SEOULFUL Trip, Day 3: 4th destination, Cheonggyecheon Stream

What is the most amazing thing in this big, sprawling city that is Seoul is that they don’t try hard to struggle with nature in order to give way to their uuuuberly modernized structures and well-planned city-scape.

Here’s another anecdote before I talk about this stream:

While we were riding on the taxi from the N-Seoul tower, Ahne and I instructed the cab driver that we wanted to go to the Cheonggyecheon Stream (That’s with less difficulty on our part since learning the Korean way of speaking is just like second to breathing---what with the hundreds of k-dramas and movies that we watched for these past years. Ahahaha!). We were so elated that the driver didn’t have any questions and he didn’t seem baffled by these two strange, trying-hard-to-speak-korean ladies, that were us. So, we assumed that he understood us (Yay!). 

After about 15 minutes, he stopped the cab in the middle of a busy highway and told us that we were on the stream. That immediately deflated our happy bubble. Seriously? But we didn’t come unprepared for situations like that--- just so you would know, we have about two years of practice how to make ourselves be understood when there’s a posing language barrier problem. So, with our Thailand-learned strategies, we tried to explain that we wanted to see the Cheonggyecheon stream and not a busy highway---and when I say explain, that actually meant making an exaggerated motion of flowing water coupled with uttering these words: “See, stream. Stream. Water. Water.” I know right?

The cab driver just scratched his head, as if almost unbelieving, that these two unassuming foreign ladies are actually close to being retarded, what with our one of a kind way of explaining our destination. So, he turned on his engine and drove the cab again and just after about 10 minutes, we were close to desperation when he stopped the cab in just the exact location the first time he told us that we were in our destination. Not wanting to ruin our night by arguing further that we wanted to see the stream and not cars in the middle of a busy highway, we just went off the cab and luckily, right in front of us was a tourist information center. We almost cringed of amused embarrassment when the tourism officer told us that we were actually in Cheonggyecheon stream---all we had to do was go down the stairs on one side of the highway and we will be at the stream! What could the taxi driver have thought about us?! But how are we supposed to know that? How are we supposed to know that a stream can be found in the middle of a highway?

Lesson learned? Put a little faith on the locals.

What a pity that because of the extremely cold temperature that night, we weren’t able to take photos of the stream. So we just ended up sitting on one side of the stream while people watching (it never fails) and half-hoping that the people that we dearly love could share that exact moment, including the happy buzz caused by Seoul’s energy, with us.

(photo credits: google images)

Cheonggyecheon is actually a creek in the midst of downtown Seoul that connects to the Han river, and finally empties into the Yellow Sea. During the rapid post-war economic development, when a lot of people migrated to downtown Seoul, shabby makeshift houses were built alongside it which resulted to the accumulated trash and waste. It was then required to cover it up with concrete and in 1968, an elevated highway was built over it.

In 2003, the Seoul mayor, Lee Myung-Bak initiated a restoration project of the stream. It was an ambitious project as it was not only the elevated highway that should be removed but also the years of neglect that left the stream almost totally dry. It was opened to the public in 2005 and was lauded as a major success in urban renewal and beautification.

We tried step-hopping on these stones too, to cross to the other side!

This was like the exact spot where Ahne and I sat to do Seoulite-watching.

…and this is proof why Korea is on my top list of the romance bustling cities of the world. This particular scene made us wish that there was actually some shoulders, no let me rephrase that, that there was actually THE shoulder beside us to lean our heads into.

A stretch of the Chenggyecheon stream amidst the bustling highways and towering buildings of Seoul---proof that nature can comfortably exist with development. If this city can do it in a mere stream which has actually a misplaced location city-planning-wise, why couldn’t we do it with our Pasig river, or with our own Manila Bay?