Day 9: Gwanghwamun Square and Cheonggyecheon at Night…Again!
Day 9 continues! On my earlier trips to Gwanghwamun Square, the latest I had been there was during the twilight hours where there was still a hint of sunlight remaining. I never got to check out the Admiral Yi Sun-Shin Fountain while it was running in total darkness so I always felt like returning when it was completed dark. Even though I walked around a lot earlier in the day, I must have gotten a second wind as I decided to go out again at night to check it out. Plus, it wasn’t too far away from where I was staying so it was convenient.
I was going to head out via my usual route of walking to Dongnimmun Station and then take the subway but my aunt said that it was a lot easier to take the bus. I hadn’t taken the bus yet as I found taking the subway was really easy to use, logical and hard to get lost on as I had maps of all the lines and stations. I did do some research on buses in Seoul and had notes about what the different colours of the buses signified but I didn’t have any information about bus routes and maps.
My aunt had showed me a bus stop earlier in the week when we were thinking of taking the bus together to go to the Seoul History Museum. To get to Gwanghwamun Square, my aunt told me to go to that same stop and wait for either the 7019, 703, or 7737 bus.
I found travelling by bus was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I had to get use to the idea that a single bus stop can serve multiple bus routes. At the bus stop (and at all stops), they had the routes posted on poles for all the buses that serviced this stop. If you were at a stop and wanted to get to Location B, you would just have to check all the different routes posted to see which bus would stop at your desired location and take that one. The only problem is when you don’t find your destination on any of the routes (then you have to find a different bus stop that has different routes) or if you find multiple buses going to your destination (then you would have to decide which one would be faster). This only works too if you know the name of the stop you want to go to. Usually the name of the stop corresponds to a landmark in the area like Gwanghwamun or Yeong-chun Market. Unlike the buses in Toronto that all travel in a linear direction, I found that the bus routes in Seoul deviated quite a bit from straight paths. So if you were lets say wanting to head east, you couldn’t just hop on any bus heading east because somewhere down the line it will probably take a turn and start going another direction.
As there are so many different buses that service a single stop, sometimes a bus will come that no one wants. So when your bus arrives, you have to be confident and make it look like you want to get on the approaching bus because if you don’t, the bus driver won’t even stop and keep going. I saw one of my buses coming and as I slowly approached the front of the bus stop the bus drove right by me and kept going! Then you’re stuck in that awkward position where you just missed your bus and everyone behind you knows you just missed your bus too.^^ At any rate, another bus came along shortly but this time I made sure I stood out to signify I wanted on the bus. I swiped my T-Money Card and took note of the map inside the bus and the stops being announced and waited for my stop to be called. I noticed that there were 2 Gwanghwamun stops back to back. The first one was about a block before Gwanghwamun Square so I stayed on and waited for the second stop which dropped me off right at the bottom of the Square. I wasn’t sure whether you could swipe your T-Money card out early while the bus was still in motion or if you had to wait for the bus to stop so I watched others and found that you can swipe out anytime while in motion in between the stop you are getting off at and the prior stop.
I got to the Square just before 8PM and the sky was completely dark which was what I wanted. I walked all the way up to the north end where Gwanghwamun was. The ground at the Gwanghwamun end of the Square was lit with these little colourful dots of light that looked like constellations in the sky. Gwanghwamun was brightly illuminated so that you could not miss it from a distance. Here are some clips I took in front of Gwanghwamun.
King Sejong, we meet again!
The Admiral Yi Sun-shin Fountain looking like it’s flowing with ectoplasm. ^^
Here are some clips I took of the Admiral Yi Sun-Shin fountain showing all it’s brilliant cycling colours. I just love how vivid the colours look at night as if the water is radioactive or something. What’s your favourite colour? Mine is the blue, then the white purple combo.
You can’t go to Gwanghwamun Square and not stop by Cheonggyecheon also just down the street.
This was my 3rd visit to Gwanghwamun Square and Cheonggyecheon. This was the first and only time I was without my backpack as I didn’t really need it to come here and I just stuffed my camera in my pocket. I normally carried my backpack everywhere though which held things like my camera, water, snacks, sunglasses, books on Seoul, my iPod, tissue, Tylenol, pen and paper. When I went to Tokyo, I used a shoulder bag and while it was the perfect size, having the weight all on one shoulder got tiring after a while (even after flip-flopping between shoulders). So for this trip, I went out and got a lightweight backpack so that I could carry things across both shoulders. It sounds like such a small thing but it made a big difference. I hardly noticed my backpack at all while I was wearing it.
There wasn’t really anything new for me to discover here, it being my 3rd visit and all. I just liked the area because it was close, beautiful, familiar and had a variety to offer depending on my mood. Gwanghwamun Square was the brightly lit spot with the statues, building fronts and traffic. Cheonggyecheon was the quiet and mellow place to go for a walk. Finally, Jongno was the where you could feel the pulse of the people. I didn’t spend too much time here, probably less than a couple of hours before hopping on a bus and heading back to my aunt's.
I was going to head out via my usual route of walking to Dongnimmun Station and then take the subway but my aunt said that it was a lot easier to take the bus. I hadn’t taken the bus yet as I found taking the subway was really easy to use, logical and hard to get lost on as I had maps of all the lines and stations. I did do some research on buses in Seoul and had notes about what the different colours of the buses signified but I didn’t have any information about bus routes and maps.
My aunt had showed me a bus stop earlier in the week when we were thinking of taking the bus together to go to the Seoul History Museum. To get to Gwanghwamun Square, my aunt told me to go to that same stop and wait for either the 7019, 703, or 7737 bus.
I found travelling by bus was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I had to get use to the idea that a single bus stop can serve multiple bus routes. At the bus stop (and at all stops), they had the routes posted on poles for all the buses that serviced this stop. If you were at a stop and wanted to get to Location B, you would just have to check all the different routes posted to see which bus would stop at your desired location and take that one. The only problem is when you don’t find your destination on any of the routes (then you have to find a different bus stop that has different routes) or if you find multiple buses going to your destination (then you would have to decide which one would be faster). This only works too if you know the name of the stop you want to go to. Usually the name of the stop corresponds to a landmark in the area like Gwanghwamun or Yeong-chun Market. Unlike the buses in Toronto that all travel in a linear direction, I found that the bus routes in Seoul deviated quite a bit from straight paths. So if you were lets say wanting to head east, you couldn’t just hop on any bus heading east because somewhere down the line it will probably take a turn and start going another direction.
As there are so many different buses that service a single stop, sometimes a bus will come that no one wants. So when your bus arrives, you have to be confident and make it look like you want to get on the approaching bus because if you don’t, the bus driver won’t even stop and keep going. I saw one of my buses coming and as I slowly approached the front of the bus stop the bus drove right by me and kept going! Then you’re stuck in that awkward position where you just missed your bus and everyone behind you knows you just missed your bus too.^^ At any rate, another bus came along shortly but this time I made sure I stood out to signify I wanted on the bus. I swiped my T-Money Card and took note of the map inside the bus and the stops being announced and waited for my stop to be called. I noticed that there were 2 Gwanghwamun stops back to back. The first one was about a block before Gwanghwamun Square so I stayed on and waited for the second stop which dropped me off right at the bottom of the Square. I wasn’t sure whether you could swipe your T-Money card out early while the bus was still in motion or if you had to wait for the bus to stop so I watched others and found that you can swipe out anytime while in motion in between the stop you are getting off at and the prior stop.
I got to the Square just before 8PM and the sky was completely dark which was what I wanted. I walked all the way up to the north end where Gwanghwamun was. The ground at the Gwanghwamun end of the Square was lit with these little colourful dots of light that looked like constellations in the sky. Gwanghwamun was brightly illuminated so that you could not miss it from a distance. Here are some clips I took in front of Gwanghwamun.
King Sejong, we meet again!
You can’t go to Gwanghwamun Square and not stop by Cheonggyecheon also just down the street.
There wasn’t really anything new for me to discover here, it being my 3rd visit and all. I just liked the area because it was close, beautiful, familiar and had a variety to offer depending on my mood. Gwanghwamun Square was the brightly lit spot with the statues, building fronts and traffic. Cheonggyecheon was the quiet and mellow place to go for a walk. Finally, Jongno was the where you could feel the pulse of the people. I didn’t spend too much time here, probably less than a couple of hours before hopping on a bus and heading back to my aunt's.
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