Seoul: Cold, Crowded, and Confusingly Cool
so here i am in seoul, and let me tell you, my brain is fried. this place is the capital and biggest city in south korea, stuck way up northwest near the yellow sea. coordinates? something like 37°33′36″n 126°59′24″e, who really cares. it’s only 605 km² but somehow fits 10 million people? how even.
i just checked and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. feels like -0.23°C, so bundle up or don’t, your funeral.
history-wise, they’ve been running this show since 1394 when some king picked this spot for the hills and built an 11-mile wall. then in the 60s they doubled it by swallowing gangnam. now the han river splits it into north (old stuff) and south (new stuff).
mountains literally everywhere. bugaksan, inwangsan, naksan, namsan - the fortress wall used to snake through them. bukhansan’s up north, and the han river flows west to the sea. climate? brutal summers, brutal winters.
if you get bored, incheon’s west, suwon’s south, and other random gyeonggi province cities are nearby. also, the dmz’s only 40km away, so keep that in mind. someone told me the han river estuary’s off-limits because north korea’s next door, so no romantic sunset cruises for us.
landmarks? five unesco sites! changdeokgung palace, hwaseong fortress, jongmyo shrine, namhansanseong fortress, and the royal tombs. palais and fortresses mixed with skyscrapers, plus namsan mountain.
population’s 9.976 million, mostly koreans, stuffed into 25 districts. each area’s got its own vibe, but collectively it’s a cultural and economic beast. someone told me they’ve got nearly 10 million people in just 605 km² - it’s like a sardine can with mountain views.
what really gets me? historic imperial architecture chillin next to skyscrapers, all crammed into a mountain basin. the han river’s the divider, and it’s the heart of south korea’s culture and economy.
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