RAS Korea Guro Tour

Robert Fouser stands on a street corner and talks about the factory-looking building across the street.

There was a strange little brick building very lose to newer buildings.

A closer look.

This building had large for rent signs.

The path led to a restaurant that looked like it might be open still.

The front building was hollowed out.

I went up and wandered through its rooms.

I like how the electrical fixture was rerouted.

They got creative with bricks.

There was also a motel back there.

Here are the other buildings.

Quite a contrast.

I think this was a pipe for ondol.

Inside on the ground floor.

I managed to catch up with the group over by the stream.

Now he's talking about old apartments.

Then we went on a fun ride over the train tracks.

Uri Geller's house.

A poster about the opportunity to redevelop.

Escalator up most of the way, then you have to deal with stairs.

We visited a beehive house turned into a museum. In this room we watched a video that had an upbeat cocktail jazz soundtrack straight out of a 1950s American short video.

I had the impression much of the building had been altered to provide larger communal spaces, but the basement still preserved the same layout, where you could see allt he individual rooms. Someone on the tour remarked that these women worked in sewing factories all day, then came home and wanted to sew more?

Each room had a small foyer that contained a tiny kitchen powered by a charcoal briquette, which also provided floor heating.

Robert was convinced this building is closed.

Apparently it used to be a community center when it closed finally.

Some nice stock signs in the windows.

The front of the building, where he had been caught wnadering before.

Here's the entrance to Garibong Market.

This sign in the floor warned English speakers not to litter, but had a lot more rules for Chinese speakers, such as no spitting.

We had to go up this steep road.

This is one of the buildings we saw that looked more like a typical beehive home, with lots of doors leading into tiny roos.

I guess in a fire emergency, you might not have time to put your pants on.

Stragglers bringing up the rear.

I've driven up and down this road on my way to and from Gwangmyeong.

We passed by a new malddukbakgi statue.

Kind of an awkward name.

We ended up going to this restaurant. I sent Michael Hurt a message about the location, only for him to reply that he was already there.

We went to an 2cha that had surprisingly good chow mein.

Matt and Robert compete in making wizard hand gestures.

That was our 2cha.

I split a taxi with Robert around here.