A January Walk to Gungdong Park in Yeonhui-dong

An afternoon when winter let up
Starting on the Jeungga-ro footbridge

The first days of January had been cold enough to make going outside feel like a decision. After a run of temperatures below minus ten, the air finally hovered around freezing. It was the first afternoon in a while that made me want to walk somewhere.

I started on the footbridge over Jeungga-ro. I had photographed the view from there before. To the east lay the roads through Yeonhui-dong; to the west, Hongjecheon and the elevated road. Standing between them, I decided to go west, toward Gungdong Park.

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The stream and the viaduct

The traffic was still audible when I came down from the footbridge and joined the park path, but my view opened and I began to walk more slowly. Hongjecheon and the viaduct run alongside one another here. The way the water and concrete share the view feels unmistakably like Seoul.

There was no landmark demanding a photograph. I could see the cars moving quickly, the water moving at its own pace and a person walking in the space between them. Going slowly through the city is one of the ways I come to recognize it.

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A cairn with no sign

A small pile of stones caught my eye. There was no sign and no indication of who had made it. I always wonder, when I see one of these cairns, what wish somebody had in mind when they put a stone on top. It could have been something they wanted badly or a thought they had for just a moment.

I stopped to think about what I might wish for this year. I did not add a stone. Having enough time to pause there felt like part of what I had come out for.

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The cats in Gungdong Park

Farther into the park, a cat sat in the middle of the path. I expected it to slip away. It stayed just ahead of me instead, moving enough to keep the same distance between us. It felt as if I were being invited to follow.

Off the path was a little shelter someone had built. Several more cats were gathered around it. I knew I was making up a story as I went, but I liked the thought that the first one had brought me over to meet its family.

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The view opens toward Yeouido

On the way down, the city opened up at once. I could see toward the Gyeongui Line Forest Park and farther to Yeouido. On a clear day like that one, I could make out the 63 Building and The Hyundai Seoul. It had been a while since I had seen the city from that height.

The elevated lanes toward Gajwa Station were in view, too, with traffic backed up on a weekday afternoon. Before the sun went down, I took a long exposure. I liked that the things in a hurry and the things that seemed to have stopped could share one frame.

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A quiet end to the walk

The walk ended at Yeonhui Children’s Park. It had been a short route. By the time I got there, the cold had eased just enough for me to have seen the city from the footbridge, a stone cairn from close up and the distant towers from a hillside. I remember the cats somewhere in between.