I needed to get out of the house yesterday. I took a long walk – along a route I took before… some years ago. I took the subway into the city and got off at Oksu, on the north bank of the rain-swollen Han River. I walked across the bridge into Apgujeong. From there I went to Gangnam, and after stopping at my favorite bookstore, I ended up at GyoDae (University of Education). I walked maybe 7 or 8 km. It was heavily overcast but it wasn't raining. It was kind of steamy hot. I took a few pictures.
Looking back down the stairs up to the bridge. The subway runs in the median of the bridge, that's Oksu station on the right.
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I love the view along the river, here. For some reason it makes me think of Italy – maybe it's the arches along the river bank and the way the buildings climb the hillside.
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The bridge itself, with its embedded subway tracks and industrial feel, is New Yorkish.
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Apgujeong (and all of Gangnam) is a very high-rent area. I would compare it to New York's Upper East Side, LA's Westwood/Brentwood.
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But there is still the occassional cardboard-carting ajeossi, blocking the forward progress of honking Mercedeses.
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The view at dusk looking east along Teheranno, one of Gangnam's main drags, just west of its intersection with Gangnamdaero.
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Here is a rather famous recently-constructed building that even had a write-up in the Economist, if I recall correctly. It's your basic glass-and-steel box skyscraper, right? But it's wavy. Wiggly. And there's a giant sculpture of golden hands, holding up the sky, in front – you could stand under the outstretched hands to shelter from the rain, for example.
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By the time I was headed home on the subway, it was starting to rain again. Just a sort of humid drizzle. I got home and made some tricolor rotini pasta with olives and pesto (I found jars of pre-made pesto at the Orange Mart across the street).
I did a lot of reading today.