Seoul at Night
September 4, 2007
Seoul at night is pretty amazing. Walking along the streets is great, but looking at the city from the water is what really staggers me. Seoul is divided north and south by the Han River. Most bars, restaurants, etc are on the north side, and I live on the south. Coming home after dark across the bridge is my favorite part of the evening. It is a nightly reminder of why I travel and why I seek out new adventures. Taking a taxi, riding the metro or just walking across the Hannom Bridge after night fall never ceases to take my breath away. I wish I could capture the feeling of standing on the Hannom Bridge at night, looking around at the city. I wish I could bottle it up and send it home to you. I'm far from the first person to admire Seoul at night, but for right now it seems to be my favorite secret part of this city.
Sunday night my friend Amanda and I were going to take a 5:30 tour of the city. The Seoul City Tours came highly recommended to me as a way to get my bearings in this huge city. Amanda has been here nearly a year, but she wanted to take the tour anyway. The tour ended up getting postponed 2 hours, so Amanda and I wandered around an English bookstore for a while, and then she ended up going home because she had report cards to do. I stayed and did the tour alone. I was the only waeguk (foreigner) on the tour, but I got a little headset that gave me the English explanations of everything! :) I think I was off by one site though .. at stop #22 I was hearing about stop #21, etc, etc, but I couldn't figure out how to change it!! Oh well, no matter. I got the gist of it.
The whole tour was captivating, and I loved getting to see all of Seoul, but by far the best part was going to the Seoul Tower. It is the Tour d'Eiffel of Seoul, I guess. While it is not nearly as beautiful nor does it have the same lackadaisical environment as its Parisian counterpart, it is the view it affords of Seoul that makes it so amazing. I suppose the similarlities between the towers actually end in the fact that they are the tallest and most well known structures in their cities. The skyline of Paris is nothing without the Eiffel Tower, while the skyline of Seoul is nothing if not from the Seoul Tower.
The Seoul Tower is on top of a mountain on the northern border of the city, less than 15 minutes from my apartment by taxi. It's a nice thing to look at, I guess, but it's quite industrial. It's true worth is the view you get from Seoul by visiting the tower. We drove up, curving around the mountain, narrowly missing hikers and tourists. When we got to the top, I left my group and wandered alone. Looking out over my new home, I was so dumb struck I just stood there crying for a while. Finally, I stopped and wrote this on the back page of my travel book:, 'I'm looking down over the glittery city -- I am in such awe! I am so grateful to have this precious stone in my possession, even if it's only for a year.' ... I didn't want to ever forget what that moment felt like.
"I should like to bury something precious in every place where I've been happy and then, when I was old and ugly and miserable, I could come back and dig it up and remember."
-Evelyn Waugh
Sunday night my friend Amanda and I were going to take a 5:30 tour of the city. The Seoul City Tours came highly recommended to me as a way to get my bearings in this huge city. Amanda has been here nearly a year, but she wanted to take the tour anyway. The tour ended up getting postponed 2 hours, so Amanda and I wandered around an English bookstore for a while, and then she ended up going home because she had report cards to do. I stayed and did the tour alone. I was the only waeguk (foreigner) on the tour, but I got a little headset that gave me the English explanations of everything! :) I think I was off by one site though .. at stop #22 I was hearing about stop #21, etc, etc, but I couldn't figure out how to change it!! Oh well, no matter. I got the gist of it.
The whole tour was captivating, and I loved getting to see all of Seoul, but by far the best part was going to the Seoul Tower. It is the Tour d'Eiffel of Seoul, I guess. While it is not nearly as beautiful nor does it have the same lackadaisical environment as its Parisian counterpart, it is the view it affords of Seoul that makes it so amazing. I suppose the similarlities between the towers actually end in the fact that they are the tallest and most well known structures in their cities. The skyline of Paris is nothing without the Eiffel Tower, while the skyline of Seoul is nothing if not from the Seoul Tower.
The Seoul Tower is on top of a mountain on the northern border of the city, less than 15 minutes from my apartment by taxi. It's a nice thing to look at, I guess, but it's quite industrial. It's true worth is the view you get from Seoul by visiting the tower. We drove up, curving around the mountain, narrowly missing hikers and tourists. When we got to the top, I left my group and wandered alone. Looking out over my new home, I was so dumb struck I just stood there crying for a while. Finally, I stopped and wrote this on the back page of my travel book:, 'I'm looking down over the glittery city -- I am in such awe! I am so grateful to have this precious stone in my possession, even if it's only for a year.' ... I didn't want to ever forget what that moment felt like.
"I should like to bury something precious in every place where I've been happy and then, when I was old and ugly and miserable, I could come back and dig it up and remember."
-Evelyn Waugh
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