City: Seoul
Top Things to do in Seoul
Countries
What to do and see in Seoul, South Korea: The Best Mass Transportation Systems
Seoul is the business and cultural hub of South Korea, where skyscrapers tower over Buddhist temples. Take it all in from the N Seoul Tower, built atop a peak in Namsan Park. The teahouses and shops of Insadong give you a taste of Korean flavor, which you can further experience with a visit to the grounds and museums of Gyeongbokgung. UNESCO World Heritage Site Changdeokgung Palace is a fine example of authentic ancient architecture.
Restaurants in Seoul
1. Ui Line
2. Seoul Metro
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 12,699 reviews
Reviewed By 277vincentm - New Orleans, United States
Normally I don’t review public transportation systems. They’re not something to see or do: they’re a means to get to something you want to see or do. The exceptions—the times when a public transportation system actually IS an attraction—are pretty obvious: San Francisco’s cable cars, Valparaiso’s ascensors, Taipei’s Maogong Gondola, Innsbruck’s Nordkettenbahnen, etc. Kiev’s Arsenalna Metro station is a bona fide attraction--biggest elevator in the world. But most public transport runs from boring to aggravating. Horse-drawn carriages, pulled rickshaws, the elephant rides at the Amber Palace, and the camel rides in Giza, are things to do, not public ways of getting around. But the Seoul subway system is not only an excellent public transport system, but one that adds flourishes of art and culture as well. Here I’ll just note one impressive engineering detail, one cultural artefact that any major museum in North America would give its eye-teeth to get; and a travellers’ tip. Engineering: Walk up to the tracks and no further. A platform-long, floor-to-ceiling transparent panel runs alongside the track. Its doors slide open only when a train has stopped, and those trains stop so accurately that the entire entrances to the cars, and not an inch more or less in either direction, are accessible. This of course prevents your being jostled off the platform, or accidentally falling onto the tracks just as the train roars into the station. A few months ago a fellow committed suicide by jumping in front of an arriving train in San Francisco’s BART system. Naturally all the commuters in that station at the time was horrified: this was REALLY going to delay them. In fact, the entire system shut down for an hour. Had the same fellow attempted the same suicide in Seoul, he’d have been out of luck, or maybe in luck, but still alive either way. In theory I suppose you could install a shield like that in existing subway systems like BART; but I suspect the tricky 21st century engineering bit isn’t the plastic wall: it’s the stopping of all trains at precisely the right spot on the rails. No system dependent on human drivers could do that. Culture: If you take time to look around when you’re at a Seoul station, you can see some remarkable things. At one station I was sitting on a curving multi-colour bench backed by an artsy wall and thin trunks of mature bamboo, with an old wooden beach chair and a Western-style toilet integrated into the seating for humour (Bench and Bamboo photo). Sitting there, I noticed a polished black objet d’art atop four mythical Korean lions in the middle of the pedestrian traffic, with four red-taped stanchions alerting folks to walk around it (Objet d’art photo). Every time a train came in, scores of folks would swarm out, making for the exits, without even glancing at whatever it was. I got up and found a tiny plaque stating that it was an ancient Korean sundial. And what an exquisite bronze sundial! Instead of just a flat dial, it has a central semi-sphere circled by a flat perimeter dial as well. I believe that the yellow-edged gnomon is a modern recreation. The astronomical engravings and calligraphy were in pristine condition, with just two or three tiny chips along the outer edge (Sundial photo). The most astonishing thing, other than it being in the middle of a Metro station walkway, was its casting date: 1435 C.E! That was during the reign of Sejeon the Great, who revolutionized Korea’s writing system, and sponsored the golden age of ancient Korean science. Jang Yeong-sil was a scientist who used an iron printing press decades before Johannes Gutenberg, and invented improved rain gauges, water gauges, water clocks, and a wide range of astronomical instruments, including sundials. Jang and his co-scientists created the “angbu-ilgu” (“pot-shaped sun clock staring at the sky”). There’s one at Gyeongbokgung, out in the sun, a fitter place for a sundial than down in a Metro station, but exactly the same as this one! To put the antiquity of this sundial into perspective: in 1435 the richest, most cultured, and most powerful state in Western Europe was the Grand Duchy of the West (stretching from Friesland and Flanders through Burgundy to the Alps, but long gone by 1500); the most powerful state in the Indian subcontinent was the Vijayanagara Empire (the first Mughals wouldn’t show up till the next century); the Eastern Roman emperor still reigned in Constantinople; the princes of Muscovy were still under the Tartar Yoke; the Incas were nomadic tribesmen who hadn’t even founded Cuzco yet; and Henry the Navigator’s captains were still struggling to get past the Western Sahara on the African coast. To put the location of this sundial into perspective: Can you imagine transferring at a Berlin U-Bahn station and seeing a 1455 Gutenberg Bible on display in the middle of the traffic flow as you head to the other line? Or spotting a 1434 Jan Van Eyck painting hanging on the wall at London’s Bond Street or Embankment station? They’ve actually got a 1434 Van Eyck in London, but it’s prominently displayed at the National Gallery, not down in a Tube station! And yes, I did discover cultural touches at several other stations, though not at all. Traveller’s Tip: Whether you’re landing in Incheon or Gimpo, the 5000-won “All Stations” ticket will get you and your luggage from the airport to whatever Metro station is nearest to your hotel: that’s less than 4 Euros, and slightly more than 4 US dollars.
3. KTX (Korea Train Express)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,090 reviews
Reviewed By parkj001
I took two trips on the KTX, one to Gwangju and the other to Daejeon. It was a very comfortable ride and they were always on time!
