Inching our way through Incheon

Given that we arrived in Incheon airport, we figured that we might as well do a bit of sightseeing in Incheon. What we didn't realize immediately is that it actually takes slightly longer via Airport Railroad and metro to get from the airport (or Airport Town Square, where we were) to Incheon than it does to get to Seoul. However, we had already done some research on what places to see in the third most populous city in South Korea so we decided to push through with a trip here. Our first stop: Chinatown.


The main point of interest in Incheon is Chinatown, the only official one in South Korea. You see the entrance to Chinatown as you step out of the metro station, so we decided to make our way through its uphill, winding streets to soak in the atmosphere and check out the shops. It was around noon when we got there so we decided to look for a place to eat. I tried looking for one of the many recommended restaurants in my Lonely Planet book - apparently one of the suggestions changed venues slightly and I eventually found it on a different street later that day - so my mom and I ended up having a quick and tasty dumpling lunch in one of the restaurants we saw along the way:


The coolest thing about the Incheon Chinatown is the mural street. Along the walls of this street are painted - in traditional Chinese painting style - the story of the Three Kingdoms, otherwise known as Sam Gukji.


It's unfortunate that I cannot read Chinese (or Korean for that matter) because I would have loved to understand what was being said in the captions (the only one available in English was the write-up in the first mural). Nevertheless, the paintings were made beautifully and it provides a wonderful sense of history and art in a most unexpected place.


Our next stop was Jayu Park (or Freedom Park) which is right next to Chinatown. We passed by the memorial commemorating the treaty of amity between Korea and the U.S.A.


We then made our way to the statue of General Douglas MacArthur to take a few photos.


We walked over to the Information Center to ask how to get to Wolmido, a small island where you can find amusement park rides, restaurants and cafes, and shops that line the boardwalk facing the sea. We weren't in the mood for thrill rides and we weren't hungry yet so we just headed down the boardwalk and took a few snapshots of the area.


Incheon doesn't really have any souvenir shops (the Information Center in Wolmido had a scant few, but my mom was looking for shirts with the words 'Korea' printed on them and the Info Center didn't carry any) so we decided to cap off our Korean trip by heading back to Seoul to look for souvenirs. We saw a pretty good shop in the Myeongdong metro station so we headed back there. We were quite near the Myeongdong Cathedral and since it was a Sunday, we decided to drop by. We still managed to catch part of the mass.


The rest of the evening was spent walking around the Myeongdong streets looking for stuff we could buy as souvenirs. It had kind of an upscale Divisoria feel to it, given the large crowds that were moving around.

After a few purchases on the Myeongdong streets and several more in the souvenir shop in the metro station (the saleslady there gave us a couple of fridge magnets for free since we purchased a whole lot of stuff from her both that night and the previous night), we took the metro back to Airport Town Square. It was around 930pm when we got 'home' and we luckily managed to find a Korean restaurant still open. Our last meal in South Korea and we finally got to eat some authentic Korean food! We had a really early flight the next day so after our hearty meal, we immediately headed back to our hotel.

It was another good, albeit short, trip with my mom. Given the relative ease of getting a visa to South Korea and the fact that Cebu Pacific offers budget flights to both Incheon and Busan, I would definitely recommend a visit to this wonderful country. More South Korea travel tips and recommendations, as well as a few final thoughts, in my next blog post.