A particular abandoned neighbourhood that has gotten a lot of mileage out of us over the past three years or so has finally been totally demolished. Well, technically
two next to each other.
1. All the buildings have been removed, and the next step, removing the land tainted with middle-class stench, will begin soon. For this stage, we're left with a barren yellowish sandy landscape.
2. A closer crop that shows how compressed the landscape is. You can have highrises there, and absolutely nothing downhill.
3. It was after 6 and absolutely nobody was inside the redevelopment zone. It's not easy to hide in there, either. There were construction shacks behind me but nobody was in them. So I wandered in.
4. Higher up, I looked in the direction of downtown. The low-rise development between the buildings is what used to be here, and is essentially the only affordable housing in Seoul.
5. I used to bring people onto a roof right around here, and pose them in front of a pretty impressive landscape view.
6. Flashback to September 2017.
7. I had expected they would save this road up at the top, but now it leads nowhere. It used to be our way in and out, as it was uncontrolled and anyone was allowed up there. Now it's a cliff.
8. Hey wait, there's a cat just walking along that road. For the last few years I've always had cat food with me whenever I go exploring. Time to catch up to this cat.
9. The cat didn't want anything to do with me. See if you can spot it. I also saw one or two more cats in the area, and they stayed ahead of me all the way down.
10. I got to the far side of the road, where a half-demolished stairwell led down to civilisation. Right at the corner of the construction site, on the outside, was an elderly woman sitting in a chair, watching everyone going by.
11. Looking back up the way I came.
12. Back on the other side of the fence, I was near the entrance to a traditional market. It looks nice still, although with the massive depopulation on this side, it will have trouble surviving the next couple years.
13. Here's how it looks inside. Oddly at two of my more recent abandoned neighbourhoods, I found them right up next to similar market streets.