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.
Jamsil cherry blossoms
It is peak blossom season in Seoul. As I mentioned before, Blossoms are not really my thing. The news feed on my phone alerted me to the lake at Jamsil, where the giant Lotte tower is, was now in peak blossom, and crowd control measures would be in place for the next 2 weeks, so that is where I went.
I have seen no evidence that there are Japanese style Hanami blossom office parties, where the boss takes all the office girls out to get them drunk on a picnic rug and tell them about how wonderfully each of them are blossoming. Really! That is apparently a thing to do. What I did see of course were thousands of people, walking in the same direction, stopping only to take photos, in areas fenced off by police tape with security guards yelling at people who tried to go back the wrong way.
The actual blossom display was not as overdone as I thought it would be, I thought there would be coloured strobe lights, lasers and smoke machines, but there was just the regular park lighting.
And now that I have described the blossoms in detail, I will declare that the pollution sunset over the river that I experienced before going to the blossoms was far more photogenic.
I love to point my camera directly at the sun and see what happens.
Even facing away from the sun this evening was quite nice. Note the glowing train going across the bridge.
Both sides of the river are a linear park very popular with cyclists. Getting under the highway that also runs along the river can be a logistical challenge, there are tunnels periodically.
I have wondered previously why there are no ferry's on the river here. Now I know why, the bridges are actually locks.
There is the Lotte tower. From this angle it does not look too tall due to the way it slopes back. It is has 123 story's and is the 6th tallest building in the world, at least for now. There are many rumours about its poor construction with cracking glass and water leaks leading to parts of the mall underneath being closed for extended repairs.
The whole area is Lotte themed buildings, hotels, malls, theme parks.
I decided to brave the cracking glass and water leaks and head down to the lowest level of the mall for some ramen. Ramen was not my first choice but finding a seat was difficult due to the blossoming blossom crowd.
Now for some blossom pics. As you can see, we all march in one direction, or else!
The blossoms continue all the way around both halves of the lake.
I have been here before and photographed the theme park in the lake during the day time. Here it is in the dark.
Last blossom shot. I am over blossomed.
OK, one more shot of the Lotte tower, a Lotte shot.
And there he is, the mascot for Lotteworld adventure. Furry mascots always have a walking stick, it seems they must get involved in horrible work place accidents, perhaps while constructing the Lotte tower?
Tomorrow is a hiking day! I will put on sunscreen.