I met up with my suite mate, Soon Min, in Seoul and we took the train out to Incheon together. First we went to get a bite to eat, of course. We stopped over in Sinpo Market and grabbed this popular chicken dish called Dak Kang Jeong (닭강정). It was delicious. The chicken is deep fried so it was super crispy and the sauce was sweet and spicy. It's spicier than the regular chicken I have tasted but the spicy-ness wasn't that much for me to handle. However, my suite mates that ate the left overs said it was quite spicy.
Next we took a nice walk after lunch to go and find Juja Park. There is a statue of General MacArthur here commemorating his service during the war and helping Korea gain freedom. The park wasn't that far from the market where we ate lunch, but it was still a trek. Took us about 20 minutes to walk there at a semi leisurely pace.
The view from the park was pretty amazing. You can see the ocean and all the cargo containers because Incheon is a major port city. After that we walked down to Chinatown since its right next to each other. Everything was super easy to find because there were signs with arrows pointing in all the right directions.
We walked these steps that had a statue of Confucius. The stairs separated the Japanese settlements from the Chinese. So on one part of the block you will see Japanese style architecture and then on the other Chinese style structures. Incheon's Chinatown is the largest official one in Korea.
In Chinatown I also found LEGIT bubble tea. I've mentioned this before, you are able to get bubble tea at Dunkin Donuts but I heard its mediocre. I've also ran into some other places where I've seen you can add bubbles, but I wasn't too compelled to try it. Since this particular place was in Chinatown, I thought it might be closer to the stuff we have at home. Also the menu was written in Traditional Chinese so I was super excited. One step closer to real bubble tea. It turned out to be delicious!!! Not cheap but it was good.
After this Soon Min took me to Wolmido Amusement Park and a Korean Culture Park. Wolmido has a pier and the viking is one of the most popular rides. I was told when the amusement park first started the viking was one of the original rides.
I didn't feel like riding any of the rides, but I really wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel so we can get a better view! The weather was beautiful and warm, so we got a really nice view of the water and the buildings below.
I love it when the water sparkles from the sun shining on it.
Lastly while walking through the traditional Korean Park we had a chance to wear hanboks dressed like the royals. They even had the hair pieces, they were super heavy. I cannot imagine what it'd be like to have to wear all that hair all day long. I think my neck would have broken.
To finish off the day we went shopping in Incheon's biggest underground mall located at Bu Pyeong Station. I had a really nice time and was so happy that my suite mate had time to show me around. Other people told me they found Incheon boring, but I had a really great time exploring a place I've never been. Plus I am used to the "slower" kind of life since Vancouver is a mid tempo city. I'd recommend you visit Incheon, even if it's just for a day, while in Korea. It definitely has a completely different feel than Seoul.
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