Subway System

The subway system in Seoul is impressive. All the signs are in English as well as Korean, so it's fairly easy to navigate, plus the subway cars and stations are immaculate. Trains are frequent and quiet, and the people-watching is top-notch.





















Jeong-yoon accompanied me for my first subway experience. She told me that the subway is used by everyone here--rich and poor--and it does seem pretty diverse in that regard. I commented to her on how clean it was compared to New York's subway system, and she seemed a little surprised. Sensing an opportunity, I told her about rats scurrying over the tracks dragging half-eaten bagels and people trimming their fingernails on the train in nyc, and she was hilariously horrified.

Later, she told me that these sliding door enclosures that separate all the tracks from the platforms are a recent addition from the last several years, and that the government put them there to prevent suicides, which are relatively frequent here.





I told her that no one in New York would commit suicide this way because it would be too disgusting, which fortunately she found funny.

It seems like almost every subway station has a sprawling underground mall inside it. Shopping seems to be the national pastime.

















Advertising is everywhere in the subway system--on lighted kiosks and ubiquitous LCD screens. I think this one is kind of funny. I'm contemplating it's meaning daily.