An Hour's Walk In The Meandering Back Lanes

of the young people- and tourist-friendly HongDae neighborhood this afternoon nabbed me this small trove of images:  a Mona Lisa;  a Doraemon;  a Moai;  a Shin-Chan;  a Mexican wrestler;  and a whole bunch of "climbing Santas":

Oh, and lest I forget, a giant teddy bear.

Blue Flyer

Related post:  Red Flyer II

First Snow Of The Season

I couldn't sleep at all last night, and after tossing and turning into the wee hours, I finally got up out of bed around 3:30 AM, put on my robe and braved the subzeros to step outside.  It was snowing!  And a pretty heavy volley, too.  After a few moments watching I came back to bed and took another shot at sleep, but maybe I was trying too hard now;  another hour-and-a-half or so of super duper crisp clear wakefulness later, I finally had to admit defeat.  I got up for good and made coffee.  Well, it's five thirty in the evening now;  it's been snowing off and on all day, quite hard at times, and there were warning text messages from the district office by the hour.  It's supposed to last into tomorrow.  And after resisting the call of Hypnos all through the day I'm hopeful that tonight I'll go out like a light the moment I hit the bed.  But just to make sure I do, I'm going to have a couple of drinks.

Even King Kong looked a little overwhelmed

Another "Two Of My Favorite Things Together"

 

Unexpected And Unforgettable

[I didn't know there still were places like this in Korea]

This past Friday I had planned to take a photo taking excursion to AHyeon, but somehow or other I missed my stop and ended up in an unfamiliar neighborhood.  According to the subway map I was in a place called GhirEum, which I had never heard of before.  Deciding to make the best of the situation I started ambling around at random, as I'm wont to do in any new neighborhood, to see what I could see.  Well, the neighborhood proved to be disappointingly ordinary, with no unusual features or points of interest whatsoever.  Everywhere it was the same boring, interchangeable box-type architecture that modern cities abound in.  I had already given up and was heading back to the subway when I noticed a large yellow sign, prominently displayed by an alleyway.

Basically, it states that minors are prohibited from venturing beyond that point, and also that anyone who causes another person to be employed in a sexually exploitative occupation will be prosecuted.  Just to make certain everyone got the message, there were brightly colored plastic strips partially curtaining off the entry (one thing about this feature though -- I realize the purpose of the primary colors was to be eye-catching, but I have to say they were making me think of playgrounds and circuses -- fun places that presumably the city fathers had not intended to associate with in this case;  maybe next time they could replace them with somber gray or something).

So of course I went in.  It was fairly dark in the alley, as there were semi-opaque awnings overhead, mostly a deep red, cutting out direct sunlight and creating a crimson twilight -- or should I say, creating a literal "red light district", if you haven't guessed it already -- and moreover, it turned out to be just the entryway to a whole mazelike environment of ever-multiplicating narrow lanes all branching off each other, much larger in scale than I had expected it to be.  Indeed, it was almost a whole small village of its own within the city, and I was actually amazed that such a place could exist without being at all conspicuous from outside.  I could well see how the signs (it turned out there were multiple warning signs at the boundaries) were necessary.

The place was quiet, rundown(very) and bereft of any sort of traffic, and I had almost convinced myself that the entire "village" must be long since abandoned, when suddenly a largish young woman appeared out of nowhere, blocking the way and asking in a loud voice, "Oppah, where you going?"  I was much taken aback (actually, I think "shocked" would be a better term) and took a couple of quick steps back.  She followed me, cutting off my escape, and continued to accost me, declaring "Oppah, why don't you come in and have a look, huh?  Looking don't cost you anything!"  Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, and I was completely at a loss as to how to respond.  All I could do was just mutter -- rather apologetically, too -- something about sorry, I was just there to satisfy idle curiosity, and quickly take my leave, leaving her disappointed.  I actually felt sorry for her, she was so eager.

Then I began to notice signs of habitation.  At one point I saw an old man smoking -- I didn't want to pass him, so I turned around and retraced my steps.  I saw two old women sitting on a bench.  Someone had even put out food and water for stray cats.

Looking up the place later at home, I learned that these few blocks were once a thriving community of sex workers.  The makeshift booths shown below are relics of its heyday back in the 80's.  Presumably girls sat in them to exhibit themselves to potential customers.

Then there was this shop.  I'd previously heard about these "coffee delivery" services.  The girls who worked there actually did deliver coffee -- by scooter -- but once they arrived at the designated home or motel, they also became call girls on "outcall".

Amazingly (not quite sure why I found it amazing, but it was), there was a clock here, as well.  And yes, it also kept accurate time.

I suppose as the city continued to grow around it and undergo development, what with the fancy cafes and shopping malls and whatnot catering to the new, more sophisticated generations, the place gradually lost whatever attraction it may once have had in the past -- along with the clientele -- until it became semi-forgotten (aka deliberately ignored) in the new society, and by and by degraded into the gloomy empty shell that it is today.  The few people who still live there would be the poor loners who couldn't afford to move away.  It might even be that they are the reason the city has not razed the whole place down to the ground.

The Cat Named

 

Adolf.

Me And My Shadow

A short runt with a tall shadow.

"The Shadow knows..."

Anticipation II

 

Wait...

Wait for it...

Bull's eye!

The Oddest Place To Put A Clock

Res ipsa loquitur.

Whatever, it was keeping accurate time.  Maybe it's there so delivery drivers can tell at a glance exactly how many minutes it took them to arrive with the food?

"Don't quibble with me, sir!  The advert clearly states 'Thirty minutes or less -- or it's free'!"

There Was A Beautiful Moth

sitting on the men's room mirror in the building the local McDonald's shares with other shops.  It was so large and pretty that at first I actually took it for a paper cutout rather than a real insect.  The place was empty at the time I spotted it, so I took out my phone and got ready to photograph it.  Just as I was ready to shoot a couple of guys walked in, and even though I was careful to make a show of pointing away from their direction, they still kept glancing back at me suspiciously.  I guess I can't blame them.

Horror Movie Moon

My contradictory feelings for the unreachable, uncaring Moon.

Beautiful, frightening Moon.

Ladybug By The Elevator

Cute little creature, balancing between light and dark, half in and half out, reminded me of a recent post, linked below.

Related post:  A Metaphorical Self-Portrait