Johanne came up with the idea for Your Neck of the Woods so we could learn more about Korea (and other neighborhoods around the globe) from those that live in particular areas. Throughout our journey to various places, we’ve always been pleasantly surprised. The one thing that we’ve never been able to do is meet up with one of our friends and learn about a neighborhood from a true local. Last year, I contacted one of my oldest Korean friends, Seokjin, Jin, and asked him if he’d be interested in appearing on an episode. To my delight, he said yes.
Seokjin lives in Guro. Those that travel to and from Seoul often on Line 1, know this is as the branching point for the Incheon portion of the line. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to get off here and wait for a new train. Thankfully, Seokjin met us at Daerim station and promptly took us under the tracks. What we found brought back many fond memories. Below street level was an intricate network of jogging and bike paths along a stream. Soekjin told us that the path extended from here all the way to the Han… and if one wanted, you could make it to Sinchon.
High above you could hear faint rumblings of the train and automobiles, but here, things were much quieter. It’s no wonder so many elected to train here. Since concrete support beams needed to hold up streets and tracks, it also provided ample surfaces for some interesting artwork.
Coming from Arizona, I was fortunate to have a number of city parks close to home. The funny thing about those parks was that they were all virtually placed in retention basins. Coming to Korea, I was pleased to find parks everywhere – even in the middle of the street.
The park that Seokjin took us to was different from others I’d been to in the past. Mostly this was because of its location, but also because its length. The Geori park extended a good half kilometer or more. The main entrance featured a fountain (which was dormant due to it being winter), then featured some nice paths and benches before taking visitors to badminton courts. Several were available, and as Seokjin pointed out, occupied by older residents. I will confess to not having played the sport since 7th grade and often wonder why the sport is beloved in regions outside North America.
After a quick walk through the park, Seokjin started taking us through the neighborhoods on our way to the Guro Market. Sure enough, there was a huge absence of folks in their 30s present. With the exception of our crew, everyone had a good decade or more on us… or were clearly vising their grandparents. I’m sure that’s not the real distribution of ages in Guro, but one could get that impression. We also passed the Art Theater, where Seokjin explained he sees reasonably priced shows.
The Art Center was currently showing “Punch,” a martial arts themed modern dance show. Since it was well before showtime, we couldn’t get in to take a look around and the box office was closed, but overall the facility looked quite nice and provided another example at how affordable things are in Korea. Imagine seeing a new show for less than $30. Wow.
The Guro Market was teeming with people the Saturday we visited. In fact, it’s one of the things I like most about visiting neighborhoods. You get see see lots of people and taste some great food. This is what surprised me the most. In my area and most of Seoul, I can expect to buy a bowl of soup for close to W5,000 – but here, the average price was hovering around W3,000 for the same meal. Seokjin took us to one of his favorite stalls where we had ddeokbokki and twigum for only W5000 – another great value. Probably the biggest treat of the outing was that I finally learned the Korean name for the baked ho-ddeok! You’ll have to watch the video to learn the Korean name.
I’d really like to thank Seokjin for joining us for the day and showing us around. You can also follow Seokjin on YouTube and Twitter. To learn Korean, surf on over to Talk to Me in Korean.com.
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