The subway station is like one which is stuck in time, very classical. Apparently built by the Russians, it is state of the art when it was being built.

How does one tell that this is a subway station? Apparently, there is always a big clock outside. All stations are underground, which is in a sense very forward looking because all modern cities prefer to build them underground. Of course, the Koreans did this probably because the subway also serve as their bomb shelter or they can use it to transport things in case of war.

Subway map; no new stations were added in the last decade.

At the gantry area…. looks like any modern subway.

There’s ONE long escalator which brings us down the platform; one of the deepest station in the world.

Though not as deep as some stations in Chongqing (because Chongqing is a mountainous city), it’s still very deep. In additional, the escalator is one LONG stretch, unlike most which will have a few shorter ones. If the escalator breaks down, it will be a long walk! I am rather impressed that all 3 escalators are working. Maintenance must be a pain!

At the platform, there are wall murals.

There are newspaper at the railway station which the commuters can read while waiting for their trains.

A Singaporean on Korean newspaper! Perhaps I was the first? Image Credit: San Francisco Chronicle

The trains are classic, which makes it beautiful. I saw one train had some minor vandalism… which makes the whole experience real and ‘human’. (See if you can spot it below.) You expect to see everything perfect, nah…. I prefer not.

We waited for our train, a few of the green and red train passed. Then this brand new empty train rolled into the station. You guessed it, it was for us….

Yes, very modern train….. even newer than our MRT.

I wish we had the chance to sit in the classic train… (I asked a few tourists and all said that they got to sit on the ‘normal’ classic one.)

After 1 station, we had to get off; wish we had a chance to see more stations really (I asked other tourists and they took only 1 station as well.) The next station looked rather similar, except the murals are different.

We got back on the long escalator back up to the surface…

a building outside the station…

Taxi waiting at the station… I took taxi 3 times on this trip… 😛

Outside view of the station…

children walking on the streets are common…

Interestingly, most of the subway stations doesn’t stop at tourist sights like Juche Towers or the Munsu Water Theme Park. These are near residential and work area so in case of war, people can quickly run into the stations.