Subway Riding

I have to say, it's pretty easy to get around using public transportation in Seoul. They seriously have to do something about the TTC if they want to make Toronto a "World Class City" like they're always talking about. The subway lines look pretty complicated:


I have to commute a bit over an hour to get to work. If you want to know which lines you should take to get to your destination, you can use the online path-finding whatchamacallit. Below is how I get to work (start from yellow line; the fare for this distance is 1400 won, which is a little less than $2 CDN):


Since most Korean streets aren't named, the exits are numbered to make things easier. When you're meeting somebody at a subway station, for example, you can say, "Meet me at exit number 5." You can give directions this way too. Some stations are quite large, and have many exits.


The most number of exits I've seen so far at a station is 15:


There's not much to say about the platforms, but I found these cross-legged people amusing for some reason, and took a picture (this is at Apgujung Station, which is the station I get off to go to work).

A bajillion in Korea: Unattractive Churches

One thing I noticed in Korea is that there are churches everywhere. And by churches, I don't really mean grand old structures with gothic arches and stained-glass windows and the steeples. Smaller Korean churches often only have the steeples, and these of the most makeshift kind.


(You can click on the pictures to look at the bigger version.) These are all churches found near where I'm currently residing. They take up the top floor(s?) of a plaza building. See how in the third one, after the church service, you have the option of going to the "Beer King" on the second floor. Above it is a Karaoke bar and another (non-bar) Karaoke place. And these churches all have names written on their little symbolic steeple. From left to right, they say "Return" (as in "Return to the fold, ye sinners"?), "Church of Happiness", and "The Open Church".

The church may also be this square gray building, with few identifying marks other than the huge cross on them. Non-Christian Korean people often have a bad impression of churches; maybe if the church buildings look nicer they'd feel more kindly towards them? Finally, look yonder, a distant light beckoning, the ligh of... a burning cross? I'm not too fond of crosses that light up, and maybe the ones that do light up shouldn't be red.

I'm kind of craving a beautiful old church right now...