More narrative
Ok. The next thing on my agenda was Namhansan Mountain Fortress which was kind of on the outskirts. If the Tour2Korea link I put in one of the posts below, you can see the picture I'd seen on the internet that lured me there. I think I blogged a little about this one at the time. Well, anyway, I went and got on the subway and road it for quite a long time. The line I needed doesn't come north of the river and the stop I wanted is omitted on a lot of maps because it's too far out. But anyway I'd surprised myself by running through all of the palaces in a single day and was now somewhat at a loss for something to do.
You know, I just remembered something from Gyeongbokgung (or whatever) that I think I forgot to blog about before. It's quite a large grounds and at one point you can actually exit the palace and be outside and re-enter. I guess it's a part of the world one can't get to by other means, at least not easily, so they aren't worried about people dodging the ticket controls. It's a very nice spot, near an artificial lake with a big veranda-ish sort of thing on it. Anyway one can stop and have coffee from the machines there and/or buy film and so forth, then go back in. When I got there there was some woman dressed up in traditional garb, so I decided to ask if I could take her picture. But it turned out the answer was "yes-- for 15000 won." I thought it was odd that it was several times the cost of entry to the palace, but whatever. This was explained to me by a friendly fellow who for some reason I think was a tourist from China or Japan. Somehow in this very brief interaction I formed the impression that he wasn't a native either. But anyway once I'd said something like "ah, well, in that case no thanks," and was searching my pockets for coins for the coffee machine, there was a bit of giggling from his party and he informed me that his sister would like to have her picture taken with me. Which, like many things, was something I'd been through before in India so I said "sure" and posed for the picture.
... it only occurred to me a few minutes later that I should have said "...for 15000 won."
Ok. Now back to Namhansan Mountain Fortress. Long subway ride. I think I had to get a pink line to a yellow one on the way out of town after using a green one to get out of the main downtown area. The train was jammed with high school students who shoved their way on and raced each other for the seats, then did not stand up for the sad little old men (and by this I do not mean me). I wished I was a middle aged Korean woman so I could yell at them. Now, the next thing I did was rather dumb. I decided to improvise. This is because I looked at the map and realized that the subway stop immediately after the one my directions had me going to was actually called by the name of the thing I was trying to get to. So, I decided to stay on the extra stop.
This meant I got to find out what happens when you try to exit the Seoul subway with a ticket that does not have sufficient fare for the stop you are at. Perhaps I should explain how the subway works in Seoul. Most locals seem to have the little smart cards that they hold up to a reader and walk through but what I was doing was buying single-rides every time. For that you go to a vending machine, look at the map at the top of it, find the stop you're going to, and inside the circle is the fare to that stop. It's based on distance and hence also depends on your current location, but fare between almost an two points in downtown Seoul is 900 won. You can also go to a window and buy a ticket from a person if you don't have change (or just, hey, if that's you're thing). The ticket is a little paperboard rectangle (green? maybe yellow) with a magnetic strip down the middle of one side (which for whatever reason I think of as "the back"). You go to the turnstile, put it in, the turnstile opens. I think it also makes a little whirring, processing sound. Your ticket pops up on the other side and you need to remember to collect it, because you need it to get off.
Some of you may be wondering about the phrase (clause?) "the turnstile opens," because turnstiles don't open. They rotate. I guess technically speaking the item in question is not a turnstile. It has little doors that retract.
Ok, anyway at the end of the line, you put the ticket into another of these non-turnstiles and this time the item in question keeps it, after making its little whirring processing noise (I think) and keeping its light green for you.
That is, if you have the right kind of ticket. I guess the ticket tells it where you got on, and if this ticket is not enough for a ride from that station to this one, the doors close and there's a red light. But, there is also a window that you can go to and give them the missing 100 won and it's no problem.
SH would absolutely hate to hear this, but it is in all of these respects just like Tokyo.
Another comparison is that the little card tickets are like the ones in Paris if you've seen those.
You know, I just remembered something from Gyeongbokgung (or whatever) that I think I forgot to blog about before. It's quite a large grounds and at one point you can actually exit the palace and be outside and re-enter. I guess it's a part of the world one can't get to by other means, at least not easily, so they aren't worried about people dodging the ticket controls. It's a very nice spot, near an artificial lake with a big veranda-ish sort of thing on it. Anyway one can stop and have coffee from the machines there and/or buy film and so forth, then go back in. When I got there there was some woman dressed up in traditional garb, so I decided to ask if I could take her picture. But it turned out the answer was "yes-- for 15000 won." I thought it was odd that it was several times the cost of entry to the palace, but whatever. This was explained to me by a friendly fellow who for some reason I think was a tourist from China or Japan. Somehow in this very brief interaction I formed the impression that he wasn't a native either. But anyway once I'd said something like "ah, well, in that case no thanks," and was searching my pockets for coins for the coffee machine, there was a bit of giggling from his party and he informed me that his sister would like to have her picture taken with me. Which, like many things, was something I'd been through before in India so I said "sure" and posed for the picture.
... it only occurred to me a few minutes later that I should have said "...for 15000 won."
Ok. Now back to Namhansan Mountain Fortress. Long subway ride. I think I had to get a pink line to a yellow one on the way out of town after using a green one to get out of the main downtown area. The train was jammed with high school students who shoved their way on and raced each other for the seats, then did not stand up for the sad little old men (and by this I do not mean me). I wished I was a middle aged Korean woman so I could yell at them. Now, the next thing I did was rather dumb. I decided to improvise. This is because I looked at the map and realized that the subway stop immediately after the one my directions had me going to was actually called by the name of the thing I was trying to get to. So, I decided to stay on the extra stop.
This meant I got to find out what happens when you try to exit the Seoul subway with a ticket that does not have sufficient fare for the stop you are at. Perhaps I should explain how the subway works in Seoul. Most locals seem to have the little smart cards that they hold up to a reader and walk through but what I was doing was buying single-rides every time. For that you go to a vending machine, look at the map at the top of it, find the stop you're going to, and inside the circle is the fare to that stop. It's based on distance and hence also depends on your current location, but fare between almost an two points in downtown Seoul is 900 won. You can also go to a window and buy a ticket from a person if you don't have change (or just, hey, if that's you're thing). The ticket is a little paperboard rectangle (green? maybe yellow) with a magnetic strip down the middle of one side (which for whatever reason I think of as "the back"). You go to the turnstile, put it in, the turnstile opens. I think it also makes a little whirring, processing sound. Your ticket pops up on the other side and you need to remember to collect it, because you need it to get off.
Some of you may be wondering about the phrase (clause?) "the turnstile opens," because turnstiles don't open. They rotate. I guess technically speaking the item in question is not a turnstile. It has little doors that retract.
Ok, anyway at the end of the line, you put the ticket into another of these non-turnstiles and this time the item in question keeps it, after making its little whirring processing noise (I think) and keeping its light green for you.
That is, if you have the right kind of ticket. I guess the ticket tells it where you got on, and if this ticket is not enough for a ride from that station to this one, the doors close and there's a red light. But, there is also a window that you can go to and give them the missing 100 won and it's no problem.
SH would absolutely hate to hear this, but it is in all of these respects just like Tokyo.
Another comparison is that the little card tickets are like the ones in Paris if you've seen those.
posted by GB at 2:38 AM
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