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I think this is an apt title for the series I will be writing about here~ I have so much to say of the culture of Seoul subways that I think I can write a book on it O.o
In the first post of the series, I’ll be focusing on the bad/weird. I haven’t figure out how to organise it. Some will be general posts and if I happen to have some urm interesting experiences, I may dedicate a post it too! Let’s see how long the series can last! ^^
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I had a horrible day at the subways a few days ago. It was a day where I had to travel to a few places in a day and thus I was making a lot of transfers at the subway. I wasn’t feeling that good that day and my mood was terrible. And I had a more-than-usual horrible experience at the subway, which kinda leads to the idea of this series.
At one point of time, I was standing near to the doors and I was just spacing out, lost in my own thoughts and not paying attention to my surroundings. Suddenly, a waft of horrible stench hit my nose and I nearly jumped. I jerked my head up and saw this unkept guy standing back to me.
Unkept is too mild. He smelled and looked like he didn’t bathe for months and he was fanning himself with a paper fan. The people around remained quite oblivious to him -.- I felt so nauseated with the waves of horrid stench hitting my nose. D: He had a tangled mess of hair and I swear there were weird looking white stuff in his tangled hair. O.o
I faster made my way to the other side of the compartment and continued to observe the guy. There were a few guys standing in his vicinity and they looked so unperturbed that I wonder if such homeless(?) people are really that common in Seoul that it’s no longer anything out of the blue.
Having just lived in Singapore all these while, I am definitely not accustomed to seeing such people around. In my 21 years in Singapore, I have never seen / smelt someone that urm bad and I seriously think the MRT staff or the urm patrolmen will be alerted to such a presence in the MRT trains.
That day, I was pushed and shoved by at least 15 people (ajummas, young ladies / men etc) on the trains. If someone dared to do that to me in Singapore, I’d have glared at the person. But here, I seem to be an invisible person O.o
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I’ll be blogging more general posts about the subway soon, but I’ll like to hear any good, bad, weird stories you have of the subway trains!! 
Please share your experiences~~~
WineOtaku said:
I have many subway stories. Let me tell you one that isn’t about subway rage…
In Seoul, newspapers used to be sold by salespeople inside the trains. They’d wear a green jacket, and go up and down the train, carrying a bunch of papers. Even during rush hours, which wasn’t always practical…
One day, around 1994, a very old and decrepit grand-pa came to me, carrying a bunch of newspapers. He more or less demanded I buy one. Sure granps, I haven’t read the news yet. Then he started chatting with me. The problem was, I had the world’s most painful moment trying to understand him. For one, he didn’t have teeth. Doesn’t help. Then, his accent was the weirdest ever. I had heard only once before a similar accent, in Paris, from a North Korean refugee. So it kind of gave me a hint.
While we were chatting – or trying to – I gave a look at the newspaper. And a small article about 시베리아 벌목공 gave me another hint. He was asking me where I was from — and offering choices ranging from Russia to Yougoslavia. And he had no idea where France was…
So I told him, I know where you are from, grandpa. He said “yeah? I don’t think so!” Grandpa, you’re a North Korean logger, probably escaped from Siberia. He was stunned. “How could you know?” — Well, your accent (he was indeed from 함경북도), the countries you know, and the article in the newspaper…
Indeed this granpa had escaped from a logging camp in Siberia and walked all the way to China and Thailand. To be shipped back finally to South Korea. North Korea sends lots of slave labour to Siberia — they split the profit of logging with Russia. It’s a major source of $$$ for North Korea…
hanneebuffeebuff said:
This is indeed an interesting story, to be able to meet a North Korean in the subway. The North Korean government is known for pursuing their people even though they are already in South Korea. They even asked the SK government to repatriate their nationals this year when their boat drifted to SK.
hangukdrama said:
wow! I’m always learning something new / interesting from you
I don’t really know much about North Korea and I always thought that they are pretty much self-contained and urm forced to work / starve or whatever in their own country. O.o
Didn’t knew slave labour existed. wow walked to china / thailand?! O.o that’s amazing.
I’m curious about the newspapers. Are they dated ones or the current paper? I wondered how he sourced out such papers in S.Korea.
WineOtaku said:
Well I think it was the Chosun Ilbo. And because that day there was an article about people like him he’d bought some and was selling them, making sure people would read and be aware of his and his brothers’ plight.
I wish I had spent more time with him. Selfish young man… Sigh…
Xing Wei Poh said:
Some stories about the subway I have, just sharing.
- Just during my recent trip, I saw an old man selling carrot /cucumber peelers in the subway, he stuck those sliced up cucumbers all over his hands until it looked like he was growing them on his skin. Needless to say, when the ahjumas were not impressed, he went on to the next carriage.
- Doing transfers during trips is really confusing.
Best to know of 4 main information,
1. Name of the station you are traveling to.
2. Which station you are doing the transfer at.
3. Name of the next station in the same direction you are traveling.
4. Name of the end station in the direction you are traveling.
All these so as to make your transfer as smooth as possible as they do not really make it clear which subway moves in which direction on the spot. Sometimes they provide the name or prominent stations, sometimes they just remove everything leaving the name of the next station in that direction.
- Some subway actually have energy saving capabilities. During the night, they will turn off the light of the carriages during the journey only to turn them on upon reaching the next station.
- Interstate trains actually have no real system of checking whether you bought tickets. I experienced this when traveling from Seoul to Jeonju. You can see some people just board the train without the ticket, the staff on the train strangely do not bother checking if you have a ticket or not, they just greet you at the entrance. When you see a person giving up his seat to someone else, it’s not him/her being polite, it’s actually to find another seat as he does not have a ticket lol.
Yup, sorry I don’t have much. I believe you would have more when staying in Korea.
hangukdrama said:
haha! yeahh now that you talk about KTX, i have the same experiences! No one ever checked my tickets~ I can’t wait to get on KTX again!
Pebs said:
There’s always those salesperson who gives out phamplet on everyone lap before collecting it back later. I always wondered wats written on those as my Korean is not quite there yet.
Anyway I’m a new reader from Sg here! ^^ found your blog after giggling for Yonsei. (Just came back from KLI 3 weeks program so I’m craving for lots of Seoulll)
WineOtaku said:
They’re disabled people, oftentimes deaf-mute. The pamphlet asks you to give money. Sometimes the paper has the sign language at the back. You are “buying” a sign-language tutorial, which sounds better than begging.
GenLiu said:
I just read your article and have to tell you that pushing someone is not considerate as being rude in Korea, They are really used to do that, especially in the subway. As long as the pushing is not that rough there is not considerate as being rude.
This is not because of you, they do it with each others as well.
Korean pples are really tactile unlike the usual Asian cliche. ^^
This is exactly like when you go through a really tight way and someone just come in front of you. I don’t know how it is in Sing but in France a person let the other going before going himself but not in Korea.
In Korea both go through the street and cross themselves as much as they can. lol
hangukdrama said:
hahaha i know but it gets on my nerves when i’m already not feeling so good D: In singapore, people apologise or mumble sorry/excuse me if they are passing. Here, people REALLY push. D:
WineOtaku said:
Let’s have another story. This one is a little about subway rage.
A friend and I, in the mid-90s – probably 1995 – were passing through 동대문운동장 station – I think on our way to 혜화. It was a Saturday afternoon, there was a million people on the platform waiting to board. Andy and I were first in line to get off the train, and back then, Koreans were not as disciplined as now. Yes, I see 2011 Seoul Subway as a disciplined one
So as soon as the doors opened these dumb fucks tried to board, although they were facing a wall of people trying to get off. Andy and I shoved a guy hard, pushing him back. He didn’t get the message apparently, for he jump ahead again, trying to shove us aside and get in. I was no slouch back then, and Andy had worked in a steel mill. Plenty of horsepower between the two of us. We grabbed the guy and took him, screaming, all the way to the escalators. Pretty cool.
We let him go and got on the elevator. A dude came running after us, and grabbed my arm. He almost got socked for it – as we were expecting yet another Korean 아저씨 explaining the “Korean way”. We were so wrong. He said “I saw what happened. This is disgraceful. I want you to know that not all Koreans are like that, and apologize for this man.” Then he went back to the platform to wait for the next train, since he missed this one. Andy and I were stunned. And in a very good mood after that…
WineOtaku said:
Regarding homeless people. Aka 거지들. I have a bazillion stories. But first, about numbers. There’s a lot of them in Seoul. I don’t have stats – it’s apparently easier to learn how many Chinese visited Korea than how many bums there are in Seoul… But. You wanna get a glimpse of them – go to the old Seoul Train Station at night.. On second thought – don’t. Too dangerous for a young chica.
This winter, when you’re freezing your butt in the streets, ask yourself where they sleep. Now. Do you know that you can actually walk underground from 일지로 입구 to at least 을지로7가? Yup, there’s an underground walkway, with shops trying to do some biz, dunno how they survive, and some lame exhibitions. Look at a map, it’s a long way from 일지로 입구 to 을지로7가. These long walkways are full of bums at night, especially in winter.
It’s actually an interesting walk to do if you want to have a look at Seoul in the 80s – it’s like that place is frozen in time… Or used to be anyway…
hangukdrama said:
woah~! I didn’t know about the underground walkway. I did wanted to go from myeongdong to 을지로 3가 and i ended up lost in the walkway and I think I walked to 신청 in the end O.o
mmm I’ve seen a lot of the seoul station in movies (less of dramas), if I actually get a urm guy to walk with me, I may go.
alodia said:
Thinks out loud: “I wonder what Shanna will do if she’s in the Philippines.” ^_^
hangukdrama said:
hahaha!! I probably will have alot to write about
alodia said:
You bet! :p