2 April 2024
Korean Yokohama
Day trip to Incheon Chinatown
Rest day. Hot weather, low 20's, very unexpected. I decided to take a subway / train to the neighbouring city that is basically still part of Seoul but if you tell the people that live there that they will probably get angry - the second largest city in South Korea of Incheon. The city is the main port, it is also where the airport is, although that is far from where I was today and on an island, and it is also a city with a lot of history of Japanese rule and USA war efforts.
I have actually stayed in the Incheon downtown area a few visits to Korea ago, but that also is quite far from where I was today.
Today the main tourist area is the Chinatown part at the end of subway line 1, it is a lot like the Chinatown in Yokohama. I had been there twice before, and so today I went for a third time.
How was that for a long winded introduction full of circular references?
Getting to Incheon takes about 70 minutes from central areas of Seoul, surprisingly there is no high speed train, although I believe a repurposed existing line is nearing completion. There are express trains but those stop one stop prior to the actual station labelled Incheon, so my top tip is to get off at DongIncheon and walk, or change to the slow train for the final stop. My journey today took me from Incheon station, through Chinatown, around the American Korean freedom association monuments of remembrance, victory and resilience, then into the Sinpo market area and back to DongIncheon station. I got burnt.
The final stop on the line exits right by the main gate to Chinatown. This area does not really kick off until the afternoon, I was here at 10am.
A lack of people meant I could get a lot of shots of clear streets.
There are a number of dim sum (dian xin) places to choose from if you feel like deep fried breakfast.
I love my camera. Look how 3d this photo appears to be! I believe it is called micro contrast, and probably does not exist.
There is a park at the top of the hill, with the characters representing the Chinese zodiac. I was having flashbacks to my two previous visits.
This is a monument to the American / Korean centenary of cooperation. There is no angle to take a photo of the whole thing properly.
This is a weird photo. In person, the pollution today was horrific, and yet the photo shows a far clearer scene than my eyes perceived at the time. Perhaps I have developed mentally generated pollution goggles?
Here is General MacArthur, or GenMac as he prefers to be called these days. Famous for riding a horse head long into battle across 5 different wars while smoking a pipe, and never once getting a scratch on him. Ordinarily I would have stood in the middle of the path and tried to line up the statue for the photo, but the statue is weirdly off centre which annoys me. Move it.
Nearby is the Korea Telecom monument. Actually it is on top of a somewhat historic telegraph station building.
I tried to push this over.
Gay pandas. The local mega churches protest their right to exist.
Here are a few more bonus red lanterns.
At this point, I headed in a random direction to explore an area I had not been to on previous visits. There were many historic buildings and little garden areas such as this one. And of course many fancy cafes.
This for example, is the 1st National Bank of Japan. Built during occupation in the late 1800's.
Eventually I found my way into the shopping area of Sinpo, which was somewhat busier than Chinatown.
I considered stopping at Goat / Koala cafe for a third coffee, but unfortunately it was a bit late in the day for me to intake any more caffeine.
Shotengi (Japanese covered shopping street) Korean style, in the Chinese part of Korea.
And finally, a huge underground mall back to DongIncheon station. I decided to walk along it to avoid any more sun as today I was not wearing sunscreen.