Guryong Village

Heading down Gangnam.

Where the buildings have faces but the people don't.

That's Samsung Tower Palace in the distance. I believe it was once the most expensive real estate in all of Korea.

This ornate building is the Nungin Community Welfare Center, which is Buddhist-run. I remember it from back when I worked in the area.

I took this photo while parked on the shoulder of the road, waiting for an excavator to drive past me, same as I believe this woman was doing.

A view looking over the wreckage toward the heavily developed skyline of Gangnam to the north.

You can see a smallish red excavator fucking around in the middle of the shot.

Zoomed in.

On this road, I saw a large stack of charcoal briquettes.

Another look over the ruins. Click for full size.

This much brighter photo is a phone picture. You can see the towers of Samsung Tower Palace peeking through the newer buildings.

Charcoal briquettes left at the edge of a fire site.

A narrow alley between buildings. It looked like some might be abandoned, but I'm not going to nose around.

Over a stream running through the village.

Looking the other direction downstream.

I noticed the bedsprings among the ashes.

Parts of something.

Urban farms.

This was the most iconic thing I saw, a pole with a fire extinguisher that had snapped in half, presumably due to the fire.

Passing by the pole again.

The path I followed.

I think it was the same excavator, just driving back and forth making navigation on that narrow road a little tougher.

A little covered place to sit.

Following a path.

Something not common here: colour.

A cart loaded up with stuff.

I tried to emphasise the contrast between the urban garden and the buildings.

Another pass by the charcoal.

A look at the roofs of some of the houses.

There's probably a story to that fence.

Looks like an outhouse that caught fire.

This was some kind of portable toilet.

Click for full size.

Click for full size.

A closer look at the trees.

I got further from the path, and saw all these appliances or whatever among the ruins.

This place was just piled with stuff.

This is a warning against new installations of anything.

This shows information on relocation housing, and lists rent costs.

Near the entrance, there were these racks of colourful ajumma clothes set up.

Some pretty shaggy textures.

Reminds me of that iconic photo showing a farmer with an ox-drawn plough in front of Apgujeong apartments from 1978. Who knows, maybe he still lives nearby.

I went to another lobe of Guryong, where there was this tower at the entrance.

Here's a map showing the general area.

This is how detailed it gets here. I suspect the black arrow pointing left is a better reflection of where I found this sign. Note how Guryong Village leads to many trailheads on the mountain behind it.

Some of the restaurants here.

The tower from behind.

There were some structures here related to the fire.

I tried this taco place in Gangnam. It was decent. Was interested by the restaurant next door, "What you eat is who you are."

I hit a palindrome.

Overlooking western Seoul.