This post may be brief, or not. It's Sunday evening here and I've been cooking dinner (which is currently simmering - black beans with a mixture of sauteed chicken, garlic, onions, peppers, and eventually some sort of experimental green I don't know the name of) while listening to a moving episode (at least for me) of This American Life having to do with the U.S. educational system (recommended at
The Problems We All Live With). I'm in a bit of a rush because dinner will be ready soon and then I want to wind down with that and some Netflix and yet I'd like to share some of my adventure from yesterday.
The day dawned nice and cool but hazy. Having originally had no plans for the day I had jumped on Peter (the bagpipe-player's) plans to go to Incheon's Chinatown and nearby park (amusement? regular? Wasn't sure at the time) with his wife Maddy (aka Madeleine from Chuseok post). I suggested riding bikes (because I knew one could also get to Incheon, just south of here, by subway but obstreperous lout that I am I always prefer to do things under my own steam if possible.) Originally Peter seemed up for that and somehow we got around to inviting our middle school director Ben as well. Time passed last week and after some juggling of schedules and agendas it was down to me and Ben left riding bikes, and eventually going at all, which was cool because I was going to get to spend some 1-on-1 time with my direct boss on bikes! I kind of liked the fact that the two of us would be following an agenda originally suggested by Peter and Maddy neither of whom would unfortunately be joining us. Serendipity, anyone?
The day (Saturday) dawned, I assume, medium-bright but hazy but I had to infer this because by the time my alarm went off at 8:00 it was reasonably bright but still quite hazy. I don't think the haze we've been experiencing lately is due to fog (water-vapor) but rather particulate matter in the air. Ugh. Could that have been the cause of my sore throat? It's since vanished, happily. Nonetheless I rose, had some oatmeal, prepped myself, and off I went.
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| I've been meaning to get around to writing about food. Here's just part of it: I wanted to find oatmeal and at first I could only find instant oatmeal. But finally I found the real deal as pictured above, with my water bottle for scale. This amount of oatmeal costs about $7.00 here. Granted it's a "specialty item" because apparently I'm the only one who wants it in all of S. Korea but is the cost of living cheap in S. Korea? Other than the subsidized housing due to my job I would not say so. |
But wait, even though it has nothing directly to do with this story I have to show this picture of a gold (colored, at least) "Bentley" (?) which is (reputedly) always parked in front of an Italian restaurant I went to with the middle school staff last Thursday eve just because I know Max, and maybe also Owen, are into cars. I had seen this car during an earlier cruise through the neighborhood on my bike and then when we ended up going there for our division dinner (did someone say "Serendipity"?) I mentioned I'd seen it before and I was told it was always there. Probably owned by the owner of the "new" (everything around here is new) restaurant. But if you were the owner would you always park your car in the best parking spot in front of your restaurant? Maybe the owner's initials are D.T. Har har. But I digress. Again.
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| Gold Bentley in front of the Italian place we (the middle school group who were up to it) went to on Thursday for our "division dinner". There are lots of team-building "dinner" occasions here. I will go to the "science department" dinner on Friday night. The guy in the background is MS director Ben Scoville who will come into play in today's story so actually that makes this picture tangentially relevant after all. |
Okay, where was I? I left here shortly after 9:00 a.m. and road down to the bottom of the "Lake Park" to meet my boss Ben near the building where he lives. We had gotten the email from Peter saying that he and his wife Maddy would not be able to join us after all so it was just the two of us. Freed from having to coordinate with a married couple Ben and I were able to make our own plans and I was surprised to find out he's as game (and gamey) about adventures as I. I'd had it in mind to eventually (not yesterday) bike PAST Incheon all the way to the fabled Song-do (of internet video city-of-the-future fame, which my recruiter originally told me I was going to. See
this and
that) but it was Ben who actually suggested we extend our extant plans to include that yesterday because he wanted to see our MS girls soccer team play against arch-rival Chadwick which is located there. Obviously I readily agreed since Ben has phone connection so I knew I could count on him for maps when necessary. Plus, it's rare - and delightful - for me to be tagging along with someone else who has ambitions of their own instead of dragging other people along in my own hair-brained wake.
Jeepers, it's getting late, dinner is almost ready, so I need to wrap this up.
After a nice ride to downtown Incheon (site of famous Korean war landing by U.S. and S. Korean forces, behind enemy lines at the time, resulting in retaking Seoul from the north and turning the tide of the war, recently popularized in the film "Operation Chromite" with Liam Neesom which I'd like to see but haven't yet) and visit to Wolmi Island Park (pics below, of dubious value due to extremely hazy day) and self-tour and lunch in Incheon's Chinatown (originally Peter's idea, who was no longer with us) we headed on south to Song-do, which in traditional fashion turned into an adventure despite having Google Maps at our fingertips as not all roads have sidewalks alongside them and some roads turn out to be interstates which go through tunnels through the mountain which you get honked at (rightfully so) if you're trying to go the wrong way on (or even any way on). 'Nuff said as my mom may be reading this.
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| Ben at the top of Wolmi Island Park looking west toward the airport Island and China (neither of which you can see) |
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| Also from the top of Wolmi Island park looking east toward mainland and downtown Incheon. The little green hill in the top left is the park we'll be in next and on its right shoulder is where the Chinatown is. It's not really as far away as it looks. Chalk that up to the misperceptions of perspective. |
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| The streets of Incheon's Chinatown. I take it as a personal accomplishment that I can at least tell the different between Chinese and Korean writing now |
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| The MacArthur statue in Incheon. I think he was originally planning to return to the Philippines but regardless of whether he made it there or not (I think he did but I'd have to consult Neal Stephenson to be sure) at least he was in this vicinity in the '50s. |
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| Me in Incheon's Chinatown. I'd like to claim that this was after lunch but in fact I think it was before. I'd forgotten to wear my hat with the brim to protect against sun exposure on my head. Luckily my stomach was well protected. Reid, note the shoes! These are my favorite, go-to, shoes whenever I'm dressing casual and not for work! And to think I wouldn't have had them if I hadn't arrived in Seoul via Davenport and your hospitality! |
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| We finally stopped for lunch and a beer in Chinatown. Yum! |
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| This was the place we stopped and we took pictures of the outside in case we wanted to remember which restaurant it was because (according to Ben who's been 'here' - various locations in the Seoul area - for years) this is some of the best Chinese food available. (Apparently the Korean version of Chinese is equally unfaithful like the American version of Chinese). |
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| Eventually we finally made it to Song-do where we had some more beer (and also some Jack and Coke, and finally some "Just plain Jack") before we caught the 6:00 subway out of there because Ben had to get to a place in Seoul that closed at 8:00 to get his wedding suit re-fitted - apparently his waistline has expanded in the last 8 years - imagine that! |
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| This is my picture of the map in the subway station after I've just realized I can't take my bike on the subway line I had planned to ride most of the way back home and obstinately decided not to backtrack but rather find my way in the dark, with no connectivity, home. |
Picking up a hasty and somewhat disjointed narrative, we eventually dodged traffic and saw some sights and got down to Song-do in time for some drinks and brief ride around the fabled canal before we headed home. This is where the epilogue begins. Ben needed to get into Seoul to get (re)fitted for a suit by 8:00 and I was ready to get home and crash. We'd decided somewhat earlier that we'd be taking the subway back rather than trying to bike all the way back that we'd ridden on the way down there so we headed to the nearest station, experiencing some of the canal sights you can see in the videos linked above and after getting on the train headed north we were examining the subway map more closely when we realized a) Ben could probably get to his Seoul destination more quickly, and therefore on time, if he transferred to another line at Bupyeoung (site of my "where am I" epiphany of not knowing where I was from my first mega-bike-adventure of the previous week) and also that I could save several stops and have a nice ride home if I transferred earlier than that to the new "Incheon #2" line at Incheon Town Hall (or something like that).
Long story short (dinner smells delicious!) I got off earlier than Ben, helped by a nice Korean fellow with excellent English who overheard us discussing, and proceeded to wheel my bike through the station to a different line only to be frantically waved off by a passenger and an employee who gave me to understand that not only could I not take my bike through that particular door (usually bikes can only be taken on the train through the rear-most door) I couldn't take my bike, "Blackie!" on that line at all. Well, I wasn't going to abandon my trusted steed and rather than just go back to the line I'd been on and go the long way around which would have been a sure thing (of course) I decide to just ride my bike home from there. Nevermind that the sun had already set and it was twilight and difficult already to tell which way was West. So off I went (temperature was terrific!) through the crowded streets and despite some questionable moves when I had to cross heavy traffic during lulls because suddenly the sidewalk had ended without an official crosswalk, etc, yadda-yadda, I made it to another subway line which, while it didn't take me exactly in the directly I wanted to go at least took me closer to a path that was nearer to there and got me over some heavy traffic routes so I took that (Incheon line #1) for four stops west from Juan to Dongincheon station and found my way north to home from there. I think I got home around 8:15 so it was about an 11:00 hour trip for me all told.
Today I've been catching up on the work I didn't get done after my (supposedly brief) outing yesterday, plus today's work, plus being happy to be alive and in good health, plus playing some chess and reading the news and watching Netflix and reading my new Carl Hiaasen novel ("Razor Girl") that came in in electronic form for me from good 'ol Denver Public Library). Life is good! Hope it is for you too. Dinner time!
Best,
