November 2007 ArchivesMain page is here. |
November 25 2007
Gwanghwamoon I've been getting a few signs of places worth exploring in Gwanghwamoon lately. Brandon, my usual urban exploring partner, took a different shortcut at work and found a set of abandoned houses behind an abandoned building. Our schedules didn't work out so he went in the morning and I went later in the day. He got into one place where he found abandoned brain scans. Also, an acquaintance of mine was given one week to move out of his home in Jongno, very nearby. For years he's been watching historic parts of Seoul get bulldozed over. His approach is different from mine, but we share many objectives. A couple years ago he wrote this story about the closing of an old and nice sounding part of downtown. He showed up while one restaurant was being abandoned, under the watchful eyes of a team of gangsters. He took this iconic picture of a gangster grabbing for his camera. Anyway, the full story is on his page. Here's another story where he does some research on a small house being torn down, and discovers it was once quite possibly owned by a prince of Korea. It's a fascinating essay on how history is treated in this country. |
November 18 2007
Hapjeong After the police had passed us by, we started to get brave again, so Brandon and I returned to the far corner with all the businesses. We did a very thorough search of the buildings, and found some very strange sights. It appears we got into a rub n' tug joint, but I have to ask around to figure out if that's what we were inside. The abandoned fitness gym was the most fun. |
November 18 2007
Hapjeong We weren't ready to give up yet, so we wandered around the area more. There were three other girls exploring buildings, and later on a group of artists showed up to take pictures and risk their lives with some very stupid choices. Eventually a police car came by, saw what they were doing, and drove away without disturbing anyone. |
November 18 2007
Hapjeong I met up with Brandon again to do some more exploring of Hapjeong. We ended up being lucky, as there only seemed to be one worker on the entire site that day. Maybe it was too cold for the others. We quietly made our way back to where I got with Jung last week, so we could have a look in some of those abandoned businesses. We got scared by too many strange loud noises (from venetian blinds in the wind), and exited before we were finished. |
November 14 2007
Sindaebang After spending the day in bed I wanted to get outside so I went to Sindaebang to check on my favourite church. It's still standing, but a sign in front leads me to believe it might be gone by the end of the month. They're offering daily prayer services only up until November 27. |
November 11 2007
Hapjeong That abandoned neighbourhood in Hapjeong has everything. We showed up around 4 to find demolition crews hard at work in the middle of the lot. On one of the outer edges we found an abandoned church. To be honest it wasn't as exciting as I was expecting, but we did find some interesting things. Then at 5 the workers got out of our way and we saw some very interesting places, including an abandoned noraebang among others. |
November 11 2007
University in the Daytime I woke up early in the morning so I decided to go have a look at the university in the daylight. Unfortunately the clouds weren't good for photography conditions like they were last night, but I saw some interesting sights anyway. |
November 10 2007
University at Night After the middle school we were still feeling active, so we went to the university which was just up the street. It was an overcast night and the lights of the city were reflected back down on the ground so we could see very well. |
November 10 2007
Okjung Middle School There was a strange looking middle school near our home, so on Saturday fueled by the need to get out of bed we went out for a scooter ride to have a closer look. It turns out it's under construction, and for some reason that means way less security than a worthless, looted, abandoned school. Jung was afraid the entire time we were there that there would be ghosts, but we haven't figured out what happens in the afterlife yet. |
November 3 2007
Hapjeong The other night I was in a taxi with Mike going by Hapjeong, when I saw the small abandoned neighbourhood there had grown to cover about six blocks. From the street I could see several businesses that were in the condemned area. I counted a bar, doctor's office, noraebang, and what might be a sauna. There was a big metal fence blocking it, but it turned out the fence was just aesthetic and there were several public entrances around the side, to allow pedestrians to walk through. A very eerie place to walk. Unfortunately I didn't make it there until late in the day and it was pointless going inside anything. One of langP's friends apparently went there the next night and got permission by the people on the site to rummage through apartments that were still furnished. |
November 3 2007
Dangook On Saturday I took Jung on a walk over by the abandoned university. We walked along a mountain path that runs above the campus and had an interesting look down on it. Also I took her inside the science building and we made it higher than the last time. |
CONTACT
Jon underscore Dunbar at Hotmail
010-3212-2812
Please remember that 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.Copyright Jon Dunbar 2004
Photos taken by
Nikon CoolPix 950
digital camera.