1. A year ago, I stopped by the front gate of Seoul's main palace to photograph the statues of the haechi, a mythical creature that apparently wards off fire. So they build statues of them in front of palaces, as well as fire stations and various other public facilities.




2. The one pictured here is in front of Gwanghwamun, the main gate to the main palace of central Seoul.




3. Note here that in this picture, I'm standing on sort of a small ridge, and people walking closer to the wall are lower than me. Now why would that be?



4. Anyway, fast-forward a year, and now they're digging up the area, intent on making a new plaza in front of the palace. You can see one of the haechi statues behind a construction fence.




5. Although they left a path by the wall so people can still get past.




6. They also conveniently left a barrier against the fence, so I was able to stand on top of it and peer over the fence.




7. After all the workers left, I went to another part of the fence, where I could get a better view. It turns out that mound was there in order to bury some old streetcar tracks nobody had bothered to remove decades earlier.




8. Seoul's streetcar system was completely closed down in 1968, and they just buried the tracks afterward. They've only come to the surface now due to a routine, legally mandated archaeological excavation.




9. I decided against trying to move the tarps back. But I found out the city was offering tours of the site to members of the public the following week. RSVPs filled up within seconds of opening, and I didn't find out for a few days anyway.




10. But I knew that once they started offering those tours, they'd uncover the rails and I'd be able to see them in person.




11. Sure enough, looking in a week later from on top of the barrier, I can see the tracks are exposed now. However, unfortunately, workers were on site that night, I guess trying to finish all their work before the tour program.




12. So I went back the next day during lunch break. You can see several workers in yellow, getting ready to go out for food.




13. Unfortunately not all left, so all I could do was peek in through the open, unattended gate.




14. Even with all the hoarding up, the place is crawling with tourists as well as just local pedestrians.




15. The sidewalk was closed, so I saw one guy walking in traffic to get around the construction site. A very bad idea.



16. Others saw and followed him.




17. Here are the uncovered tracks viewed from a nearby rooftop that's publicly accessible. You can see how they curve in front of the gate and head south.




18. After a night out drinking, I disclosed to two trusted friends that I was planning on going on an anarchaeological expedition later that night. So they came along.




19. Up close, you can see many wide railroad ties.




20. One friend, when I showed her pictures earlier of what was behind the fence, told me "BRING BACK THE STREET CARS!"


21.




22. When streetcars were first introduced to Korea, people started sleeping on the rails. Usually they'd wait until after the last streetcar, but sometimes it was delayed.



23. I tried going back again tonight, but there were two cops across the street standing in the exact wrong spot and facing the exact wrong way. I want to try getting back in so I can take a photo of myself on top of one of the haechi statues. It sounds sacrilegious, but used to be done. Stealing this photo from a friend's article.



24. I decided not to attempt it tonight, and now I'm at home drinking a beer with a label modeled after the site I've been exploring (the middle one, but the one on the right is of the palace behind the gate). How many of you can say you've explored a site that has a beer named after it?

Really cool tidbit of history, Really cool to see those railcar rails. Something similar is happening here in the Twin Cities, THe potholes are really bad this year and are exposing the original brick lined streetcar roads.

In Stockport some tramlines were simply covered over when the service was withdrawn in the 1950s.

Some were visible when there was some roadworks on the main road by the Town Hall a few years ago.

So cool! Love seeing streetcar tracks excavated, or more commonly around here, popping up through potholes lol. That looks like a huge network there. Never seen so much excavated trackage at once.