Happy Lunar New Year
It's the Lunar New Year, the holiday Koreans celebrate by packing the roadways out of Seoul to return to their families and eat mass quantities of food. That makes Seoul eerily deserted. Though I've only been here a few weeks, I have yet been alone outside of my apartment. I decided to explore the subway system, figuring the smaller quantity of people would help with any navigation problems.
The subway was deserted. The Noksapyeong station has a central atrium that looks like a large golf ball from above ground. There are four escalators that usually carry masses of people to and from the trains. I was riding the upper pair of escalators and looked around. Nobody. Not one person. It was a scene out of some sci-fi movie.
I've been told (and I freely admit) that I have an unhealthy fascination with subways. I've ridden the systems of Boston, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Rome, Sydney, and now Seoul. This ranks up there. Most of the signs are in English, lines are color and number coded and the stops are even numbered (something I haven't found elsewhere). This helps if you're not sure if you're going in the right direction...need to get off at stop 135 and you've passed 136 and 137...better get off and reverse directions.
On my way back, I again stopped in and picked up some snacks...more kimbap (actually samgak kimbab). This time it's chicken. Also picked up a bottle of what appears to be aloe drink, complete with pieces of aloe floating around inside. It's actually pretty good. I also grabbed a bottle of a rice milk drink. Similar to soy milk...sweet. To round it out, I grabbed a Korean version of chocolate digestives. On an impulse, as the clerk was scanning my purchases, I grabbed an ice cream sandwich from a freezer. This was the best yet. Coffee flavored ice cream between wafers that were more like sponge cake than anything else. Very good.
The subway was deserted. The Noksapyeong station has a central atrium that looks like a large golf ball from above ground. There are four escalators that usually carry masses of people to and from the trains. I was riding the upper pair of escalators and looked around. Nobody. Not one person. It was a scene out of some sci-fi movie.
I've been told (and I freely admit) that I have an unhealthy fascination with subways. I've ridden the systems of Boston, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Rome, Sydney, and now Seoul. This ranks up there. Most of the signs are in English, lines are color and number coded and the stops are even numbered (something I haven't found elsewhere). This helps if you're not sure if you're going in the right direction...need to get off at stop 135 and you've passed 136 and 137...better get off and reverse directions.
On my way back, I again stopped in and picked up some snacks...more kimbap (actually samgak kimbab). This time it's chicken. Also picked up a bottle of what appears to be aloe drink, complete with pieces of aloe floating around inside. It's actually pretty good. I also grabbed a bottle of a rice milk drink. Similar to soy milk...sweet. To round it out, I grabbed a Korean version of chocolate digestives. On an impulse, as the clerk was scanning my purchases, I grabbed an ice cream sandwich from a freezer. This was the best yet. Coffee flavored ice cream between wafers that were more like sponge cake than anything else. Very good.
posted by tcw1138 at 9:17 PM
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