Urban Exploration is a new name for something old. As a kid, I spent a lot of time exploring construction sites in my neighbourhood. In high school my friends brought me to an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Anyway, it turns out I was Urban Exploring.

Urban exploration is defined by Wikipedia as "the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of human civilization." This might include abandoned buildings, storm drains, subway tunnels, or off-limit areas in active buildings such as basements or rooftops. These places may be under heavy guard, or they might just be places people don't normally think to visit.

Seoul offers a lot for an urban explorer. While I would never fool around in the subway tunnels, there are tons of abandoned structures above ground, from apartment buildings and restaurants to high schools and universities, department stores, universities, and markets. Since 2005 we have found 17 sites to explore, 15 of those in 2007 when I really started searching.

My first urban exploration was with Paul in Dongdaemoon. There was a row of fire-scorched apartments down one side of Cheongyechon (then under construction). The main floors were still in use by various merchants, but the upper floors were empty. We found a staircase and went up a few flights to investigate. On the way down, we saw a sign that was totally in Korean except four letters: "CCTV." We went into the alley and hurried away. A police car started tailing us. Paul was worried, and I told him to just keep walking and act natural. The police car pulled up right behind us and blared its siren, and we kindly moved out of its way. I could see the driver chuckling to himself as he noted we were foreigners and therefore clueless about what predicament we¡¯d gotten ourselves in. Today, parts of Dongdaemoon are being demolished to make way for Lotte Castle, a mega apartment complex that will ensure that the area will be totally boring.

For a more thorough look at urban exploration in Korea, visit Condemned Seoul.