Seoul Walking : Hoehyundong (Under Ground)

Like many big cities with extreme seasons, Seoul has all kinds of tunnels and underground shopping centres dotted about the place. They provide a haven in Winter when it's -16°C and icy out, or in Summer when it's stinking hot and pouring with rain. And - being filled with all kinds of quirky and surprising shops - they're also just a fun place to explore. This is Hoehyundong, my neighbourhood, under ground. 

I love the Hoehyundong Underground Shopping Centre. From a purely practical perspective, it means I can leave my apartment and do the grocery shopping, go out for lunch - five dollar soup noodles with tofu and kim chi; or perhaps sushi, bibimbap or my favourite 만두 (dumplings) - and post a package or two without ever stepping outside. 

Each underground shopping centre seems to have it's own specialities, and ours seems to be perfectly matched to the things I love. There are fun little clothing stores (granted, I can't fit in to most of it but they're cute to look at); tiny coffee shops and restaurants; hand crafted shoe stores; more vinyl than you could possibly imagine (and  a wonderfully crazy mix too!); wool emporiums with little groups of knitters and hookers working away; vintage cameras and books and stamps (I hunt out the ones with dachshunds on them, of course); and more camera accessories than a happy snapper could possibly ask for (like this camera bag). 

Basically - we live on top of an underground shopping centre devoted to vintage, photography and craft. A perfect piece of serendipity, yes?

Seoul Walking : Hoehyundong (Above Ground)

Hoehyundong (회현동) is where I live, it's my neighbourhood. It's a tiny little nothing place, more than a bit seedy in parts. But I love it. I love it because it's right in the heart of Seoul, new and old. It sits bang in the middle of a trifecta of awesome - with Namsan, Namdaemun and Myeongdong all a few minutes walk in one direction or another. There's also the Hoehyundong underground shopping centre, but more on that later...

Hoehyundong itself is pretty scrappy and worn out. But there's colour and life everywhere you look; people working hard to make a (small) living. There's hairdressers and wholesalers and cafes full of Konglish. There's more convenience stores than you think any one suburb could possibly need, chicken and beer joints, and some "hotels" that I'm pretty sure charge by the hour. There's cooks doing their dinner prep on the street; sellers with loud hailers, plying baskets of fruit from the back of their ute; and delivery guys on over laden motorbikes. And come Spring there's pot plants on every road side, on every concrete path and step, filled with tenderly cared for chilli seedlings and all kinds of lettuce. 

The area is earmarked for development. Our shiny new apartment building was the start, and since we've been here a few more towers have shot up. In ten years time I think the place will be unrecognisable, for good and for bad.