Confession: when I was taking these pictures, I very seriously considered playing a joke on the internet by claiming that Seoul was being bombed and these were pictures of the destruction.
They are not. I repeat: they are not pictures of destruction being rained down upon us by Kim Jong Un and his minions.
Although, it did give me an idea of what the heroine was feeling in every post-apocalyptic movie ever.
Today I went on an excursion with a group of photographers to an abandoned neighborhood just outside of Seoul. I missed most of the pre-excursion background talk about it because I was busy with more important matters (read: getting a snack), but the basic story is that this area became abandoned for one reason or another and was slated for demolition, but some residents refused or couldn't afford to leave so it's just been slowly crumbling into the ground for years.
Boy, was this place creepy to walk around in. What you can't get from the pictures is the smell. The whole area (about 25 square blocks) smelled like an attic. Or an antique shop. Or your grandparents' house. You know the smell. That "old" smell.
The other really strange thing was the silence. Seoul is a very noisy city, but you don't really notice it until it stops. This place was utterly silent, save for the crackling of broken glass under our feet or the swish of a plastic bag drifting across the road like an un-biodegradable tumbleweed.
Without further ado, here are the pictures:
In other news, my nose has turned into a leaky faucet and my head feels like it's all full of ick. Since I LITERALLY JUST FINISHED being sick, I've decided to blame these most recent symptoms on yellow dust. Stupid Asia.
They are not. I repeat: they are not pictures of destruction being rained down upon us by Kim Jong Un and his minions.
Although, it did give me an idea of what the heroine was feeling in every post-apocalyptic movie ever.
Today I went on an excursion with a group of photographers to an abandoned neighborhood just outside of Seoul. I missed most of the pre-excursion background talk about it because I was busy with more important matters (read: getting a snack), but the basic story is that this area became abandoned for one reason or another and was slated for demolition, but some residents refused or couldn't afford to leave so it's just been slowly crumbling into the ground for years.
Boy, was this place creepy to walk around in. What you can't get from the pictures is the smell. The whole area (about 25 square blocks) smelled like an attic. Or an antique shop. Or your grandparents' house. You know the smell. That "old" smell.
The other really strange thing was the silence. Seoul is a very noisy city, but you don't really notice it until it stops. This place was utterly silent, save for the crackling of broken glass under our feet or the swish of a plastic bag drifting across the road like an un-biodegradable tumbleweed.
Without further ado, here are the pictures:
In other news, my nose has turned into a leaky faucet and my head feels like it's all full of ick. Since I LITERALLY JUST FINISHED being sick, I've decided to blame these most recent symptoms on yellow dust. Stupid Asia.
did you feel like you were on the set of a zombie apocalypse move/tv show only without the zombies??
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what it felt like.
DeleteHi, can i Know where is this place? munhong.chen@gmail.com
ReplyDelete