No. 5 Exit, Revisited

Yesterday I decided on an impulse to visit Myeongdong, the busy, tourist-friendly neighborhood where, almost three years ago, I accidentally discovered a beautiful view out of subway exit 5.  It had rained all morning (and would continue to rain all the rest of the day), and as I remembered this luminously beautiful sight from back then,

November, 2022

I became curious as to how different the view would be on a rainy afternoon with thick overcast as opposed to sunny midday, so I took the shuttle to the subway station, hopped on a No. 3 train and off I took.

Once I got to my destination though, there was a surprise waiting;  the young ginkgo tree, the star of the original photograph above, had been trimmed down to the point of looking dwarfish!  Ah well, it will grow back.  And I will some day come back to photograph it again in its reclaimed glory.

Anyway, as expected there was a heavy, unceasing stream of visitors and I had to wait a long time for an uninterrupted shot.  The moment it happened I actually yelled aloud "Yes, yes!" and this hapless lady with a boy in tow saw me with my smartphone glued to my face and stopped short.  I took three shots in quick succession and smilingly thanked her for hanging back.  She smiled back.

September, 2025

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