Seoul Metro Challenge: Chuncheon

As for most Seoulites, my life in Korea involves at least 2*30 minutes spent on the subway every day. Seoul’s metro system has been voted the best in the world on several occasions and is believed to be the longest metro system in the world (measured in route length). It has also got free wifi.

Inspired by the extensive network, and sheer length of some of the routes on the subway map, I decided that while in Korea I am going to try and visit all of the end stations. Bring a book or a friend, sit on the subway until I reach the very end, go out and explore, then return to base. Repeat.

Today I got to check the first station of my list: Chuncheon Station. Chuncheon, incidentally, is the perfect example of how far the metro system reaches. It is a town about 2 hours north-east of Seoul, most famous for a battle that destroyed the city during the Korean War, and the K-drama Winter Sonata.

It’s also known for dak galbi (닭갈비), a dish consisting of stir-fryed and marinated chicken in a gochujang sauce, sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions, perilla leaves and tteok. Knowing that, dinner was given before we even got off the subway, but to build our appetite we took a bus up to one of the dams in the area and filled our lungs with fresh mountain air while admiring the view. Back in town we wandered through a large underground market and the shopping district before settling down to eat dak galbi in the “Dak Galbi Street” (yes, they have a street devoted to restaurants serving the dish).

On our way back to the metro stop we passed by a beautiful field filled with wild flowers, and I embraced my inner Korean/blogger by documenting it to death with my DSLR. Here’s the day in pictures: