daehanmindecline

BROKE PUBLISHNG

Hongdae Fire
A story set in the mid-2000s Korean punk scene

"A love letter to the punk scene"
-Gwangju News

Available on Amazon, Google, Book Depository, Bookshop, Bookmate (ebook), Aladin, at the physical store Kenektid, and various other smaller websites

Rapscallion's Den
Short stories about a fictional punk house in Edmonton

Only available through direct purchase so far

View this post for price and ordering information

Contact brokepublishng@gmail.com

As Seen On on Unite Asia!

30 July 2022

Equality Road 1110
I wrote an article about this screening, and during the event the organisers asked me to take a few pictures.

29 July 2022

Broke in Korea 15th Anniversary Show
It's been two years and I've decided it's finally time to have an anniversary show for Broke in Korea.

We ended up with six bands all playing different kinds of music: SBW Riders, Reseters, metal band Incestrul Lust, and Bovver's oi band Oily Rag. The price is staying the same but I've added Vanmal and Sweet Gasoline. The whole time, I only ended up taking pictures during Sweet Gasoline at the very end.

The show was the official release for Broke in Korea 30, as well as a new Best of Broke in Korea covering issues 24 to 29. Plus, Broke Publishng released two more publications: photo book Seonbi City and Through the Joseon Door, a collection of essays by columnist Ron Bandun. So, you might say the collection of writers at Broke Publishng is expanding and diversifying, maybe.

I also invited other zine makers to take part to make it more of a zine market, including The Bulldozed Future and Photon Wave Function.

25 July 2022

Train Tracks
Another look at those buildings next to the train tracks. I tried walking in in broad daylight, and a truck drove in and the workers inside turned me back. I have a feeling I won't get to see this one any closer.

24 July 2022

Metal Stands with Ukraine
I covered the Metal Stands with Ukraine show, but I was working on the day it was on, so all I could do was stop by for about 40 minutes. I timed it so I could see Nikolai's band Dreamy Europa. I also got to see the woman who modeled for the Motherland Monument, since they needed a lifesize model to pose for it. I also saw someone contact the (presumably Ukrainian ambassador) and livestream the event for them.

Going to metal shows feels really different from punk or hardcore shows. The people look different, and they act more tame. The musicians also tend to be a few years older on average than punk musicians, even compared to bands like Crying Nut. It can be fun, but in different ways from punk.

23 July 2022

All Kinds of Victim
The tour for Victim Records' "All Kinds of Victim" compilation was passing through Seoul, so I showed up to give the musicians physical copies of the newspaper article. I'm also planning to interview the Gwangju band TwoFive sometime in the next few months.

20 July 2022

Downtown Seoul
First I photograph a crazy Christian cart, and then I view a Falun Gong parade. Last, there are some Korail buildings across the train tracks from work that appear to be on their way out.

19 July 2022

Millie
I came home to find Buster sitting at the roof door, and Millie crying on the other side of it. I'd had the door open about 10 hours earlier when I did the litter box, and must have not noticed her slip out. When I finally let her in, her fur was sticky around the mane area. Not too sure what happened to her out there, whether she tried to jump in a birdbath or just sweated that much. But a couple days later and she still loves going outside.

After this picture was taken, I filled the bathtub with water and threw her in. She hated it.

19 July 2022

Yongsan Game Arcade
One of the remaining buildings of Yongsan Electronics Market, specialised in video games, is going to disappear soon. I've been watching for a while, although haven't had much success lately.

19 July 2022

Fouser's Former Home
On my way back to Bukchon Hanok Village, the only place that has a mill I know how to work with, I passed by Robert Fouser's old Hanok, which I'd passed on his RAS Korea walk a few weeks earlier. The fences are down and it looks like the intent was to do a minimal restoration rather than anything crazy.

18 July 2022

Abandoned Namdaemun
While taking a shortcut from my neighbourhood to Namdaemun Market, I came across a smallish corner of oldish buildings.

17 July 2022

Dogs
I went to a zine market and then a convenience store, and met some interesting dogs along the way.

17 July 2022

Camera Shop
After my camera started malfunctioning during the Queer Parade, I decided rather than waiting for it to dry to take it to the shop where I got it to see if they could do anything. I ended up having to leave it overnight, missing the chance to photograph a show at ACS in Chungmuro, and when I got it back, it had this picture in it.

16 July 2022

Seoul Queer Culture Festival
I went this year mainly to photograph Christians' signs. They were a little less insane than I've seen in previous years, possibly because they're actually trying to find more persuasive messages.

The festival was shortened this year to only one day, because the mayor took seriously the Christian complaints about it happening. Two of those complaints included that people wore too-revealing clothes, and that booths offered items that were too perverse. I've never seen anything like that in the two times I've been to the SQCF in the past, but I wasn't omniscient, so this time I attempted to be more thorough. I visited every booth (split with two coworkers who handled the area with embassy booths), and I kept an eye out for nudity. Nothing.

Of course, that won't stop the Christians from complaining anyway. They have the advantage that they can report without presenting evidence. They also are free to report that they saw lewd things at previous events, even if not this one, which they can keep complaining about. And also in the past Christians have carried protest signs showing examples of vulgar displays, which I think is enough for them to feel like they saw live nudity this year too. So anyway, if we see article drafts with those complaints made, we'll be ready.

Another complaint Christians have had about SQCF is that it's costly to deploy such a large riot police force. But why are the cops deployed in the first place? To protect everyone from the same Christians making the complaint. It's like a lion at a zoo complaining about the bars that keep it from eating human visitors.

If anything, the necessity of police protection should be seen to justify the need for this festival, which is under threat from hostile, sometimes violent Christians. In other parts of the world, including my own hometown, there is a debate centered around whether cops should be allowed to participate. I've never understood if this meant that LGBTQ cops are specifically disinvited from participating, or just police forces in general aren't welcome to lend official support, or if it means they don't want riot police protection. In Korea, these events wouldn't be possible without large masses of riot police, most of whom are probably unwilling conscripts anyway. I know ACAB, but on this one day a year, I am grateful to see them out in force.

The Christians have the support of Mayor 5mb. But seriously, if you find that you can't care about a significant social minority in your electorate, maybe you aren't fit to represent them. You're a servant of the people, so do your fucking job.

Last major thing I was looking into, the new US ambassador was present at the festival, and set to make a speech for the first time as a US ambassador at this event. There has been a serious backlash against him, with Christians rejecting him saying he's gay. But the only information I can find about his sexuality, dating earlier than his appointment to Korea, is news about Duterte calling him a "gay son of a whore" when he was US ambassador to the Philippines. The US Embassy itself is stubbornly quiet on the subject. It's possible he's not gay and Duterte was just using slurs, and it's also possible he is gay and wants his privacy. So I wanted to know what he'd say in his speech. Turns out, not much. He just gave platitudes, saying the US stands with the LGBTQ community, even though the next presidential election could go very badly.

Another thing that sickens me, there are religious people on both sides of this whole thing, but it's a lot harder to claim there are atheists on both sides. So sometimes I see people say the Christians on the side of SQCF are the "true Christians" and the others are only "Christians" (with scare quotes). This seems illogical to me though. The former group is willing to have less orthodox views and side with secular people, while the latter group is full of hardcore adherents who let it control every aspect of their lives, even to the point of potentially casting out family members. I guess you could argue the former group are more "pure" or something, but wouldn't it just be better to say they are just more compassionate? And the latter group are just trying to force themselves up Christ's ass to soak up all the Christianity they can get.

15 July 2022

Oily Rag Debut Show
I booked Bovver's new band Oily Rag to play my show on July 29, but shortly after that, he booked his own debut show on this day, and it had a pretty good lineup. Still annoyed.

14 July 2022

Millie's Sphere
MMillie has had a rough week. Shortly after this picture was taken, her sphere toppled over, as the nut holding it to the base loosened too much. She was inside when it fell, and didn't seem too stymied. I was able to fix it.

Then six days after the date of this photo, I was cleaning the litterbox and had the roof door open, and I guess I didn't notice her go out. When I came home from work 10 hours later, she was crying on the roof. Her fur was rough, maybe as if she'd been sweating through the hot part of the day. I started a bath and threw her into it, which she probably hated more than the roof. But she seems back to normal now.

12 July 2022

JiHoon's RAS Korea Lecture
I didn't take any camera pictures of JiHoon's lecture. But I did take pictures before and after, focused mainly on a closed hotel nearby.

11 July 2022

Cloudy Sunset
I've always said "All Sunsets Matter." I like this one because it's sort of similar to the colours of my scooter.

10 July 2022

From Brooklyn
One restaurant I like to hit up at the end of a night shift is From Brooklyn, which is open late and has some good things on its menu. Although the labels for the washroom are a little too honest.

8 July 2022

Passed Out
When I went out to my scooter after work, this guy was passed out sitting up in the new benches in front of Grand Central. But I guess this must be why the new building was so generous with publicly available seating out front.

3 July 2022

Convenience Store Newspaper Survey
I drove around to almost every convenience store in HBC/Gyeongnidan, curious how many I could find newspapers at, let alone our newspaper.

Previously it was known there were two, both in Gyeongnidan, but then one of them (a GS25) closed and was turned into a different convenience store (I think an Emart25). And I don't know if it's the same GS25 or one under completely different ownership, but a GS25 appeared directly across the street from the ex-GS25 Emart25. And it doesn't sell newspapers. Also, these two new stores are directly in front of the 7-Eleven that sells Slurpees.

Driving around to about 20 convenience stores I wasn't familiar with, I found a single one that stocked newspapers, but the only foreign-language newspaper it had was NYT.

I had skipped a handful of easily accessible stores (such as ones along the main road through HBC) I knew not to stock our paper, or presumed being confident Chris would already know about them if they did. Although I kind of regret not checking in because I might have determined if they stock other newspapers, which is also important data.

So we're down to one single place to buy domestic English-language newspapers in all of the area. I might expand my search to include the area around Itaewon Station in the future.

At each store, to assuage my guilt, I bought face masks, which actually were often pretty hard to find. Somehow in most stores they're really hard to see.

I also wish I had taken more note of which and how many stores stock pet supplies, because some do, probably a minority, and when you really need cat food late at night or something, you can never find the right ones.

2 July 2022

Songnim 3
On the way home from Dongincheon, I didn't get very far before I ran into another pretty significant abandoned neighbourhood. I found only one easy entryway (and a possible second one) and drove in. There were quite a lot of cats there. I looked around quickly before continuing the long drive home. It was certainly an interesting area and merits another look.

2 July 2022

Incheon
I met up with Olga, a long-term Russian resident of Korea now living in Incheon. When I heard she was living in Incheon I suggested we visit Dongincheon/Baedari/Ugakro together. We also stopped by the Sudoguksan Museum of Housing & Living, which is a museum dedicated to moon villages, specifically the one that was demolished to make this museum. It was a pretty nice afternoon.

1 July 2022

KOTE Four Play
I went back to KOTE for another Four Play concert event. While previous ones were a little more focused on various types of art, this one was more about music, offering several bands that didn't need drums.

And also Doug, the organiser, showed up wearing a nice new white suit and carrying four bottles of wine, with which he invited everyone to pour wine over him.

1 July 2022

Empty Embassy Compound
I'd noticed recently that there is construction work being done at some of the buildings backing on to the Empty Embassy Compound, and that meant it was highly likely I could get access to the compound itself. I was right. Actually it appears they may be working on the entire wall, which may be in the process of being totally removed.

This lot has gone from a wasteland to looking more like a construction site, as they now have heavy machines inside and the weeds seem to have been cleared out.

Apparently it will be turned into an open green space soon, before beginning construction on the Lee Kun-hee museum.

1 July 2022

Jamsu Bridge
The day before, Jamsu Bridge had been closed due to the rising river level. I was curious how it would look this day, so I stopped by. It was open, with not much traffic, and there were a lot of cops at the north end for some reason. It appeared the beach I took Buster to for his birthday was still underwater.

30 June 2022

Shopdumping
On my way home, I needed to use the washroom, so I approached this interesting-looking place, located right at the traffic circle. In my quick visit, I could tell the place had a lot of charm, and decided I should return sometime.

29 June 2022

Yongsan Mural
I'm certain I photographed this before, but wanted to take another picture so I could admire the bizarre imaginary geography for the Yongsan area. Note the completion of Yongsan Park, as well as the Yongsan IBD. After that, everything else makes less and less sense.

28 June 2022

RAS Korea Lecture
This was my first time going back to an in-person RAS Korea lecture. It was a smallish crowd, and even the lecturer wasn't there in person. After, a small group of us went out drinking, and I found out one guy there was related to Fray Tormenta, the guy that Nacho Libre is based on. That was quite a surprise.

27 June 2022

Hair of the Dog
Just one picture from Hair of the Dog.

26 June 2022

Hooker Hill
I stopped by Hooker Hill, only to discover more sections of it were now closed and gutted. I got into the former space of Stompers, and saw the rest of the building. It seemed to have a lounge above it. All that's left in the area now is transgender bars.

26 June 2022

Bandos
I gave this apartment complex another try on Sunday, only to find the only really feasible way in was to scale a wall next to a shop that was open. Its hours said it closed at 7pm, but it was open much later. I came back around 11pm and it was finally closed. But I should have brought a tripod.

25 June 2022

PWS Street Brawl
I showed up in HBC just as the latest PWS Pub Brawl was spilling out onto the street. This time, Chris was there to witness it.

25 June 2022

Chungjeongno
There's been a lot of attention given to Chungjeong Apartment lately, the old green apartment building that will be demolished soon. I wasn't feeling like going inside, but I got onto a nearby roof to get a good look at it, and I also found the nearby Midong Apartment which is vaguely somewhat familiar, albeit much younger.

25 June 2022

Bandos Next to Bandos
Someone posted on the Urban Exploration Shitposting forum about an area in Japan called "Bando," which happens to be a slang term for abandonment which I don't use. I added that in Korean it means "peninsula," and can be found here and there. Then I drove by this riverside area, where there is a complex of bandos about to undergo remodeling, right across the street from an actual Bando Apartment complex.

I wanted to get to a very high roof, so I entered a very tall, new apartment nearby. On my way up to the 60-whatever floor, I had a bad case of vertigo, stopped the elevator, and went back down. I don't like heights, and can't understand how people live up there.

24 June 2022

Phillies Show
I went to Phillies for a show that as far as I know was hosted by ADxHD, and it was pretty wild throughout.

21 June 2022

HBC
A few pictures around the area, including a look into an abandoned apartment.

21 June 2022

RAS Korea Business & Culture Club
I brought a group of people onto the roof of Sewoon Sangga, now that it has been opened after pandemic restrictions. It was a pretty hot day, and people eschewed the sunlight, but the view was interesting.

19 June 2022

Refugee Festival
After I saw a social media post by Omar, I headed to Cheonggye Plaza to see this festival in time for World Refugee Day. There were several events I took part in, and I got contacts with a lot of interesting people I hope to write articles about in the future.

19 June 2022

Pinoy Iskolars sa Korea
I showed up at the Philippine Embassy to cover this PIKO event, after a reporter who was going to do it broke his leg. It was a pretty interesting time, although as I told them, I hope the next time we cover an event like this, it's done by someone who looks more like them.

18 June 2022

Club SHARP Show
SBW Riders put on a show with a very interesting lineup, including a couple bands that hadn't played in years, a few bigger names, a few pogo bands, and a very appropriately raucously drunk crowd.

14 June 2022

HBC
More speculation about the former drycleaner site. Construction was proceeding fast, as was speculation.

12 June 2022

Jongmyo-Changdeok Park
I went to the new park between Changdeok Palace and Jongmyo, which looks pretty close to opening. It's still kind of steep, where the land rises up over the tunnel, which isn't quite how I pictured they'd do it; I thought they'd fill more in so the land would be more flat. While nosing around the back wall of Jongmyo, I saw a creature that a friend was able to identify as a raccoon dog that had lost its hair.

12 June 2022

JiHoon's Rocks
I wanted to find a site relevant to one of my favourite anecdotes about JiHoon. During a Business & Culture Club event several years ago, we were walking around behind the old post office, when my foot struck a rock that was somewhat hidden among the plants. I remarked on this and JiHoon stopped and gave a five-minute, unrehearsed, speech about the rock's story. On returning, I couldn't quite remember which rock it was, but it was here and there are a few possible candidates. I suspect it may have been a natural rock that was fastened to a concrete base, and the rock has been removed leaving the base behind.

11 June 2022

Downtown
After the RAS Korea event, I wanted to scout out a few sites, inspired partly by conversations. First I visited the walkway at Sewoon Sangga, specifically around the ugly building with Sampung and PJ Hotel. The walkway is essentially complete but hasn't been opened to the public.

Incestual Lust
I was drinking upstairs in Phillies when I heard bands playing downstairs, and eventually ran into friends coming up from the show. I showed up in time to see the last band, Incestual Lust, a southern metal band that had a pretty good show buoyed by a very drunk audience, plus an elderly Korean man who'd followed them from the subway.

4 June 2022

Transactions 96
We printed the latest volume of Transactions, to be released a week later at an RAS Korea anniversary event.

3 June 2022

Mural Village
I visited a mural village south of the river that's nearing the end of its days. It was an interesting place to walk through, although I didn't go inside any buildings.

I also saw what at first looked like "SEX" graffiti, but on closer inspection, it was just indicating the water had been shut off. It made me wonder if all past cases of "SEX" tags were the same.

3 June 2022

Southern Seoul
I had a few underground destinations on my list in southern Seoul. First I wanted to go to the newly opened Sillim Line, but it was too close to rush hour so I gave up. Then I went to this old railway culvert near Noryangjin Station. Steve Shields told me a lot more about it, how it was originally just a small culvert, but as the number of railways increased, they kept building the culvert outwards, always in a different style. So now that it's been recovered, we can walk through and see all these different tunnel styles. It's also a nice cool place to go on a hot day.

3 June 2022

Chungjeongno
I drove around Chungjeongno and North Ahyeon area, looking around at an old hillside neighbourhood I hadn't known about before. Apparently Annabel walks through this way on her way back from the hospital, which must be some walk.

31 May 2022

Farewell Drycleaner
This drycleaning business in HBC, one of the few old businesses predating all the gentrification, announced it was closing its doors. Much speculation was made on what it would become.

29 May 2022

HBC
Just a couple pictures around HBC on a work night. I ran into friends outside a nonbinary event in Rabbithole, and saw the laundromat right before it would announce big changes.

28 May 2022

Copy Salon
The print shop I rely on was having a party, so I decided I should stop by, especially considering it was one week before we would be printing the next Transactions. I was joined by Wei, a Chinese friend I'd met at KOTE, who had her own printing needs, and we found out the owner's wife is a Chinese speaker.

28 May 2022

PWS
PWS had another Pub Brawl in Studio HBC, so I went hoping to get a picture of Shiho with Ryan for an article I was working on, which would show Ryan conducting a choir and also squabbling with Shiho.

27 May 2022

KOTE Four Play
I went to KOTE to see a Four Play event offering all sorts of performance types. One was Le chat au cafe, a ukulele player I'd interviewed for an article and introduced to the place. KOTE can easily handle any kind of performance...that doesn't require drums. Or mic stands.

It was quite a lot of fun, and one of the performers even turned out to be a firespinner.

27 May 2022

McDonald's Sausage Wrap
I went to McDonald's to try the Sausage Wrap, having never had a McDonald's hot dog of any kind before. Mac McDonald got a burger named after him, but what did his brother get? They should have named this after him.

26 May 2022

Paying Taxes
I went to Yeongdeungpo to pay taxes, or rather fill in an impossible-to-understand Hometax webpage, which resulted in me getting a tax refund due to not being very profitable. On the way back, I took my time and viewed a few things in the area.

24 May 2022

Foreign Artists' Rights
I went to a press conference to hear a group of artists talk about the problems they face, and how a new law to make working conditions better for artists will possibly make things worse for them. The other reporters there were also from The Korea Times, and they made a video version of the article I was working on.

23 May 2022

HBC
I went to HBC as usual, and met a lot of dogs as well as Peruvians.

22 May 2022

Namdaemun
Just a lonely picture of an election campaign.

22 May 2022

Subway Construction
I drove out of the city hoping to scout some subway tunnel construction. Ultimately I didn't find much notable, just an abandoned neighbourhood and a huge subway tunnel entrance I can't get to.

22 May 2022

Haenghwatang
Two years earlier, I'd gone to a Noryangjin event involving art and music that was held in a repurposed sauna. Now the sauna is facing redevelopment, so I found a way in and had a final look around.

21 May 2022

Horrific Car Crash?
On my way home from Camarata, I passed by what appeared to be a catastrophic car crash. On closer inspection, I started to understand there was much more to it than that.

21 May 2022

Buster's Birthday
For Buster's 16th birthday, I wanted to do something special. So I took him to the beach. He didn't have a fun time, but he was much less irritated than he could have been. Hopefully he'll be able to look back on it as a fun memory.

21 May 2022

Camarata
The day after seeing Ryan putting on a punk show, I went to see him conduct a choir and orchestra through Mozart's Requiem. A pretty sharp contrast.

20 May 2022

Punk Show at Studio HBC
There was a show with a few old bands, and a few new bands, and it cost only 10,000 won with free pizza offered. For a place like Studio HBC, it was a bit imbalanced. Additionally, Rux played first rather than last, and for the rest of the night the audience was slowly diminished.

19 May 2022

Parking
Sometimes vehicles are parked in the parking garage in a way that doesn't allow two-wheeled vehicles to slip by. Usually I'm trapped out, rather than trapped in. I get uglier when I'm trapped in. All they need to do is park slightly farther apart, and there's no problem.

18 May 2022

Sounddog
I went to Sounddog for jazz for the first time in a long time. They used to have bands play out in the market corridor, but now the place is expanded and they fit the band inside.

18 May 2022

Namdaemun
Just one picture of Namdaemun on my way to the bank.

17 May 2022

RAS Korea Business & Culture Club Visits KOTE
We went by KOTE during lunch for our monthly meetup. I had help from Joe McP of Dark Side of Seoul who I let introduce Pimatgol, and while we were wandering around inside KOTE, Juyoung came over and took over the tour guiding duties, just as I'd hoped.

16 May 2022

Common Plaza
I squeezed through a very small hole, only to find it would be impossible to squeeze out the same way, as the inner side was on a ledge and there was a tree stump in a painful place, and on the other side it squeezed out into a cramped space.

So anyway the building was all gutted as I figured, but the roof had a decent enough view anyway.

16 May 2022

KOTE
I stopped by KOTE again scouting for an RAS Korea event I was going to lead here. This time I climbed to the roof of Haebong Building where I got a quick look around, and I found some interesting writeups about the place. I ended up writing this article about the place finally.

15 May 2022

Buster's Cage
When Stars&Strips reporter Kim Gamel left Korea, she gave me one of her cat carrier cages, which turned out to be too big, so I keep it outside in the stairwell. Whenever Buster gets out there, he likes to sniff around it, probably because it once housed three female rescue cats. I let him indulge his curiosity, and locked him in. It bothered him, but he was able to kick the door open and escape.

14 May 2022

Subway Extension
After my previous visit to this corner of the city, I was kind of not looking forward to making this sort of trip again, but then I was looking at a map and noticed they're extending a train line. And that means tunnels. I went over for a look around, only to find the least secured subway tunnel construction site I think I've ever seen.

14 May 2022

Gongdeok
That area with the Hanok neighbourhood is almost all destroyed now.

8 May 2022

Dongincheon
Robert Fouser has returned to Korea, so we brought him to Dongincheon for a look around, and a stop by Space Beam.

This time I brought dog treats, which were greatly appreciated.

Earlier this day I'd learned about "samsasunrye," a pilgrimage to three temples, and here we went to religious sites of three different religions, none Buddhism.

6 May 2022

Driving Southeast
I set out with a list of stops to make, and overall I felt like I didn't really accomplish much on this trip, other than seeing a few interesting sights.

5 May 2022

Junghakcheon
I'd driven past this little KT protest before, and this time I decided to stop and take a picture.

This is the first time I can remember seeing Junghakcheon filled with water.

22 April 2022

Hardcore show at Studio HBC
I was just hanging out at the local convenience store, but it turned out there was a hardcore show at Studio HBC next door, and quite a lot of my friends showed up.

22 April 2022

Scooters
It was time to get a new scooter, as my old one was breaking down frequently and could no longer go faster than about 5 kph without another expensive repair. The engine still ran strong, albeit a bit loud, and so I was in the market for another Besbi, the Korean knockoff of Vespa. I found one in a shop down in Dongjak, and got it my first day out of quarantine.

21 April 2022

Rooftop View
The light side of being stuck at home is when you have an interesting home like this.

19 April 2022

Rooftop View
Oh look, I still have a bowling ball!

I took some pictures from my roof to demonstrate the not-so-flat landscape of Huam-dong to Matt in response to this post. There's still a hill downhill of me, although it's covered with so many buildings that it's no longer easy to detect. Once you're over in that area, you can see where the land is higher.

12 April 2022

Construction Progress
Nothing like trucks on stilts.

12 April 2022

Demolition
Just a couple more pictures from that construction site I've been documenting here.

10 April 2022

Homeward Bound
After the dog shelter, we made our way slowly down the hill, and then I started the long drive home. I also visited two more abandoned sites along the way. This ended up being the last voyage for my scooter, and what a voyage it was.

10 April 2022

Boksuni's Shelter
At the top of the hill was an old building constructed in the 1960s, on the spot of the former Allen Villa. In more recent years, this interesting piece of architecture has become a dog shelter. Unfortunately, due to the urban renewal project, all the dogs face eviction, and I'm not sure what's going to happen to them.

I wrote this article about the situation.

10 April 2022

Ugakro Cultural Village
On past visits, I could tell the writing was on the wall. But I was still a little surprised at the speed at which they started demolishing this area. It was, in all fairness, mostly abandoned already it seemed.

Except for one building...

10 April 2022

Baedari
While walking through the area, we passed through Baedari and stopped by Incheon Culture Brewery, formerly known as Space Beam, with the robot still out front.

10 April 2022

Songhyeon Tunnel
On my way to meet my friends, I saw a road sign pointing the way directly where I was going. But whoops, it led to an incomplete tunnel through a mountain.

When I got to my friends, I brought them to the other side of the tunnel, where we found one side with an open gate, something I'd never encountered on previous visits.

This gallery also shows my first encounter with Harrow, the urban-exploring Jindo they rescued from the road. Ryan has his own story up online about the day which is worth a read.

10 April 2022

BDBD
Wendell Louie opened yet another establishment, this one a sci-fi-themed cocktail bar, and right before we published an article I showed up to take pictures.

3 April 2022

Demolition Progress
While driving home, I noted that the Huam Turn site is now totally removed, but it appears to have exposed another abandoned building behind it.

As of almost a month later, the building is still standing and I still haven't checked it out.

1 April 2022

Punk on Fire
After leaving the PWS Pub Brawl, a guy in front of Studio HBC asked me, "Do you like Rancid?"

"No," I said, "but I like Punk on Fire."

So I came in and watched their set. Izoki the Flame Fighter came in, and at one point things got tense and he threw me violently to the floor, but no harm no foul.

1 April 2022

I covered PWS' return to Seoul and made it out to the event.

Shiho came out and had the audience eating out of his hand, but then very quickly he alienated everyone and had them booing him. Also despite all their moves, they were careful never to strike the very low ceiling over the stage, or even hit my feet right beside where they were fighting. I guess I should count myself lucky that I escaped collateral damage while they were fighting so savagely right in front of me.

30 March 2022

Buster's Den
He hadn't previously been a burrower, but after I put this foam padding on the couch, he made himself at home. I think he likes that it camouflages him.

29 March 2022

Bill Cosby?
Do the giant unnerving murals in this HBC burger place contain a huge image of Bill Cosby's head? I guess watch carefully when they make your drinks.

Almost but not quite as weird as the Bill Cosby cafe in Cheonho, but that place had the good taste to now be called 1943 (because Korean bars with WWII references are always safe).

29 March 2022

Hanok Whale
I was a little alarmed to see more demolition near home, removing the head of what I call the Hanok Whale, which is a useful landmark on the street. So far, it seems they're content to remove only one smaller shack, and it has revealed better views of the actually pretty classic Hanok right behind it.

28 March 2022

Abandoned Convenience Store
Years ago, when I moved in here, there was a small convenience store right outside my building. Then it was closed, I believe bought out by the people who set up a larger Emart 25 further up the alley, which also didn't last.

This one was part of the property I watched get demolished last year, although it appears this small structure was spared. Now, almost a full year later, construction workers are coming in and working on the vacant lot, and they've since claimed this shack as their space.

27 March 2022

Huam-dong Rooftop
I'd been meaning to try the roof of one apartment building in my neighbourhood for a while. It's not particularly tall, but still taller than everything else around, and seems old.

26 March 2022

Roof
On the way home, I got a view of Namsan in good lighting, and for the first time ever on this stretch of road I stopped and tried a roof. It was, as usual, very easy.

25 March 2022

Fill U
I went out on a quest for a new contender for worst apartment brand name in Korea. Not saying it's the worst, but it's a notable entry. I'd only noticed it recently while going by in a train. Would be more suspicious if it were closer to TOP's VILL.

25 March 2022

Abandoned Neighbourhood
I got to talking about redevelopment with people at the bar in Beer O'Clock, and the bartender happened to mention knowing an area nearby. I went a few days later, and turns out he was right. I'd been expecting this area to disappear since I used to live nearby, and it doesn't surprise me much, nor will it affect the gentrified neighbourhood on the other side of the mountain.

23 March 2022

Shuttle
I interviewed Jason at Shuttle Delivery for a newsletter article, but before that came out I needed to fill some space so I put an article in the paper that was significantly more thorough, at least about Shuttle. It had to be embargoed until after the government got to break the story.

This night after work, I showed Shuttle my commitment to the profession by delivering newspapers to their office, then I went on the roof to get a picture.

22 March 2022

Yongsan Presidential Palace
When Yoon pledged to differentiate himself from the current president by opening the "era of the Gwanghwamun presidency," I pointed out that this was Moon's exact same pledge five years earlier, and it was given up then because it just wasn't a good idea, when taking into account the security and financial problems. But nobody listened.

So after he got elected and showed he was serious about this pledge, but then realised outright that he couldn't move the presidential office to Gwanghwamun, he did the next best thing: move the presidential palace in with the Ministry of National Defense, right into the one more forbidden part of Seoul than Cheong Wa Dae.

I jumped up onto the roof on top of my roof to see how well I could see the new presidential palace. I don't get an attractive view of it, but I can certainly see the thing.

20 March 2022

Visit
I got a sudden surprise visit from a Facebook friend, saying he was in Korea on a layover and wanted to know if we could meet up.

We hadn't ever met in real life before, but he had introduced me to his cousin who moved here several years ago and became a close friend.

It turned out he was already at a hotel five minutes away from me, and it was a site I've been watching closely. So we met up and hit a roof, then went out for food, and then set up camp in an abandoned penthouse.

It was just the two of us, and oh yeah, Ron Bandun was there.

This is the first international visitor I've received since before the pandemic.

19 March 2022

Hongdae Streets
I had the dubious honour of restarting RAS Korea's walking tours program, rerunning my Hongdae Streets tour. Six people signed up, and three cancelled at the last minute, two due to Omicron and one expecting rain, which didn't come.

We made it through the tour, and afterwards some of us went to Club FF to see Daddy O Radio play. It was two days after St. Patrick's Day, and we had Michael Duffy, an actual Irishman with us. He ended up surprising me by actually enjoying the band.

I tend to leave my camera behind when I do tours, so all pictures here are on my phone.

18 March 2022

Salvation Army Bridge Corps
Back when I was in the process of writing this Transactions article, I noted this Salvation Army Bridge Corps site not far off the course of the stream, right around where I was looking for possible bridge sites.

There is apparently no relation, and the name is just a coincidence while the nearest bridges are not significantly close.

Anyway, that particular building is now apparently being torn down.

15 March 2022

Namsan Sool Company
After the Seokjeon Daeje, I went to Namsan Sool Company, Dustin Wessa's new bar, to show him a type of traditional Korean alcohol he's never tried before. I managed to walk away with three small bottles of charyeju used in the ritual.

Unfortunately I got no pictures of the bar itself.

5 March 2022

Socially Distanced Seokjeon Daeje
After writing this, I went to Sungkyunkwan for the biannual sacrifice to Confucius, only to find they were following some pretty serious social distancing rules. That meant reduced crowd and reduced seating, and also no performers. It was a bit disappointing, but I was able to take pictures showing the disappointment anyway.

4 March 2022

Lenses
To go shoot the Seokjeon Daeje the next day, I borrowed some fancy lenses at work: a zoom and a wide angle. If it weren't for those, I would have gotten nothing that interesting.

3 March 2022

Where's Waldo Pizza Burger
After trying the Frosted Flakes Pizza Gratin, I encountered another oddball convenience store food: the Where's Waldo Pizza Burger. I took a picture and planned to come back later, only to find it was gone. This led me on a Where's-Waldoesque journey across the city's convenience stores looking for one that had it in stock. In the end, it was much more edible than Tony the Tiger's abomination, but it would still have been much superior if they had removed two or three ingredients.

2 March 2022

Black Hawk Village
I heard about a new photo exhibition at Black Hawk Village with pictures showing the current status of the base, but when I went there I saw a lot of photos all over the place. The newer pictures were even the less interesting ones.

1 March 2022

Election
On my way to work, I passed by two election rallies that might have been working together. One was a really crazy one that's just a cult of personality, and the other was for Huh Kyung-young.

28 February 2022

Ukraine Flag
After Russia's invasion began, many landmarks all over the city have been coloured like the Ukrainian flag. I'm writing this as of 29 March, and they're still doing this, over a month later.

26 February 2022

Itaewon
On my way home from Seongsu, I stopped by Itaewon looking for food. I also saw something I don't think I've seen in a while: MPs.

26 February 2022

Studio HBC Show
I showed up at Studio in time to see Get to the Point and catch another wardrobe malfunction of 18Fevers, which I won't share here.

19 February 2022

Party at Turn
I showed up with Coetzer and Pac-Man (our portable power pack) to power up the abandoned stereo, take videos, and drink. Coetzer is going Hollywood, and there will likely be a music video soon.

Turns out the 10,000 won for 4 beers is still valid, in the form of 20,000 won for 8 beers. It was one of those nights.

17 February 2022

Neo-Pimatgol
I had to go back to Pimatgol to do some more on-site research. This project...will be ready...soon.

17 February 2022

Valentine's Day
Another thing I wrote about was Korea's version of Valentine's Day, an easy enough thing to put together.

7 February 2022

Danginri Line
For this month, I wrote about the Danginri Line. I asked around to several people and got absolutely no positive responses about what this street has become. Anyway, I was more interested with writing about its origins, so here we are.

For one day, I went out and hit a bunch of rooftops looking for ways to photograph the street. The results were pretty good.

6 February 2022

Frosted Flakes Pizza Gratin
Pizza, gratin, breakfast cereal, and tigers, together at last!

20 -- no, make it 30 likes, and I will buy, eat, and review this abomination, on a scale of "Great!" to "Grrrrrreat!"

...I did get the 30 likes, and so I went through with it. See inside for what happened next.

31 January 2022

Koa Building
According to this 1984 article, Korea had a punk scene way back then. I have extreme doubts that's what it actually was, and they probably just wanted a pejorative to throw at these kids.

But the article mentions one of their hangouts was in this building in Jonggak area, right off the Avenue of Youth in the same building where the Taco Bell used to be. I went in, and managed to get a shot of this plaque before jumping in the elevator, which only took me up four flights to the "Rock Bowling Alley." By today's standards, any sort of venue would probably be in the basement, but it's also possible it was on a higher floor. There's no real way for me to know, so the trail goes cold for now.

31 January 2022

Watch Market Maps
I went back to the watch market alone, only to find the entrances I'd been using had been sealed up. I attribute it to the fact I didn't have a cape on.

While wandering around waiting for a chance to slip in, I ended up looking at the various maps showing directions to relocated shops. It was mildly entertaining to see how various people had expressed that.

30 January 2022

Caped Explorers
As luck would have it, at our next stop we found a house filled with capes of multiple colours, two-sided even just as I envisioned. These were part of Hanbok, but we didn't let that stand in the way. Now properly caped, we were finally able to truly urban explore.

30 January 2022

Yeongdeungpo Market
We met up at Yeongdeungpo Market, which is likely going to be mostly demolished. Sounion was on the phone for a large part of the visit, arranging to get interviewed on TV after rescuing a runaway dog from the middle of the street recently.

We found this store selling various uniforms, including medical uniforms, and decided there should be a UE uniform. What's more, if you're not in uniform, then you aren't urban exploring.

We then refined this uniform concept to capes, although based on one person's mishearing, there would also be cakes, probably shaped like capes.

The uniform cape we envisioned would be reversible red on one side and blue on the other, so that if someone reports "four foreigners wearing red capes" then we can just reverse them and be four foreigners wearing blue capes. I envisioned it would be made of the same material as a Santa suit, so it would look good with my Santa suit. The cape would be knee- to ankle-length, sort of Superman-length. Also there would be a logo on the cape which would be a taegeuk with the letters UE on it. The cape would also have a collar, sort of like Burt Ward's Robin costume, and might be a separate colour, either red, yellow, or black.

We decided on that much by the time we were ready to depart for the next stop.

29 January 2022

Jeongneunggol
After the red-light district, we decided to hit a nearby moon village uphill from Jeongneung. It's been drilled into me by JiHoon that only certain places are moon villages, and I believe he excluded this one. Some neighbourhoods, like Ihwa Village, are just old communities dating to before the war, and if they looked run-down and resemble moon villages, it's just because they're old. But I suspect this place has its origins as a refugee community.

29 January 2022

The Best Little Whorehouse in Miari Texas
To start the Lunar New Year, four of us met up at Miari Texas, the last remaining major red-light district in Seoul (even though when Cheongnyangni 588 was demolished, that was popularly called the "last," and people were shocked this one was still going).

I met up with Annabel, right as she was being harassed by one of the old women running the place. Annabel had dressed unisex thinking that would be safer, but I think she may have been wrong. She convinced the woman she was also a woman, and that she was waiting for her boyfriend, so when I showed up, I was interrogated about whether I was her boyfriend.

Anyway, exploring-wise, it's still a pretty tense environment.

25 January 2022

Itaewon Tunnel
I drove over to Itaewon to pick up food and I took a different way which took me past a construction site. I just so happened to pass by as a worker was leaving and closing up the fence, and I caught a glimpse of a big tunnel being bored into the side of the hill. Unless there are plans to open a fourth car tunnel, the only other reason for something like this to exist is the GTX-A. And that train line certainly runs by here, although I'm pretty sure it'll be much deeper underground, and can't see a single reason for a train-size tunnel to be connected to the surface. It'll take a better trespasser than me to answer these questions.

23 January 2022

Uhee Ska
My original plan would have taken me to four shows this weekend, certainly playing with fire. But the first show, which would have been on Friday and would have featured a Catholic priest performing mass, was cancelled. I heard it was because Changeun of Find the Spot and Seoul Dolmangchi (the latter which was performing) had gotten sick. I figured the obvious, but nope, turns out he needed his appendix taken out. Currently, almost a month later from the date of these photos, he seems to have survived and grown a moustache.

Anyway, on Sunday I skipped out on work for an hour to hit up Channel1969, where Uhee Ska was playing a show that may have been their fourth anniversary. I have never had a chance to see them before, I think because they usually play festivals rather than dingy basements, but now was my chance.

Uhee Ska is my new favourite band, basically a combination of Kingston Rudieska and Yeonhui Company, a pungmul troupe with a singer I'm guessing has pansori training. It makes sense not just because this type of traditional fusion is blowing up these days, but because Kingston Rudieska were the first that I know of to dabble in this kind of fusion, dating back to the mid-2000s (shortly before I&I Djangdan was formed).

The only other people I knew at this show were performing or working, and it was a seated show with no drinks served, but it was still phenomenal. The gugak performers were right in front of me, probably a little too loud, and at times I felt like I was close to getting struck. On the downside, the stage lighting gave everybody Smurf skin.

These guys still haven't released a recording (which might be about to change), but the best two live recordings I've heard are Seoul Gugak Music Festival 2021 and this one which has a great performance from Suk-yuel halfway through.

22 January 2022

The Mandus
I went to FF for WDI's release of the third "The Mandus" compilation, a name Jeff has made it clear he blames me for, even though I'm pretty certain I didn't come up with it, although I have certainly spread it.

The show was certainly more restrained than the Steel Face one, and if it weren't for all the people going between them, we probably would have been a lot less likely to have an outbreak. But despite the fact that Steel Face was practically a virus incubation chamber, absolutely nobody got sick at either show this night, unless it was from drinking too much. The audience here was seated and seemed complacent to do so, and the bands were somewhat isolated when they performed, but singers were allowed to unmask and the microphones only had smallish spit guards.

A highlight was when Caspin joined ...Whatever That Means on stage to perform the Bikini Kill cover she'd recorded with Gumiho for the compilation.

22 January 2022

Pogo Attack
I showed up at Club Steel Face, paying for the entire show just to see Pogo Attack, a new band made up of old pogo punks who've been around longer than me. I suspect that most of them got married and had kids, and now that the kids are a little older they finally have the time to start playing again.

Between this and SBW Riders, it seems like we could be having a pogo revival, something that would make me happy.

Also, there were virtually no pandemic restrictions taken. People wore masks mostly on their own free will, and there might have been some screening at the door, but it was otherwise standing room. And in the time I was there, it got very humid.

I stuck around for a bit of Stoned, and then headed off for FF to see the WDI show. When I showed up there, I ran into Bongsu and Hyeri in front -- basically the front row for Pogo Attack's set had relocated to FF>

21 January 2022

KOTE
I was driving home, going past Insadong, when my scooter died. So I decided to go to KOTE and drink. I didn't stay that long, because I wanted to catch a bus home.

They had just won a court case, and it looks like the conflict is virtually but not completely over. People were hanging out in the bar, rather than the squat, which gave me a chance to see the basement.

21 January 2022

Untitled Void
I've decided to call this area the Untitled Void, named after an art gallery I found nearby. For about a decade I've been coming out Sajik Tunnel and noticing a small section of traditional houses in very bad condition. I'd been up in the area behind once or twice, but not really stopped and looked around, so I determined to do that one of these days.

It's a lot of steep streets, and the traditional buildings in bad shape are basically stuck in that one little corner. The rest of the area has more early modern architecture I'll need an expert to help me with.

I got up to a pretty good roof overlooking the area, except the setting sun was behind it, so lighting wasn't optimal. It would be best in the morning, or maybe deeper into blue hour.

21 January 2022

Jongno-gu Demolition
The district office building has been all but demolished, before I ever had a chance to explore any of it. As I drove by, I took interest in some of the hoarding art, which at this location spotlighted fire safety, which makes sense because they also knocked down an old firehall (which I also really wish I had explored). But because of its location right behind the US embassy, there were always roving police foot patrols everywhere.

20 January 2022

Neo-Pimatgol
This post is the reason I fell behind in updating this site. On this very cold day, we started working on an audio tour of neo-Pimatgol. After recording initial audio, I went back the next day and took more pictures in the daytime, and then I sat on it waiting to take the next step, which would be putting together a final script. That's finally done, so I managed to get through this gallery in the process. There are a lot of pictures of just signs saying not-too-interesting things about Joseon history. Soon, you'll be able to download a series of audio recordings, and walk through while listening to my voice.

19 January 2022

Rooftopping in Snow
It was still snowing while I was at work, so I figured I might as well just go up to the roof and get a few pictures.

19 January 2022

Watch Market
When I saw it was snowing, I knew I couldn't miss the opportunity to photograph the watch market under a light coat of snow. The canopies made interesting snow patterns on the ground. I also was able to tell that I wasn't in there alone, thanks to tracks in the snow.

19 January 2022

Buster
There's a large box behind the couch where Buster sometimes hides out. Getting in there makes a lot of noise so I don't know who he's fooling. I stuck my camera inside a couple times just to see what it's like. He didn't seem to appreciate that.

18 January 2022

Watch Market
After going back to the recently sealed watch market, I went back again on a cold day to get some pictures from above. It's a shame the rooftop of Sewoon Sangga still isn't open, but there are other places on the building to view the market from.

16 January 2022

Seongnam and Back Again
I went out to Seongnam for the day, and then came home without taking many pictures. But what I got gives a pretty good sense of the journey.

15 January 2022

Namdaemun

I was invited to contribute articles to the KOCIS newsletter, and one of my first articles was on Korean street food. To make that one, I went to several markets around downtown Seoul and took a ton of pictures; they only used one.

My first visit was to Namdaemun, which was probably the most impressive of them all, at least judging by the lines. People were willing to stand in very long lines just for hotteok. So I went around the corner to a different street food stand seeing much less traffic.

I also drove all the way around Namdaemun and stopped by Adnan Kebab, where Adnan's 20-year-old son was working.

Myeongdong

Myeongdong is the area everyone says isn't doing great. I went there wondering how much street food I'd see, and thinking it might be easy to shoot some of them without pesky customers in the way. It wasn't as crowded as Namdaemun, but there were still street food vendors and people eating them. I also noticed the street food vendors here tended to be considerably younger than the ones in Namdaemun, probably mostly being in their 20s.

I bought a "twist potato" there, and discovered the biggest problem with street food these days: how and where to eat it. I brought the thing over to a low-traffic spot in the alley and ate it with all the discretion as a Korean woman smoking in public 20 years ago.

Gwangjang Market

Namdaemun was most impressive, but Gwangjang Market was far more crowded, to the point where it was too crowded. I don't recall it being this full prior to the pandemic. Amazing what the social distancing rules allow.

I did not stay here long, and I didn't order any food at all. A decade earlier I wrote a previous article about this market for KOCIS, back before it was on the tourist radar -- did I ruin Gwangjang? The article is no longer on Korea.net for whatever reason -- I guess they clean house when administrations change (or at least when ruling parties change). Fortunately, another site swiped it, and that version is still online.

Watch Market

I took a break from visiting downtown Seoul markets to visit an abandoned downtown Seoul market. The watch market's various alley entrances have been boarded up, using amusing pieces of hoarding displaying various art on them that give the barricades a sense of self-reflexivity. But no need to dwell on these fences for too long; I sure didn't.

With the hoarding up, the watch market is ripe for exploring. It was good before, but back then there were still people around. Now I have the run of the place with no supervision.

Avenue of Youth

If I had to pick a most disappointing place, it would be Avenue of Youth, which is sort of like a Sinchon in central Seoul. There's less tradition to it than the other markets, but it's also the most dense with restaurants. I also remember before the pandemic it was the most reliable place to go late at night, as something is always open at any time of day.

There's one wide street dividing the area -- maybe that's the only one known as "Avenue of Youth"? -- and this is where I was expecting street food. But there were only about six, and a number of those were fortune tellers.

Most people probably call this area Jonggak because it's right behind Boshingak, but I've been trying to stick with this name, despite the fact no one knows it and it seems irrelevant and ahistoric. Apparently it used to be "Piano Avenue," and there was a giant piano keyboard motif going through the alley. They decided it had too much character, I guess, so they took it out, maybe to make a designated place for food tents.

There seems to be little interest in this area, even though it likely has some stories to tell, somewhere beneath the Sinchon-like sheen of bright signs and mostly franchise restaurants. It's wedged between Cheonggyecheon and Jongno, and according to this sign, the area is host to another "Pimatgol" (a notion I haven't heard anybody actually endorse). This is also apparently the location of a 1980s punk hangout as reported in 1984 by Donga Ilbo, a newspaper that certainly didn't know what it was talking about. According to that article, there used to be a punk hangout centered around this building, although who knows what they were talking about. "Punk" was probably just a scareword they used to mean dropouts or delinquents.

Insadong

Insadong was alright, with a number of street food carts still and none of them boasting particularly large lines. I think it may have also been the only place where I photographed tteokbokki being served as a street food.

There was a street food stand directly in front of KOTE, and I got hotteok there without any waiting at all. I photographed it thinking it might be fun if KOTE showed up on a government website, but it wasn't the picture used. I also went inside KOTE to photograph some of the street food I'd accumulated; I had been about to leave to go to my office or home to do that, but at the last minute realised I could just use one of the table spaces in KOTE and nobody would mind.

Nagwon-dong Street Food Tents

Last stop was the line of food tents east of Nagwon Sangga. I'd hoped to visit these during blue hour, although it was overcast enough that blue hour was never really achieved.

A few years ago I spent the occasional late night around here, and it was a pretty fun place to go. It was set up well as a place to go for these food tents, and I'm not sure if it's gotten worse, other than the usual decline with the pandemic. I also found more food tents than I'd previously known, including one area that seemed a little rough due to old people.

HBC

After I was done shooting street food, I ended up in HBC where I saw a couple pretty good metal bands.

14 January 2022

Jabroni and Vanmal at Studio HBC
Studio HBC had the cover band Jabroni playing, as well as the punk band Vanmal. I'd never seen Vanmal before, despite having interviewed them in one of the recent Brokes, and Jabroni is the new version of the band of my ex-boss, back when I worked at a cybersecurity company in 2015. It still doesn't seem so long ago.

13 January 2022

Romain
I met up with Romain after writing this article about his photo exhibition. It's worth a visit to see the impressive details in his tree pictures, and my own photo doesn't do it justice when you can get up close to the originals and feel the wood frames.

We'd only met once before -- he was the guy on the ledge in this story. We talked about that a bit, and I got to know that he'd been listening to music, unaware of anything else. He noticed when I arrived from the vibration of me touching the structure he was on top of. He was up there trying not to be noticed, until the cops came up.

10 January 2022

More Jeong-dong
I went back to Jeong-dong to get a look in the gates of that construction site when the workers would hopefully be on lunch break. It 65% worked.

10 January 2022

Pink Garbage Wolf
I met a pink garbage wolf outside my building.

8 January 2022

KOTE
The day after my last visit to KOTE, I found a little icon for the women's washroom in one of my bags. Best guess is I attempted to hang a bag on the sign, and it fell off and fell into my bag, and I took it home not realising. So I got around to bringing it back, although the next door slam it will probably fall out.

I also met a woman who works as a playground designer, and she showed me the roof of the central KOTE building.

8 January 2022

Seonwonjeonteo
After Jacco called my attention to the other thing in Jeong-dong, I'd been meaning to jump the fence and finally see the Seonwonjeonteo site for myself. It's been expanded a bit thanks to work on the next-door Chosen Savings Bank residential plot, which also meant that I had access to both those houses. One looked well-kept so I didn't go near.

7 January 2022

Morgan's Birthday
Morgan had his birthday party at Gogi Boys, the new restaurant in the place of Linus' HBC location. He got more drunk than I'm used to seeing him, and told me and Kiseok that we were family. He's not wrong, although we probably should have been paying more attention to the road.

5 January 2022

Street Art
When I showed up for work, someone had set up a bunch of paintings in the street out front, leaning against the planters there.

3 January 2022

Jeong-dong
I'd been informed that the "Faux Hanok" site in Jeong-dong, a former restaurant that was later turned into another restaurant, was being demolished, and that in the process they were digging up traditional stone blocks that may have been part of a tomb. I hadn't had much luck at finding out more, beyond just a walkby during late lunch hour. But I saw more in the area that got my attention.

2 January 2022

Millennium Seoul Hilton
The five-star hotel within walking distance of my home has been sold to a new owner, and they plan to demolish it and replace it with a building with much more floor area.

So I decided to visit before I lose access, and get a look at some important sights, such as the expansive lobby and the toy train Christmas display. I tailgated a guest up the elevator and made it to the top floor, where there is a large two-level penthouse area that had once belonged to the owner family of Daewoo. It's now empty and unsecured, and worth seeing. Unfortunately I couldn't get onto the roof.

2021

Smartphone Pictures 1
Here's my annual collection of smartphone pictures, divided into three fairly stuffed galleries. This is a good way of recapping the year, while showing things I decided to shoot on my phone rather than camera, as well as phone takes on things I did shoot with a real camera.

There are a great deal more cat pictures in here, mainly because it's just more convenient to use my phone when the cats are sleeping peacefully or trampling over my keyboard.

There's also some stuff that went into zines, plus pictures of my expanding zine collection.

Smartphone Pictures 2
The second gallery is from early summer to late summer.

There are more cats on keyboards, more zine pictures, pictures from my trip to Gwangju, and not to freak you out, but a naked clown.

Also there are various food pictures, including KFC's suspicious chicken ribs, a pretty decent jerk chicken restaurant in Itaewon, McDonald's "iconic" BTS bags, and a very good breakfast in Gwangju.

The first gallery has one picture of Peter Bartholomew at his final RAS Korea council meeting, the last time I saw him, and this one has pictures from his funeral. The third gallery has pictures of some of his possessions that were brought to an RAS Korea book sale.

Smartphone Pictures 3
The third gallery all feels more like more recent history, from when the weather was still warm before Halloween all the way to Christmas.

A few pictures of sitting outside the convenience store in HBC with my boss, although we kept doing that even after the weather got too cold.

It was during this time that my cats discovered TV for Cats, which they are now obsessed with.

All three preview images are related to the pandemic. The last one shows my mild complications from the second Pfizer vaccine shot. The doctor says it looks worse than it is.

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1996 DHMD Jr.

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The 10 Dos and 20 Don'ts of Urban Exploration in Korea

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Me on The Hard Times

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Urbex Korea: The Movie

Legacy and Future of RASKB

Notebook on Cities and Culture

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LINKS

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Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch

Lost Plastic Army Man

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CONTACT

E-mail
Jon underscore Dunbar at Hotmail

These photos are all copyrighted to me. If you want to use them in any way, there's a 90 per cent chance I'll give you my permission, and be able to give you a copy with a higher DPI.