Driving in Seoul gives me headaches. I had been driving for five years when I got the chance to take my dad's car and drive from Suwon to Seoul to meet a friend. Since I had no problem with my driving, and was good with directions and fining places, I didn't have a single bit doubt that I'd have trouble driving around Seoul for the first time. With some of the way points locked in my head, I drove off and entered the highway with confidence. The highway is one of the easiest places to drive as long as you remember and don't miss your exit, because all you need to do is just drive straight most of the time. As I passed through two toll gates and an exit, I was actually in and driving around Seoul for the first time in my life. Now, I was trying my best to focus on driving as well as looking at road signs in order to get to my friend's place. The traffic wasn't so bad at that time of the evening, so I was quite surprised to see the opposite of what I imagined Seoul to be before leaving the house. I finally arrived at my friend's place and parked the car in the parking lot of his apartment. By the time I was done having a good time at my friend's place, it was around 10 o'clock, which meant that it was time for me to drive back to Suwon. Before leaving, I checked the map again for directions on my way back home to avoid taking a detour or getting lost in the middle of Seoul. On my way back, I had to go past Dongdemun and this when it all began. I realized that I was driving among a lot of cars and especially motorcycles with men delivering clothes and fabrics to the markets surrounding nearly the whole area of Dongdemun. Another thing that I noticed was that the traffic was moving real slow and this was because the combination of cars driving everywhere and motorcycles trying to squeeze their way through those busy cars. I was so shocked at the level of traffic jam this one little area was going through, and was slowly getting sick and tired of just waiting on the road where Dongdemun was a sea of vehicles. After taking two and a half hours to get home, I promised myself that I'd never drive around Seoul, especially the central areas, at nights and weekend where there was a possibility of getting stuck in between a huge traffic jam.
Yeah, there are some places where traffics are horrible. Like downtown around rush hour or Dongdemun surrounded by various shops.
ReplyDeleteI like your hook that 'driving in Seoul gives you headaches". I totally agree with you. I had similar experience with you too.
I would be nicer if you wrote a little bit too much before you explain about your terrible experience in Dongdemun. It would be better if you have less sentences, so that we could focus more on Dongdemun part! But it was so well explained i could actually imagine your writing.