Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tuesday's Incheon City Tour

This is going to be an intensely photo based post. Tuesday I actually was brave enough to venture to the bus stop alone and take the bus to the subway and then figure out how to get where I was going. This adventure was made easy by Mel giving me some detailed directions. She only left out a few minor details.
There are a few things I want to mention about transportation here. First of all, you get on at the front of the bus but you exit it in the middle. This was confusing, no one had told me that. Secondly, the cabs have shoulder strap seatbelts in the back but you aren't supposed to wear them. Most of the cabs i have been in don't even have buckles to buckle the strap into! The first time the cabbie laughed at me and said something about it to me in Korean. Getting in and out of subway stations should be easy.. it's actually confusing. There are too many exits lol. I don't think I'll get lost leaving my exit again as long as I remember it's by the earring store.
My breakfast, strawberry flakes with apple chips


Once I got off the subway in Incheon I went directly to my left where the tourist center was. There was a super nice, older lady there who spoke English and she explained the types of tours to me and how to go about getting on and off if I wanted to. I paid my 1500won and then hung out for an hour waiting for my bus to arrive. Across the street was Chinatown but I didn't wander over just in case I got sidetracked and missed the tourbus.
my lonely subway ride


getting off the subway


CHINATOWN

WELCOME TO CHINATOWN


Once I was on the bus, an older man sat me down and was asking me all sorts of questions. He was telling me that he'd been to California 3 times and was asking me where I was from and if I had a poy-friend. haha. I love the b/p sounds here. He asked me if I was going to go eat fish with chopsticks. This confused me a little but I found out why he was asking me just a short while later.
This is Wolmido Garden, very pretty

Incheon Inner Port - the largest port in the Oriental countries, according to the guide, and 6th largest in the world.

another view of the water and port

a huge ship

this says CLEAN INCHEON - there are signs everywhere about how clean cities are

this is part of Yeonan Fish Market, it's very well known.. and the old man wanted to take me to lunch here.. however I stayed on the bus

The entrance to In Spa

in small letters it says In Spa

a sign for another city we were going into

these AMAZING mountains


a better view of how rocky they are

if you need a mechanic, go to one of these places

cool architecture at Songdo Park ( i think that's where this is)

In Songdo there are signs for stuff everywhere

In Songdo again - the #1st World

some HUGE buildings

yes, the building says I'm Nature - this sort of English is on buildings everywhere you go

oh look! the POLICE!

this is a cool sign in Namdong

an autobody shop, the red sign in small letters says "Happy Auto Life"


i think this is the Incheon flag, they were flying everywhere

we were stuck on a blocked street for a longtime, and this is what was out my window!

the Munhak Stadium, some world series sort of games have been played here

typical buildings

and then my tour was done! and back to the subway


When I arrived at Songnae Station, i had to pee. So I tried the bathroom for the first time. Luckily I had tissue and there was also a roll outside. Talk about interesting!

now, I wait for the bus

when I got off at the wrong stop, I had a chance to see lots of sculptures on my walk home

like this awesome one of hands!

We had Nepalese food, I got the chicken korma - its drumsticks, not dramasticks and it's served in a bowl with creamy marsala sauce and i had garlic nan with it. DELICIOUS


a visual of greatness! the bread went fantastic with the curry

fresh fishes anyone? these are EVERYWHERE

the Batman bar haha

a stop sign

Bucheon, at night


Hope you are all enjoying this blog so far. I'm always impressed with how many photos I take and I bet some of them aren't as interesting to you as they are to me, but oh well.
Today it is super rainy so I have no idea if I will go out, if I do it will be to something inside, for sure. No random outside walkings for me today!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love the sculpture of all the people piled on. Do you know the symbolism or the history? I'm intrigued

Billi said...

Izzy - Korea is all about children and I think that this sculpture just goes to show how happy and loved the kids are here. But that is just my opinon.