For a long time in Korea, I used the word home as the placeholder of the city I had left to come to another country. As time marched on and that, “just one more year, probably” became a more permanent move, I grew to call Seoul my home and St. Louis, back home. I’m sure this is no surprise for someone who has lived abroad for some time.

Nonhyeon has been my home for over three years now. I’ve grown to love certain dimensions of it and not love, to be kind, other parts. The nightlife, for one, has grown very tiresome. I’m too old, too sensitive, and too picky to want to see some of the scenes I’ve witnessed. Just ungodly things…on my way to work at 8:30 am for the most part.

However, on the other side of that crazy coin, Nonhyeon is getting much more adorable. If you avoid the main strip of bars and noraebangs with drunks out until 2 or 3 in the afternoon from the night before, you can find loads of coffee shops with kind clerks, florists who try their hardest to speak English to a person who after four years in Korea still can’t speak Korean, a few bakeries, a traditional market, a french patisserie, at least one escape room and loads of decent restaurants. In the daytime, Nonhyeon is my home. At night, I could take it or leave it. It is so very Korean that way, the two sides that make something at once both perfect and detestable.

This will be a new series for the blog. As my time will inevitably wind down here in Seoul, I will be looking for all the good I’ve grown to love.

Gateaux de Voyage

I will feature this place soon! I have a whole blog about a tasting that will make you squeal with jealousy.

Yeongdong Traditional Market

How to get there: Nonhyeon Station (Line 7, Exit 2). First left.

To get around:

The area I took photos in can technically be in Nonhyeon dong and Banpo dong. In between Sinonhyeon and Nonhyeon Stations, you can explore on either side of the main street, Gangnam Daero to find all the adorability.