people visible inside — Unlike Japan where there is only a half wall, the Seoul subways are completely enclosed in the stations. This is a photo through the door glass of a train on the far tracks. I know there must be stations where the trains are visible but I haven’t travelled to one yet.

Seoul subway ticket machines — Ticket machines

Spotless interior of a Seoul subway train — The trains here are wide with sliding doors so you can travel between cars. All of the trains and stations are spotless.

Crossing the Han River on Line 2. Video by me with music credit to Airy “Eden” from the album “Seeds”

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.

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COEX and Kalguksu

On March 6, 2025 2 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

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.

An LED wrapped building at COEX in Gangnam — LED screen wrapped building at COEX in Gangnam

White Koi photographed from above at COEX aquarium — Pretty white koi

Koi with round mouths poking above water at COEX aquarium — These boys want to eat kalguksu too

Pacific Giant Octopus at COEX aquarium — Eye to eye with a Pacific Giant Octopus. He was my favourite…HUGE!

Woman silhouette against coral reef tank at COEX aquarium — Offspring with Reef

This is a big fish just under the surface. I like all the smeared colours from the moving water.

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

Kalguksu at a family restaurant in Hwanghakdong — Kalguksu at 할아버지 손 칼국수… one of my favourites. Young husband and wife team make fresh noodles by hand every morning. Delicious and only 5$ a big bowl.

Outside of Kalgugksu restaurant in Hwanghakdong — Look at this place ♥️. Everything covered in flour! This is my favourite kind of restaurant. One or two things on the menu made with pride and care. They make the noodles outside on this table every morning.

This basically says that each person has to order a menu item. The place is tiny and there is usually a lineup outside. This sign is no-doubt aimed at people who ask to share a bowl of soup so they only have to pay 2.50 each 🙄. I think that’s what it says… probably aimed at cheap tourists or food bloggers. Kenny Shopsin had the same rule at Shopsin’s in NYC.

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!