Take a Walk in My Neighborhood

 Bundang-gu is the largest and most populous district of Seongnam, a major city in the Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. Bundang is one of South Korea's wealthiest and highest developed areas, being the nation's first and largest completely artificial city built in the early 1990s. Many high-rise luxury condos moved in the early 2000s. Apartments and the high-rise luxury condos around Sunae Station rival prices in the most expensive areas in the country. Unlike older cities such as Seoul, Bundang has no telephone poles overground, resulting in a clean cityscape with well-designed streets.

Bundang is the headquarters of Korea's leading IT companies such as Naver and KT. Pangyo's Technovalley is home to the country's leading game, entertainment and technology companies such as KakaoTalk, Samsung Techwin, AhnLab, Nexon, NCSOFT and Hancom. Due to its close proximity to Seoul's affluent commercial center, Gangnam District, many residents also commute to Gangnam Station. 

Bundang is home to many Koreans who lived overseas and the European-styled cafe streets serving brunch and pastas reflect their culture. The city has a high percentage of parks and greenspace, most notably Bundang Central Park and Yuldong Park, which is built around the Bundang lake. Bundang's Seoul National University Hospital is among the largest in South Korea.

This is my building, Royal Palace, Housevill. I don't know why they left off the "e" in ville.  I'm on the 16th floor. On the second floor is a doctor's office, fitness center, dry cleaner, playground, restaurant, travel agency, store etc,.

 

Just a block outside of my building is a 25K riverside walk/rideway that has all sorts of opportunities for exercise including bike paths, workout machines, golf, volleyball, dog parks, childrens climbing structures etc,. I try to walk for an hour after school everyday. It is so pleasant and cheerful.

 

Clean bathrooms along the paths.

There's lots of food available in the hood. You can have anything delivered. My goal is to learn enough Koran to be able to call and order a meal delivered to my apartment. On Sunday the recycle area is stacked eight feet high with empty delivery boxes.  Also, no delivery charge and no tipping! As you can see by the above photo they deliver on four wheelers as well as scooters.

Traditional Korean style restaurant. You cook your own meat/veggies. This is the most popular style of dining for the locals.

Some of the signs miss the mark a bit in translation!

This pedestrian boulevard is just steps outside of my building goes along for about five blocks.  It's lined with restaurants, shops, and some street vendors selling socks, hats and food.

Wanna buy a Mini Cooper? You'll have to take this one off the front of the building! 

The local grocery store.

Yeah they're ubiquitous. 

I like to look at pics of the food before I decide.

Guess what they are serving!

Mobile phone stores and coffee houses are on every street.

This is the big department store, Lotte, a block away from my place. It's like a Nordstrom but way more expensive!  My favorite part is the bottom floor that has a huge food court and grocery store.  

There are 700 Starbucks in Seoul, and growing! They do not sell drip coffee, everyone orders sugary latte type drinks. It'll set you back about $7 each.

7-Elevens are huge here.

The Baskin and Robbins is just one of the many ice cream shops. I love a locally made cantaloupe flavored ice cream bar.

Vendor selling hats.  Notice the Dunkin Donuts in the background--they are everywhere.