Seoul Subway

Life in Asia : 2008. 1. 30. 18:39
I, personally think that Seoul has one of the most complicated subway system in the whole world and it makes more sense when you compare Seoul subway system to our 'red rocket' TTC subway system.. lol

First, I introduce Seoul Subway map~ Don't get freaked out!

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So, how do you think about this..?

Pretty complicated .. huh?

FYI, compare this to Hong Kong MTR lines
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line to disneyland is missing :(



In that Seoul map, there's 10 lines but that was few years ago's version, thus there is a major modification and there's 12 lines running right now (which is not shown on the map). I think argh....two or three more lines are being built

When I left Korea in 1996, 4 lines were running and line #5 was under construction. Thus in 10 years, they doubled # of subway lines in Seoul to 12

When Seoul doubled # of subway lines in last 10+ years, what did TTC do?

The answer is ...
.
.
.
.
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Yes...
That's what they built for 10 years!!!!!!!!!!! (yay)
I think those TTC ppl should learn "bbal li bbal li!" (quickly! quickly!) attitude from Korea lol Torontonians should learn how to do things quickly rather than correctly and slowly
Moreover, it's sad to hear that TTC's threatening to close that line :( because they are running out of money... aiya

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This is typical interior for Seoul Subway
Compare to TTC subway, it's more wider and one good thing about the seat is during winter, it's being heated.. :) While train is moving, you can move from one car to another.. I tried to do same in TTC but when I tried to open door to go to another car, operator gave me a dirty look.. -_-;;

Being able to use cell phone in the underground subway is also a big plus as in Toronto, you can only use your cell phone when subway is above ground (e.g. High Park, Yonge/Bloor-Rosedale, Davisville, etc) For some lines, there's TV installed in every car so you can also watch TV as well.. ;) I doubt that TTC will install cell phone antenna in subway so that we can use cell phone in subway.. They have no money.. what do you expect .. *sigh*

During weekends or off-peak weekdays, it's not surprised to find vendors or beggars walking around subway trains to sell you some stuff (they always say they are forced to sell those products because their factory's being liquidated or closed down..) or beg for money.. Often, they do some performance (sing, play music, do all those demonstrations) so just sit back and enjoy the show~ (This will help you to kill some time in subway as 30-40min subway trip is average in Seoul)

They do announcement for station in Korean and English so even though you don't know Korean that well, you can travel around Seoul using subway w/o that much problems.. That's good.. ;)


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They installed screen door in many stations.. When subway stops in the station, doors will be open so that you can board the subway. They had to made screen door to prevent people from committing a suicide .. -_-;;;

However the only downside about Seoul subway is for the most stations, when you want to transfer from one line to another, you have to walk for A LONG DISTANCE.. At the worst case you have to walk for 15min to change lines :(

Well, that's about it for Seoul subway system~!
Posted by ch__
Argh.....
Why Starbucks in Seoul, Korea has to be the most expensive Starbucks in whole world..?

One cup of grande size 'coffee of the day' in Seoul is like 4000 won (it's like 4 bucks in Canada)

Talking about some fancy ones.. like Latte... 3 cups of grande size Latte is like... almost 20 bucks..
AIYA!! I wouldn't be surprised if it was venti but for grande.. so expensive! But ironically every Starbucks in Korea are jam-packed with 7:3 female:male ratio and some Starbucks have 4 floors!! :(

It's more than twice of what we pay in Toronto (it's like 2.25 CAD for same one.. I bet) and more surprisingly even Beijing and HK are cheaper than Seoul!
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I bought a cup of grande size coffee of the day in Beijing Airport and it was like 18RMB (I would say around 2.25~2.50 CAD), which is about same as Toronto's price...HK was about same as Toronto after FX rate calculation...

To all Starbucks lovers! Umm... iwe should be thankful for living in Toronto and paying 1/2 of money that people in Seoul (Korea) pay in Starbucks! lol

If we were in Korea and drink Starbucks as we do in Toronto... Then we probably wasted way more money than we wasted in Toronto Starbucks lol

Once again, we all should be thankful


Posted by ch__

Milyang

Life in Asia : 2008. 1. 30. 02:08
Two weeks ago, I travelled down to southern part of Korea to meet my grandparents, uncle and some of my friends.

Both of my grandparents (mother's side and father's side) live in a small city called Milyang, which is about 1hr away from Busan or about 5 hours drive/train from Seoul or 2.5 hours if you take express train.. it was really convenient and saved my time a lot
lol

For those of you who don't know where Milyang is,


I stayed in my (father's side) grandfather's house for a day and before I went to Daegu next day to meet my friend, I had a lunch with (mother's side) grandmother.

I was thinking about going straight to Seoul after my brief stay in Daegu (I was showered with Soju in Daegu!) but my aunt wanted me to go to Milyang from Daegu with her as she was heading home. Because I wasn't really constrained by time, I decided to do so.. Thus I was able to stay one night in my (mother's side) grandmother. As like day before in Daegu, my aunt treated me with 4 bottles of cocktail (fruit-flavored) soju.. LOL
I wonder how many bottles of soju I had in two nights ;) and also how much it would cost to have same # of bottles of soju in Canada ...

Some pics of Milyang
1. Near my (father's side) grandfather's house:
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2. Recently, this small city became famous after international success of movie named "Milyang" (which was shot in this city and also it meant "Secret Sunshine") and around this city I was able to find many signs related to the movie

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3. Yeong Nam-Roo, one of historical landmark in Milyang

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4. View of Milyang Station
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5. KTX Train, which I suppose to take for my return to Seoul, approaching to the station
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KTX, which stands for Korea Train eXpress is high-speed railway system for South Korea.
Korean government bought TGV train from France and started operation in 2004 after many years of delay.. Originally train trip from Seoul to Busan would take 5+ hours but with KTX going in 300km/h (suppose to be) it reduces traveling time almost by 50%. If Korea finishes 2nd phase of high-speed rail construction, it should just take around 2 hours or less

However, since this KTX stopped in all stations, it couldn't have enough time to reach its maximum speed @ 300km/h.. The highest speed that this train reached was 297km/h.. but it was still fast enough ;) (If I took the one that stops in less # of stations, I could've had another 300km/h experience)

Because Milyang didn't change significantly from my childhood period, I had no problem in finding a way in Milyang. Also it was really good to spend time together with some of my friends, uncle's family and grandparents.. I am looking forward to see them again in Korean New Year


Posted by ch__