Gwangju Penguin village and Dwinggul cave
A non hiking no plan day. I scrolled the map. It is a Korean map so that did not help much. Brown labels are generally tourist places so I looked up a few. A cave that is not a cave, a penguin village without penguins. Sounds too good be true!
Actually Gwangju is a very artsy city, they heavily advertise their Biennale, and folk music. Everywhere seems to be a mini art gallery, usually also selling speciality coffee and more often then not, croffle.
This seems to be linked to the Gwangju student uprising democracy protests that killed either 600 or 2300 kids in 1980, with mass rapes carried out by soldiers on students. Go read wikipedia, Gwangju uprising. The uprising failed, it was not until 1988 that South Korea became a democracy. However because of it, many buildings from that era are now art galleries or cafes.
I was too early to go to the cave, so I headed back up the mini hill to the observatory to see the day view. The weather was great, but as you shall see, the mountain from yesterday still had fog on the top.
I went to ascend the stairs to the top of the observatory only to get yelled at by some guy part way up... He was just dressed in normal clothes and I had no idea what he was on about but he insisted on escorting me back down the stairs and depositing me into the elevator (lift) instead, then stood by the door of the elevator and yelled at me some more as I went up. So that was entertaining. Whatever you do in Korea, do not take the steps.
Great weather today, about 15c, not a lot of pollution, the only rain is yellow leaves.
Early on I explored some streets with many brown signs for student resistance and communist leaders. It seems there was something communist related in the resistance? Wikipedia says that is the case.
Historic chimney.
This is the main place I wanted to go in, but it seems the public cannot go in there anymore. I stood on a little ladder that someone had conveniently left nearby and took this photo. Maybe I was just peering over the fence of someones private house. Looks good though. No sign of any communists.
After being goose stepped down the stairs, I am back on top of the observatory.
Greater Gwangju.
There is Mudeungsan from yesterday, with the summit still shrouded in fog.
When I came here and was chased by cats the other night, it looked like the trees were colourful, and they are.
The stop wars car. I think the owner was nearby and thrilled that I was taking a photo. He gave me a thumbs up.
Here is the 'cave'. It is not even 50 metres long. I presume it was a small mine at some point. It is a dead end.
There is no fee to go in the cave, and no guard. So you can just hang out in the cave. They provide helmets in case you forget to head careful.
Nearby the cave, the penguin village. Why they chose a penguin as the mascot for this group of small cafes and art galleries and outdoor junk, I have no idea.
It is a nice spot of little shops and alleys, with lots of penguins painted on everything. Hard to capture in photos.
Here are a few penguins.
And when they run out of penguins they just nail junk to the walls.
Oh look the observatory again. This whole area is very nice, every street is art galleries, studios and cafes, often all 3 at once. Oh and English language teaching places. Lots of those. They also have a cafe.
Back closer to the city centre is one of the main markets. It is like most other markets. Lots of fish.
Just what everyone wants in their life.
Since I already revisited the observatory, I also revisited the Asian Culture Center and hole in the ground. Here is a view from an elevated bit from which you cannot see the hole.
This is the democracy bell. It is built on the site of an infamous police station where many students were tortured and killed. But in true Korean fashion, even this is controversial. The bell was funded by donations, but apparently whoever made it cheated the public and delivered a bell that weighs nowhere near as much as it is supposed to, and soon after it was delivered in 2005 it started cracking. There were mass protests about it.
Here is a view from the elevated corner of the other far corner of the Asian Culture Center. There is a bamboo grove on the roof of a building on the right, hard to see here, I could not work out how to get into the bamboo grove.
And this being a non hiking day, I had time for a late lunch from a chain bakery. I think inflation has hit these places, seems a bit more expensive than I remember. Currently I have no plan for this evening either so anything could happen.
From Chungjangno to Sangmu
Last time I was here I stayed somewhere near Sangmu and walked to Chungjangno. This time I am staying in Chungjangno and walked to Sangmu. I remembered some things along the way, mainly the giant Porsche dealership.
The journey is about 12,000 steps and I walked the whole way above the subway line, so it was not really possible to get lost.
Once I arrived in Sangmu I was reminded of the very colourful hotels, both by the hour and some that said 'business hotel', but I have my doubts. None of these hotels seem to come up in online listings. I have no idea why they need so many hotels in the business district of town even if they are all by the hour.
I did however enjoy the very wide streets, looking at subway line 2 under construction and a visit to the Lotte Mart Maxx.
Also, it is official, repeat dinners have started.
Tomorrow is a hiking day, but with a difference. It is a no plan hiking day. There are so many trails in the National park I am just going to walk in that direction and see where I end up.
I love building demolition in Asian cities, they just drive a steam shovel into the building and start smashing stuff, and continually drive on top of the pile. They must tip over quite often. The remaining walls must collapse on people often. My advice is to keep your distance.
Some of the trees, seemingly at random, have been fitted with a nappy.
My walk went over the main sewer creek. It is actually quite nice. I would like to run along it. These dusk photos have been brightened up a bit, it was almost dark.
Huge new ghost town parts of the city are under construction. Korea is losing population fast.
I passed a giant toy shop, but sadly it was on the other side of the road so I could not go in and frighten the parents who were there with small children.
Overpass number one of the evening. This one was a steel beam construction, so too shaky for a long exposure. Stay tuned.
Repeat dinner, almost. Abiko curry (same chain) but this time I got a 50/50 vegetable and pork curry. Pork is the main meat, beef was not on offer. However even though I ordered the same level of spiciness as when I had it in Seoul, it was nowhere near as spicy. Spice control is out of control.
And here is Sangmu. All the streets are wide. Subway line 2 is being constructed via the cut and shut rather than tunnel bore method. It actually looks like they are closing up the hole or just starting. The overpass here was concrete, so a long exposure worked fine.
Lotte Mart Maxx, it is basically Walmart. The actual Walmart owned place is called Emart, there is one nearby here. They are very large. What looks like a floating sign on the left is actually the building, with parking underneath, on the other side of the road from where I am standing. It kind of looks like the sign is hanging from the pole. It has 6 levels, look at the travelators in the middle.
Looking at it again, that really is quite the illusion, it is a black building.
And for my last photo tonight, the hotel I should have stayed in. There are at least 50 similarly lit up hotels in the general vicinity of Sangmu station.