Yeongcheon Market saved, Tongin Market already bukchonized

Shall I start with the so-so good news or the not so good news (the good news being that there's no really bad news out there)?

The so-so good one? So be it: Yeongcheong Market has been officially recognized as a market by Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Spoiler: the other piece of news has something to do with another traditional market, Tongin Market.

I know, I know, most of you don't give a fart in a high wind and I fully understand that. But to me it's important, and If you're familiar with this excuse for a blog, you already know that I have a crush for Seoul's markets. Recently, I even mentioned these two in the same (gimbap-ddeokbokki) breath*.

So. What does the Yeongcheon Market recognition mean? This covered street is now a legal entity municipal authorities can deal with, and a priori that's good news: each member becomes stronger and forces can be pooled more easily, so this lively spot might resist more efficiently against potential redevelopments that could mean the end for one of the last remaining 'villages' in the area.

Note that the towers already planned at the Northern entrance (see "Wonjo Ddeokbokki - a.k.a. "Ddeoknimmun"") will be developped as scheduled, but the main entrance should be safe and that's essential for the future : Donuimun New Town will be erected on the other side of Euijuro**, and too many cute places will disappear in the process around Gyonam-dong.

Well. Yeongcheon Market is not exactly "cute". And even after recent improvements it's still a bit dirty. But it does have a soul. And the reason why I'm just so-so pleased by the news is that Yeongcheon Market might be too much 'sanitized' or 'gentrified' for my taste.

Of course local authorities have in mind the preservation of this small animated landmark, but they should be careful not to let it become a tourist trap.

Mind you: Tongin Market is not a tourist trap. But as I feared would happen*, its atmosphere is changing at an alarming pace. On the bright side, the place is cleaner, fresher, better lit with a high ceiling that lets daylight in, and there's much more joy and - yes - fun than ever before. Art students decorated each booth and regularly organize exhibitions (the other day about two sisters who own a shop there). Now there's even a market newspaper... Everybody is smiling, and you can still enjoy the great Hyoja Gimbap*** for only KRW 2,000 a roll (big, tasty bites with a 4 to 1 filling / rice ratio).

But.

If most members stayed, newcomers are not exactly in the same vein. They're good and nice people, and their food does look and smell great, but it's often more the kind of neat shops or eateries you'd find on a busy street. Tongin market is by no means turning into a mall of course, but it's becoming more a gallery than a market, or maybe more the Covent Garden kind of market. I don't see the old generations of merchants resist the sirens of a fat profit: more will sell as the area welcomes more tourists.

Hanoks are being restored around Tongin Market, and the first one that benefited from the renovation program sponsored by local authorities (following the protection of Seochon hanoks) lies precisely in the small vertical alley that joins Tongilsijang-gil in its middle. The feat is well advertised on the door, and the artisan from nearby Nuha-dong even made a wooden box to hold a pack of his business cards. In this alley, a few signs announce trades from another era ("ice" sold here, clothes fixed there...). I bet it won't be long until hanok stay guest houses take over.

I have a word for this : bukchonization.



Seoul Village 2011
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* see "Tongin market opens up to art : adaptation or yet another symptom of Seochon's "Bukchonization" ?"
** dang, I'm still not used to call this street "Tongil-ro". Tongil-ro used to start only from Eunpyeong-gu (the former frontier of Seoul city), and now it goes all the way to Seoul Station (see footnotes of "Culture Station Seoul 284").
*** Hyoja Gimbap (gimbap), Tongin Market, Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu. Tel +82.2.730.73.69

2 more tunnels up North

If you look at a map, you can't help but notice how Bukhansan cuts in two the Northern part of Seoul. The need to rethink the whole transportation system is becoming everyday more obvious, with a double boom in the Nortwestern (ie Eunpyeong New Town) and Northeastern (ie Uijeongbu / Nowon-gu / Mia-Gireum New Town...) halves.

Two more tunnels will be dug into Bukhansan by 2013, but they look like quick fixes likely to worsen the situation. And there doesn't seem to be any long term vision, any big picture.

Basically, I often compare Bukhansan with an ocean consisting of 3 parts :

=> the main green body : Bukhansan mountain itself, mostly inhabited except for the national park and temples. Seoul claims only the Southwestern half of this block, the rest being split between Uijeongbu, Yangju, and Goyang.

=> Pyeongchang-dong "island" : a valley essentially connected with the rest of the city via artificial tunnels, serpentine paths in the mountains, and the Hongjaecheon streamlet (along Segeomjeong-gil, towards Seodaemun-gu). Actually, the "sea" of Bukhan mountain stops at the Northern shore of this island : mount Bugak claims East and South, and mount Inwang closes the circle (Inwangsan Strait ?). Two "peninsulas" almost reach this island : Seongbuk-dong and Hongeun-dong, respectively from the East and from the West.

=> elsewhere, "Bukhansan ocean shores" are by no means straight lines. They also include smaller "presque-isles" (such as Ui-dong in Dobong-gu). Bukhansan buttresses push further southwards, adding complexity to the landscape (ie the Ansan "lake" beyond Inwangsan to the West, Naksan to the East).

No subway line crosses this ocean. There is an old railway running just North of the mountain in Yangju (Seoul suburban line - 서울교외선 - was built in the early 60s), but nothing until you reach Subway line 3, over 15 km below. Yeongchang inhabitants rely only on unprotected bus lines for public transportation.

Namsan also needs some fixing but there, the equation looks much more simple : considerably smaller, but also more central after Hanyang grew into Seoul (absorbing Yongsan in the process), that mountain is relatively well covered and criscrossed by several tunnels providing direct connections with the South of Han river (via Hannam Bridge, Banpo Bridge...). In 2000-2001, Subway line 6 filled a major gap in the city map by wrapping the Southern side of the mountain.

Over the past 40 years, the only strategy for Bukhansan area has been digging tunnels for cars :

- First came the Sajik Tunnel, in May 1967. Seoul's first tunnel ever prolonged the Royal T* towards Seodaemun and solved part of the Inwangsan problem. It was upgraded in 1980, one year after the completion of Geumhwa Tunnel. Cutting through mount Ansan, that one prolonged the road to Yonsei University.

- Samcheong Tunnel was completed in December 1970, connecting Samcheong-dong (Jongno-gu) with Seongbuk-dong (then Dongdaemun-gu, now Seongbuk-gu). But it must have been the other way round : the elite living in Seongbuk-dong heights obviously needed a shortcut to join downtown and the center of power without passing by Hyehwa rotary.

- A few months later (August 1971), the much longer Bugak Tunnel connected Pyeongchang island / valley with Jeongneung-dong, Seongbuk-gu. On the other side of this tunnel upgraded in December 1991, Segeomjeong-gil, Pyeonchang-dong's main road, becomes Jeongneung-gil, which leads to the main N/S axis East of Bukhansan : Dongsomunno, named Miaro here and Dobongno upper to the North.

- In December 1980, Gugi Tunnel completed Bukhansan's first East-West axis as it made the junction between Eunpyeong-gu (Bulgwang-dong) and "Pyeongchang island" (Gugi-dong) : now Jiheungno road goes all the way from the same Segeomjeong-gil to Dongilro, the biggest road West of Bukhansan, which becomes Euijuro as it nears city center.

- In August 1986, Jahamun Tunnel doubled the link between the island and downtown, this time West of the Gyeongbokgung, between Cheongun-dong and Buam-dong and next to the old gate. Pyeongchang island appears now more clearly as a part of Jongno-gu. But even if it's much bigger than Samcheongdong-gil, Jahamun-gil is already pouring too much traffic into Gwanghwamun Station area... and one of the new tunnels will bring even more cars there...

- A second West-East axis was built in 1999, this time without any stop in Pyeongchang : the Naebu Expressway (내부순환고속도로) simply crosses this area from Hongeun-dong, Seodaemun-gu to Jeongneung-dong, right below the Bugak Tunnel exit. Most of the journey is in Hongjimun Tunnel and Jeongneung Tunnel, with just, between them, a short outdoor section overlooking the Hongjaecheon streamlet in Pyeongchang-dong (no exit, no entry).

- Sapaesan Tunnel was inaugurated in December 2007 with the Uijeongbu-Songchu / Ilsan section of the Seoul Ring Expressway (서울외곽순환고속도로, also known as Expressway 100 or Seoul Beltway). This 4 km long hole in the Northest part of Bukhansan (not even in Seoul city) was postponed after fierce resistance from local monks who wanted to preserve the soul of the mountain.

So what we have right now is basically a square covering one tenth of Seoul superficies but totally void of subway, and drawn by 4 axis facing saturation :

- North : while Segeomjeong-gil, Pyeongchang's main street, tends to look like a highway in Greater L.A., Naebu Expressway commutes flocks of cars across Seoul very much like the infamous Cheonggyecheon elevated highway used to... but at least it's hiding most of the time in this area.
- West : Dongilro-Uijuro is totally clogged now that Eunpyeong New Town massively welcomes its inhabitants.
- East : similar verdict for Dongsomunno after the completion of Mia-Gireum New Town.
- South : Yulgokno is almost constantly blocked, Sajikno starts "enjoying" the Eunpyeong effect, and each crossroad screams for traffic saturation (Anguk Station, Gyeongbokgung Station, Samcheong-dong-gil, Wonnam-dong Sagori, Ihwa Sagori).

Now here are the two newcomers, to be inaugurated on December 2013 :

=> Pyeongchang Tunnel : 4 lanes, 2.32 km. Toll : KRW 1,000.
Between the main Pyeongchang's main crossroad, Shinyong-dong Samgori (which should then become Sagori), and Seongbuk-dong-gil, the main street leading to Dongseomunno at Hansung University Station (Subway line 4). It somehow prolongs Gogi Tunnel and will prevent Pyeongchang inhabitants from being disturbed by Northwesterners who just want to go Southeast. But overall, more traffic will land on Dongsomunno.

=> Eunpyeongsae-gil : 4 lanes, 5.72 km. Toll : KRW 1,100.
Northwest to Southeast between Dongilro in Eunpyeong-gu (about halfway between Gubapal and Yeongsinnae stations - Subway line 3) and Jahamun-gil... more traffic ahead for Jahamun Tunnel ! Bonus, two interchanges : Yeonsin IC at Yeonsinno, and Bulgwang IC near Bulgwang Station (Lines 3 and 6). Here, the main motivation seems to relieve traffic from saturated Dongilro. Only the Ministry of Environment opposes these environmental unfriendly projects. Otherwise, nobody cares if it exports the mess in a National Park and a supposedly protected area.

Eunpyeong-gu definitely needs more connections with the rest of the city, but the priority for a forward looking city should be to develop public transportation, and deter people from using their cars in already saturated areas.

I mean come on : Seoul is digging tunnels #10 and #11, and not one of them has ever been for a subway or a railway ! It's as if the mind frame was set on 1960s and 1970s instead of the new millenium : more people ? build more roads, sell more cars ! and don't bother with medium / long term consequences !

This totally contradicts Seoul's efforts to develop tourism and international attractiveness : downtown is not supposed to become again an environmental nightmare and a communication failure.

New technologies make tunnelling much easier and cheaper : multiply subway lines and bury the cars ! Build underground beltways, get rid of commuting traffic clogging and polluting without any reason the city center**, destroy those ugly elevated highways ! Gangnam (not the gu but the Southern half of Seoul) is building an underground expressway system. How about Gangbuk ? How about a new, sustainable masterplan for public transportation ?

Can anyone please stop this nonsense ?

Seoul Village 2009

* see "Inwangsan's Great Wall and Seoul's Royal "T" Time"
** I don't think the future tunnel under royal palaces (see "Jongmyo - Changdeokgung reunited") is considered as something else as an underground section of Yulgokno but typically, it could become one of many entry or exit points for a new inner ring.

Wonjo Ddeokbokki - a.k.a. "Ddeoknimmun" (Seoul)

Yeongcheon Market (영천시장) is a classic alley roof Seoul market starting on Euijuro, halfway between Seodaemun Station and Dongnimmun, and leading to the small garden at the crossroads, under the overpass, just opposite the gate.

These days, Dongnimmun his half hidden by a fence : Seoul city is making the area more suitable for pedestrians and visitors to the adjacent Seodaemun Prison park. Unfortunately, the overpass shall remain, casting its massive shadow over the monument.

Some day, Yeongcheon Market will disappear. Unlike many old indoor markets, slowly dying across Seoul, this one looks very much alive and boasts all types of food, including excellent quality vegetables, and even an old cryptic bookstore. Furthermore, Gyonam New Town shall bring scores of new customers from the other side of Euijuro.

But if the long and thin triangle forming the Eastern side of Yeongcheon Shijang doesn't seem to be rushing towards redevelopment, change is clearly coming from the Western side. Since former inhabitants disagreed on modalities, only the Northern half has already decided what to do : this derelict area is to give place to a couple of towers combining shops with appartments.

Theoretically, the ddeokbokki house at that Northernmost entrance of the market may survive this major change... but it will never be the same for them.

"House" may be too grand a word to qualify this shanty tent where an old adjuma serves the usual street snacks (ddeokbokki, odeng, nakji, kimbap, mandu...) while her husband sits on a couch, talking to visiting merchants.

Besides losing the other half of the entrance to the market, this old couple will lose the small alley which cuts right in front of them. I don't know the name of that path but I call it "Ddeokdaero" because it hosts a dozen of tteok manufacturers and that's probably where they get their exceptional ingredients. You can walk up the alley (towards Dongnimmun Samho Apt) and get your fix for a song (even if you're not in a cooking mood, "raw" ddeok is an excellent snack - of course, there's a lot of varieties to choose from). But keep that for later.

What makes "Wonjo Tteokbokki" ("Original Tteokbokki") special is of course the ddeokbokki : seasoning is just perfect (strong but not too hot, tasty and not too sweet...), and the texture exactly the kind you expect from the snack (chewy but not "plastic", keeps its sauce as well as its resistance...). They also make white ddeokbokki, but you don't want to miss the red pepper version. One portion comes for KRW 2,000.

"Original" is not an original name for a restaurant or a street food place in Korea, but this one deserves the label. They've been selling this miracle for over 35 years and I hope their receipe will survive them and Yeongcheon Market (whichever lasts longer, hopefully as long as possible for both).

I'm quite a tteokbokki fan, but it's hard to find a really good one. I've been highly disappointed by "Shindang-dong Tteokbokki" and anyway, this is street food, not something to enjoy in a restaurant. Every market has its tteokbokki and this one is easy to spot : at its gate, and at THE gate. That's why I knicknamed it "Ddeoknimmun".

SM 2008

Wonjo DDeokbokki / 원조 떡볶이 (Snack)
Yeongcheon Market, Yeongcheon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, ROK
Tel: +82.2.312.5436