Love for the Seoul Subway, but not the Carpenters

The Seoul subway system is super extensive but amazingly efficient. Ninety percent of the time I don't have to wait more than 5 minutes for a train to come. When I've had to wait a little longer, its never more than 10 minutes and it's usually cause I just missed a train.

On the platform, there are little footprints and arrows to indicate where people should stand to get on the train. They're never wrong. If you are standing on the footprints, a door will open exactly in front of you.

One thing thats tricky is that a stop can have 15 different exits that take you to various street corners, or different sides of the street. Most of the time it doesn't matter cause they are close enough together that you won't end up too far from where you want to be, but it can get a little confusing. They do have maps that show you where all the exits will take you. Most of the exits are associated with a well known place/tourist attraction. 

The trains are also clean and huge inside. There's a lot of standing room and the ride is smooth enough that you can just stand and not hold onto anything. People even come on the train to sell various products. A vendor will wheel in a carriage, stand in the middle of the train, and demonstrate what her/his product can do. If no one is impressed, s/he moves on to the next cart. Today, some lady busted out a boom box and played the Carpenters. She was selling some original pop CDs. Unfortunately, there was no love for the Carpenters on the train. 

Then there's the wonderful T money card. It's a card with a barcode that you load with money at the train station or at convenience stores. You can use it for taxis, buses, the subway, and other things. It gives you a discounted price on fares and transfers. When you enter the subway station you scan your card and it deducts an initial amount (800 won). You then scan your card where you get off and it takes off the appropriate amount of money depending on how far you've traveled. If you are only going 2 stops, it doesn't take off anymore.