By the time we got there it had already started to pour, but we were confident that this would just be a passing rain, so we (eventually) got on a bus toward the ferry terminal to buy our tickets. We hadn't been able to find a ferry schedule online so buying the tickets was actually less important than finding out when the ferry actually ran. However, as my Dad would say, we probably should have dug the shit out our ears, because we heard the bus stop:"blahblahblahyo wharf" announced, thought it was our stop, and got off the bus way too early. We were close enough to walk the rest of the way to the terminal, but we wasted a lot of time and it wasn't the nicest area to walk through. Not that it was dangerous or anything, but I saw some rats scurrying around and there was nothing much around besides loads of seafood restaurants with tanks outside full of creatures far more likely to eat me than vice versa.
When we finally got to the ferry terminal to get our tickets, it was closed. *insert cursing here* We decided to salvage the night with a trip to Wolmido. Wolmido is a pleasant promenade parallel to the bridge which takes you to Incheon Airport. This strip along the harbor is lined with seafood restaurants, cafes and an amusement park.
However, maybe it was the rain (which had since passed) keeping people away, but the place was deserted and there's nothing quite as haunting as an abandoned amusement park and old ladies sitting in the darkness whispering "fishee" as you walk by, hoping that you'll dine in their restaurant. We didn't really spend a whole lot of time at Wolmido.
I did have a chance to meet a new hamburger friend, at least. Mmmmm, friends with benefits.
During our taxi ride to Wolmido we passed by Incheon's Chinatown, which we had planned to visit the next day but we figured it might make for a better way to spend the rest of the evening than Wolmido. So we flagged down another taxi and took a cheap two or three dollar ride to Chinatown, right across from Incheon Subway Station.
The Chinatown is basically a bunch of Korean restaurants inside of Chinese-looking buildings, featuring loads of Chinese-style lanterns hanging on the streets. There wasn't a sweet and sour chicken ball to be found!
What Incheon basically looks and feels like.
In Chinatown we went to a galbi place (how Chinese!) and had samgyupsal and mul naengmyon (cold vinegary noodles). I had never understood the appeal of cold noodles, but recently I've become a fan, especially when paired with BBQ. All this and two beers for around ten dollars each. Hot.
We've decided that half of the fun of traveling around Korea is finding a place to stay. We always spend the night in Love Motels. These places rent by the hour or night, but they are usually pimped right out and are super cheap. Lately we've been pretty savvy with our motel choices, refusing the room if it doesn't have a personal jacuzzi, but Incheon didn't have much to choose from and we wound up at this place called the Hong Kong Hotel that was pretty disappointing. I mean, it was only thirty dollars a night, but it didn't even have a bathtub. I've never stayed in a love motel without a bathtub. The pillows were also about 6 inches taller than they should have been so it was like sleeping on the street with the curb as your pillow. Cozy. Oy, my neck!
However, even the crappiest love motel has its perks, and the plasma screen TV was a good one during World Cup season. We watched the Meegoo-Sulohvakeeuh game, downloaded some BBUK and hit the hay; heads firmly rested on the curb.
We decided to visit Jeonju instead. This might seem a little random, since it's three hours south of Incheon, but we had already been debating between Deokjeokdo and Jeonju for the weekend, so why not?
Before leaving scummy Incheon we walked past a bunch of netting and chain stores and hiked up a crapload of stairs through Chinatown to see the statue of US General Douglas MacArthur in Freedom Park. He did some business pushing the North Koreans out of Incheon during the Korean War and is honored with this (somewhat controversial) statue.
Before leaving scummy Incheon we walked past a bunch of netting and chain stores and hiked up a crapload of stairs through Chinatown to see the statue of US General Douglas MacArthur in Freedom Park. He did some business pushing the North Koreans out of Incheon during the Korean War and is honored with this (somewhat controversial) statue.
Even if it was fake and small, I'm still a sucker for the sights and colors of Chinatown. And we did have fun making fun of Incheon.
Even though Baghdad is soooo famous for their coffee, we skipped this cafe and got on a train to the Incheon bus terminal, about 40 minutes away.We bought our tickets and got some lunch at the terminal before getting on our bus. The bus was really comfortable because the chairs were basically like laz-e-boys... I actually fell asleep for awhile and Mel even reported dreaming. We were woken by the sound of the bus telling us that it was time to have a rest stop and I dazzled the driver with my Korean skills by asking how long the stop would be.
I was told that I would only have 15 minutes to enjoy the lactation room.
An hour later we were in Jeonju and were very pleased by the abundance of love motels around the bus terminal.There must have been 20 or more. Really, how many people are visiting Jeonju? I'm pretty sure the whole city could fit in these 20 love motels. Anyway, we tried about 5 of them before finding one with an in-room jacuzzi to our liking and we were very happy when we got to the room!
A round bed! And the butterflies on the wall have blinking neon eyes if you (for some reason) choose that setting on the light switch.
After checking-in. our first stop was Jeonju Hanok Village, which looks like what most people at home probably think all of Korea looks like.
The Hanok Village was massive, with loads of charming little streets to explore. The little buildings we full of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. It was so nice walking around there- we really loved it.
A man encouraged us to walk through with collection of kimchi urns, so we did. I reckon there's nothing more thrilling than a good kimchi jar.
Random palace grounds.
Random Suwon-looking gate... on Paldal-ro no less.
We got some directions from a man who held our map upside down but still assured us we were going the right way to the main shopping market area in Gosa-dong. We wanted to have a look around and get some supper before heading back to the hotel for the night. The shopping area was pretty much like any of the ones in Seoul, but it was nice. We were enjoying our supper of Mr. Pizza when that storm that had been toying with us all day finally hit, complete with lightning and everything. Of course, we'd been cocky and left our umbrellas at the hotel so we ran to a store to buy some cheap ones and then headed back to our hotel.
On the way there we passed by a Telephone, coffee AND can drinks machine, truly the multi-tasking machine of the future.
One of the charming things about love motels is the ads you see in the elevators.
We hit the jacuzzi, watched some more BBUK and got some sleep. When we woke up we dived into the jacuzzi one more time before catching a bus to Jinan. In Jinan we hoped to get some lunch but there weren't any non-fried chicken restaurants open in the area where the bus terminal was so we improvised by having a convenience store lunch of bulgogi, rice cakes and ice cream. It was pretty good. After lunch I browsed through the new issue of "Nude Story" magazine before we left.
I read online that there was a quick 5-minute bus ride available between Jinan and Maisan Provincial Park (our destination for the day) but neither of us could be assed to figure out the local bus system (Jinan is very smallness). A $10 taxi ride got us to the park and right from the start we could see the unique stone-faced mountains and we knew we were in a cool spot. We followed a path through loads of food vendors and souvenir shops blaring Justin Bieber music (is there no escape??) as we approached the base of the trail. A few employees at the visitors center were happy to hold our heavy backpacks for us while we hiked around.
Some of the souvenir shops were selling carved wooden penises... what is with Korean parks and giant penises?
A few minutes into the trail is this cool temple pumping traditional music (no Bieber?) with loads of interesting statues and pagodas surrounding it.
Next we passed by this lake with lots of gigantic hungry fish jumping in it. It was quite scenic with the mountains in the background. At the far end of the lake a man was renting swan paddleboats and we made a mental note to stop back here if we had time.
Another 15 minutes of walking and we arrived at Tapsa temple, easily one of the coolest places I've seen in Korea.
Tapsa is surrounded by 80 stone pagodas that are famous because they've never fallen. They aren't cemented together or anything, and regardless of the weather they never move. Pretty cool.
The were lots of other statues, temples and monuments around this area and it was just a chill place to take in. The steep stone cliff to the left of the temple somehow had little statues and pagodas places in its caves as well.
We continued on and thought we could hear thunder as we walked on the trail. We were cursing ourselves for leaving our umbrellas in our backpacks back at the Visitors Center but then we saw this giant drum and realized what was making that thunderous noise. I'd be lying if I said I only banged it once.
We reached the bottom of the mountain that we'd hoped to hike but it was closed for some reason that was only explained on a Korean-language sign. I think Mel might have been slightly happy that she didn't have to hike it.
As we headed back down there were some posters giving more information about the park. For some reason in the winter if you set out a bucket of water the ice will freeze in a pagoda shape, sort of like the way the stone pagodas around Tapsa were built. The mountains have also grown in this shape and nobody knows why.
We bought a beer and rented one of those paddleboats we'd seen earlier. The adjoshi working gave us a few paper cups and sent us on our way at a $2 discount. Sweet! It was sunny and relaxing on the water and we were so happy that we made the trip to Maisan Park.
We had another hour to kill before the bus arrived to take us back to Jeonju (it only runs like 3 times a day) so we got a light supper at a BBQ place that we'd passed by earlier. We ordered some sort of galbi and it was delicious. The guy working there BBQed everything fresh over an open fire and the smokey taste of the meat tasted so good. After we were done he told us we'd eaten "black pig" which sounds normal enough, I'm just glad that we didn't wind up ordering this by mistake:
I have no idea what kind of little birds these guys are but they still have their heads and feet!!! BARF!And with that, we were on our way back to Seoul for the night. Maybe, MAYBE we'll finally get to Deokjeokdo next weekend?? I won't hold my breath! It couldn't have been as fun as Jeonju anyway :)
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