Late Summer in Seoul

Late Summer in Seoul

Summer in Seoul can be sweltering.  High summer, i.e. July and August, can be downright tropical.  The torrid temperatures often drag on into September.  Sometime in that month, though, the heat begins to subside, leaving one of my favourite times of year to emerge.    

It's also typhoon season.  There is an upside to the dangerous downsides of these seasonal tempests, namely dramatic skies.

Pre-typhoon sky over Haebangchon in 2013.

After a typhoon has come through you also get amazingly clear skies, which is a good time to go hiking on the Seoul walls.

Cityscape seen from the eastern Seoul wall.

Clear afternoons are also conducive to impromptu sundowners.  Haebangchon, or HBC, where I lived for my last 6 years in Seoul, had great views thanks to its hillside perch.  

Improvised drinks on my friend's rooftop overlooking the Yongsan district, 2014.

It was only a short walk from my place around the side of Nam San (literally, the South Mountain) to the Grand Hyatt.  If you did it at dusk -- after the heat and before the mosquitoes -- the walk was very pleasant.  

The Grand Hyatt Hotel seen at dusk from the south side of Nam San, 2015.

Another feature of late summer that I always loved was the early harvest fruit and vegetables.  There was a wet market in my immediate neighbourhood, as well as half a dozen greengrocers.  This was my haul one September day.  

I used to love the concord grapes that appeared every year at this time.

The cooler weather also made going to the Dongmyo flea markets more enjoyable -- not that I ever let the heat keep me away, you understand.  It was on a temperate September Sunday that I found this folding screen.

I just managed to wrestle this screen into a taxi.  

I'm told that this year (2016) the heat has been extreme.  Courage, Seoul friends, relief is coming soon!

Posted on 08/09/2016 Countries, Korea 0

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