A blog about Korean Transportation

Most of my blogs have been about specific experiences I've gone through since being in Korea or relating to various epiphonies I've had. This one is going to be a bit different. I think it's important I also write about things here that strike me as odd or different from Canadian culture. To further my appreciation for my own country and culture and help others understand Korean culture a bit more.
So this blog is delving into the fascinating world of Korean transportation. For starters, Seoul has an area of around 600 square kilometres...making it smaller than New York or London. Crammed within this 600 square kilometre boundary are over 10 million people giving it one of the highest population densities in the world. And thanks to Wikipedia, I just learned that Seoul has just over 3 million cars registered to various drivers across the city. So here are the facts: 600 square kilometres, 10 million people, 3 million cars. I hope this is painting the picture required to comprehend the transportation situation in Seoul, Korea.
So here are some generalities about Koreans behind the wheel of a car (mainly taxi cabs since that's been my experience with automobiles and Koreans). First things first: red lights appear to guidelines as opposed to strict unbreakable rules. The red light here takes on the responsibility of an amber light back home...slow down, stop if you have to, look around for oncoming traffic, if there is none proceed with caution, if there is oncoming traffic continue to inch up until it's clear to go. Needless to say the first time I was in a cab that ran a red light I nearly had a heart attack. I quickly learned though that it's a common habit.
My second point: Signalling is optional and therefore, not used on a frequent basis. It's gotten to the point now where I'm actually a bit surprised if my cab driver turns on his indicator before merging into the next lane. I guess when there are millions of cars on the road the general politeness of letting someone know you're coming into their lane gets tossed out the window.
A third observation: And this really just an observation and can't fall under the generalities of Korean drivers as a whole. During the summer months when having the windows down seems like a no brainer, some cabbies feel the need to roll up their windows when passing under a bridge or when in a tunnel. Now I found this quite interesting so I made a couple inquiries to the Korean teachers at my school. Apparently, the pollution is believed to be worse under bridges and in tunnels so drivers will often roll up their windows in an attempt to keep this "worse" pollution out of their cars. So apparently rolling up the windows in these situations can somehow negate the fact that you've been walking around all day breathing in the exhaust fumes from 3 million cars/trucks (most of which have strange black/grey/blue smoke sputtering out the exhaust) . I suppose there have been stranger superstitions. Let's just say Korea isn't exactly enforcing any kind of clean driving habits like the good old emissions testing we undergo in Ontario. I am now more appreciative of those old 80s and 90s vehicles getting kicked off Canadian roads for having substandard emissions. Korea could learn a thing or two and many lungs would be saved.
A fourth note: U-Turns!! In Toronto one can often see a plethra of "No U-Turn" signage on any given day. In Korea, there are U-Turn lanes everywhere. Again something learned from my Korean educators, since Korean streets are often not labelled with street signs people here tend to get lost all the time when driving from Point A to Point B. Hence the U-Turn lanes. Instead of creating street signs at major intersections or at the cross sections of roads, there are instead a ton of U-Turn lanes for the everyday lost driver. Which are taken advantage of at all times. This leads me to my fifth point.
There are hardly ANY street signs. I learned this one from my Lonely Planet book on Korea. Buildings were assigned numbers based on the time they were built. For example, if my apartment building was built in 1970 it could've been given the number 12. The apartment building next door was built in say, 1965 and it was given the number 38. Building numbers do not coincide with one another like the do at home. To go along with this confusing building arrangement. Hardly any streets have signage letting a driver know what road their on. Only major roads have signs indicating their street name (the street my school is on for example is Singil-dong aka Singil Road) and these signs aren't posted at all light intersections. So my main point here is when directing a cab driver to a destination you rarely ever give them a street name (cause they probably won't know what you're talking about). You give a cab driver the name of a well known building or landmark near your destination. For example, I could never direct a cabbie to my apartment building, they would have have no idea where I was talking about if I said Yerim Villa, Singil-dong in Youngdeungpo-gu. Instead I tell all cabbies to take me to the nearby Air Force Club which is literally a one minute walk from my building, thank goodness. For some reason, every cab driver knows the Air Force Club building! Phoentically the Air Force Club in Korean is "Gone-Goon-Hey-Gwon". Gone like Gone with the Wind, Goon like the Goonies, Hey like Hey hows it going?, and Gwon like my Jamaican friends saying "Whats gwon". I have no idea the actual literal spelling of Gone-Goon-Hey-Gwon. All I know is this simple phrase always gets me home no matter what. When travelling to Manz and Lou's house I direct my cabbie to the nearby police station in their district. I live in Youngdeungpo-gu and they live in Gangseo-gu. So I tell my cabbie, phoentically, "Kang-so-gu-chung" which means the Gangseo-gu police station. Ah the joys of living and commuting around Korea :)
Well there you have it, a small insight into the transportation quirks of this immensely populated city. I'm going to write a few more blogs about things pertaining to the Korean culture so look out for more in the future!
In a place where you don't really know where your cab driver will take you or if he/she (although I've never had a female cab driver) will understand you, you're always thankful when a) you arrive at the right destination b) you arrive alive c) you didn't get lost once d) if you got lost once you're grateful it wasn't twice and e) the fair was under $10!