Incheon/Seoul March 15th

Sailing into Incheon harbor is very interesting. We approached the harbor at about 6:00am, sailing under a beautiful suspension bridge. Once under the bridge, we entered a lock which separates the open sea from Incheon harbor. The sea level is about two feet lower than that of the harbor. Once inside the lock, the gate behind us closed, then water was pumped into the lock, before the front gate opened. Very similar to transiting the Panama Canal, but on a much smaller scale, and a lot less rise in water level. It was raining quite hard in Incheon, but as we had scheduled a full day tour of Seoul, we boarded our bus for the hour ride into the main downtown area of Seoul.

Seoul is a huge modern city of about 10-11 million people. Our first stop was at the old King’s Palace near the North Mountain in the City. When we arrived, the rain was still coming down, so it was a pretty soggy tour of the Palace grounds, which included the King’s house, the Queen’s house and the King’s mother’s house, and surrounding gardens. After viewing the outside sights, we spent some time at the Korean Folkloric Museum, located on the Palace grounds.

After the museum, we enjoyed a fantastic Korean BBQ lunch at a local Seoul restaurant, then spent some time at the Han Cultural Center and Park, where there are displays of a typical Korean village, circa 17th/18th century, then to the Southgate market place, where we were able to stroll through the many shops selling almost everything imaginable. By this time, the weather had cleared, and the mountains surrounding Seoul were clearly visible.

On the way back to Incheon, it was interesting to notice how small stores, selling related products, were grouped in a particular neighborhood. We noticed how one street, for several blocks, was primarily dedicated to home improvement/home construction type businesses, while on other streets we noticed stores dedicated to selling office furniture, sewing machines, appliances, etc.

As with all the citites we’ve visited so far, we left Seoul wishing we’d had much more time to explore the city and the sidestreets, however now it’s on to Beijing.