#4k #walkingtour #korea
The Seoul Metro has extensive coverage of the city, connecting not just all of the city's districts, but also several cities and towns outside of Seoul. It's a huge network. Even so, there are a few gaps---areas within the city in which no subway station is to be found. This isn't clear when looking at a subway map, but stands out when looking at, say, Naver Map, which clearly and accurately depicts the position of all the subway lines and the stations they connect.
One such area, a rather large one, is found in western Seoul. It's a rough triangle bordered by three subway lines, the top half of which is in Eunpyeong-gu and the rest in Seodaemun-gu. Get off the subway at any of the stations along the triangle's border and you're in for a bus ride or a walk to get to the inner area. We, of course, are opting for the latter option. For this walk, we start at Hongje Station on Subway Line 3 and head due south for about 4km to Hongik University Station.
We start deep inside Hongje Station and exit onto Tongil-ro ("Reunification Street"). This street has appeared in my walks more than once, and Hongje Station was the endpoint for one of them. But we're not spending much time on it for this walk. Instead, we turn southwest onto a backstreet (2:01) which takes us through a residential neighborhood. This entire walk is through mostly residential areas, almost all of it is in Sodaemun-gu, and except for the last few minutes is all new to me. I'd never been on this route before.
The backstreet leads us to Moraenae-ro (06:28), which we cross in front of the IPARK apartments and turn due west. We see a good bit of greenery, a school, a pre-school, and more high-rise and low-rise apartments. At 10:41, we pass the entrance to the Seodaemun Public Library.
At 15:40, we come to Hongjecheon (Hongje Stream). Like other streams in Seoul, this is a tributary of the Han River. I'm certain this is my first time seeing it. Though I've crossed beneath it on the subway further south on Line 6, I've never walked on any of the streets that cross it, nor have I ever walked on the trails beside it. I was surprised to see the waterfall in the distance. I've never seen anything like that on any of Seoul's other streams.
An elevated expressway, Naebusunhwan-doro (Inner Loop Expressway) follows the course of the stream. This expressway connects northwestern and northeastern Seoul with other highways leading to other parts of the city. On the other side of the stream, Moraenae-ro intersects with Yeonhui-ro, on which we turn south.
At 20:29, we once again cross over Hongje Stream and under the Inner Loop. On the other side (20:57) we see the main building of the Sodaemun District Office across the street, then pass an annex at 22:02.
One common theme throughout this walk is that the scenery around us fluctuates: the amount of greenery increases and decreases; apartments sometimes dominate the main street, sometimes shops and small office buildings outnumber them; some of the buildings are the same old things we see anywhere in Seoul, others are quirky in design or color. It's quite a varied cityscape we pass through, with each block giving off a similar yet different vibe.
At 51:24, we come to a 3-way intersection and get a look down Songmisan-ro. This looks quite different from anything we've seen so far. All the immediately visible buildings on the left side of the street are single-story. And they look like they all are shops of one kind or another. Looking at Naver Map, there are several restaurants, cafes, and guesthouses in the area. It seems this street may be part of the popular area of Sinchon (which is the name of an actual neighborhood, Sinchon-dong, but generally is applied to a much larger area encompassing a few universities and their surroundings).
As we draw nearer to the end of Yeonhui-ro, we start to see more people, particularly young people, and we see a noticeable difference in the architecture and types of shops around us. There's no doubt we're in Sinchon now. We's also leaving Sodaemun-gu and entering Mapo-gu.
Finally, at 56:28 we come to the 3-way Donggyo-dong Intersection, where Yeonhui-ro, Yanghwa-ro, and Sinchon-ro, the three main arteries of Sinchon, all come together. We turn southwest on Yanghwa-ro and make our way to Gate 3 of Hongik University Station where we end our walk.
ROUTE MAP:
[ Ссылка ]
META:
I filmed this in the afternoon of July 25, 2023, with an iPhone 14 Pro on a DJI OM 5 in 4K @ 60 fps. The temperature was around 30°C/86°F. I edited, graded, and rendered with DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.5.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Hongje Station Gate
01:37 Tongil-ro
02:01 Tongil-ro 37-gil
06:28 Moraenae-ro
17:21 Yeonhui-ro
25:44 Gwaja-ro
27:10 Yeonhui-ro
39:30 Yeonhui Intersection | Jeungga-ro
40:10 Yeonhui-ro
51:24 Seongmisan-ro
56:28 Donggyo-dong Intersection
57:32 Yanghwa-ro
58:31 Yanghwa-ro 21-gil
59:04 Hongik University Station (Gate 3)
