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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korea, photography

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!

Hwanghak-dong Flea Market guitars and backpacks stall — Korean made guitar and backpack shop

Old family photos in a bucket for sale at Hwanghak-dong Flea Market — This was my favourite things from the market today. One seller had a big wooden bucket full of random black and white photos mostly from the 60s and 70s. Family photos, weddings, army photos, candid shots. Looking at them was like traveling through time. And the aesthetic impact of the paper photos…there is something ghostly and beautiful about them. Probably most of the people in them are very old by now, if not gone altogether.

Hwanghak-dong is like the opposite of COEX mall. I like it so much better ^^

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

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korea, photography

Naksan Wild Cats and Kaesong Mandu Koong

On March 5, 2025 0 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

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.