Snow in Seoul Seoul saw the heaviest snowfall in recorded history today. Make you realize how short “recorded history” actually is. We got about 24-25cm of snow. Tried for a couple of hours to make it to work on this first working day of 2010, but public transportation was a mess. Gave up after a…
Tag: seoul
Green roof sightings in Seoul
Green roof tops Daum Communications / Ilshin Building, Seoul, Korea Seoul is not known for it eco-friendly building designs, but a couple of buildings I encountered recently, which have significant green roofs, have made me thinks that there may be hope yet for this city. A Green roof according the Wikipedia: A green roof is…
Seoul, 15 years ago
Click image to view slideshow of Mapo redevelopment, 1994 Digging through some old photos, I found this set I took in 1994, of Mapo area, in Seoul. This area had been home to many informal settlers (so called “moon village” or 달동네) but had been “condemned” to be redeveloped and replaced by more of Seoul’s…
Farewell to “Foolish President” Roh Moo-hyun
Koreans paying their last respects before motorcade leaves Seoul. (Photo credit: ohmynews.com) Former president of Korea Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2007) died of severe head injuries suffered in a suicide attempt on May 23. Today (May 29) saw his national funeral and cremation. Thousands gathered in the city center to pay their last respects. I was no…
Thoughts on Sustainability or How to Grow Vegetables in the City
Community Garden in Bundang, KoreaThe sign reads: No gardening. The land is owned by Korea Land Corporation and will soon be sold and developed, therefore any cultivation is forbidden. No compensation shall be made for any damages to illegally cultivated goods. May 2005. – Korea Land Corporation It is said that what is everybody’s is…
Adventures in the Seoul Metropolitan Subway
I take the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system to work everyday, compacted like sardines in a can. I was in no rush to get to work the other day and as I took my time through the system, I started to notice the signage around me. I found some interesting ones. (My personal favorite) In…
The Morning Commute #3
Commuting as an experience. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the subway station to my office. The simplest way is to take the main streets around the outside of the block, populated by office and retail buildings, as indicated by the red line. The more interesting path The more interesting way is to take…
The Morning Commute #2
Spells E-Z Ham As I noted in an earlier post, Korea has no lack of ugly signage, adding to the urban cacophony. This one I found hilarious. It’s a sign for a cosmetics company: “LJH Cosmetics”. They were wise to go with the acronym: I assume that the company was set up by 3 partners,…
The Morning Commute #1
Seoul’s eclectic architecture Now that I have fully embraced my role as the tourist, I intend to have fun. Let’s start with today. Since everything is new to me (the tourist) and in part because of my architectural education, I actually look at buildings. I read them, measure them and place them in a style….
Living in Korea: A Tourist at Home
I’ve been here in Seoul for about a month now. I have an apartment and a job, and my family is here also. I know the language, and speak Korean like a local. I know my way around, can take the subway without referring to a map, and transition seamlessly from one transportation infrastructure to…