Arrival at Incheon Airport
After leaving the UK Wednesday afternoon, we landed at a rainy Incheon at 10:00am the next day. Immigration was straightforward and very similar to Japan and customs was even easier, so it wasn’t long till we were out and sorting out how to get into the city. We made our way to the bus and train area where we were able to get T-money cards ready for the subway and book seats on the next coach to near our hotel in Seoul, a 90 minute ride away
Insadong
It was about 1 by the time we were at our hotel, so we left our bags ready to check in later and went to find some lunch. We decided to try a traditional mandu shop and see what Korean dumplings were like. We shared three types – steamed pork and vegetables, steamed pork and kimchi and the slightly more unusual fried pork and vegetable. The were far bigger than we were expecting (compared to gyozas especially) and very filling!
Namsan Tower
For an easy first day activity, we visited Namsan tower, one of the observation points overlooking the city. The tower is at the top of Namsan peak, so to get there we took a short subway ride and then rode on a cable car that took us to the top.
It was still fairly overcast and drizzly, but the clouds were high enough that we did manage to get a nice view of Seoul sprawling around and between the various mountains.
In the east we could see the huge Han river that divides Seoul, as well as Lotte Tower, the tallest building in South Korea.
Jet lag was kicking in, so we stopped for ice lattes with a view at a cafe on the observation floor of the tower.
And had an unexpected surprise when going to the bathroom. I was not expecting a floor to ceiling window!
Once we’d taken the cable car back down the mountain, we decided to walk back to our hotel instead of taking the subway.
After a bit of a rest we went out for dinner, to a place specialising in Chimaek – Korean fried chicken and beer, so popular that there are a number of different Chimaek chains with branches everywhere.
Ordering was nice and easy using a tablet on the table. There were lots of different sauces and toppings, and all the portions are huge as they are designed to be shared. We shared a half and half serving of the original golden olive coating and a black pepper version. It definitely lived up to the hype, the crispiest fried chicken we’d ever had!
Cheonggyecheon Stream
We walked back from dinner via Cheonggyecheon stream, a popular walking route that’s illuminated at night. The steam was also decorated with lanterns as we were visiting around the time of the Lotus Lantern Festival, a celebration of Buddha’s birthday that takes place across temples all over Korea in May.
Jogyesa Temple
On the walk back we also stopped at Jogyesa Temple, opposite our hotel. The temple had a number of the paper lantern sculptures from the previous weekend’s lotus festival parade still on display, so we had a look around them.
