Day 62 – March 18 – Inchon, S. Korea (Port for Seoul, S Korea)

We arrived right on time in Inchon, the port city for Seoul, South Korea

Our tour was the Grand Tour of Seoul, another all day trip.  This time the first stop was the National Museum and it was well worth it.  We had 90 minutes, which is still not enough time to see very much, but at least it was more time that we had in Taipei.  Our guide was not very good and kept getting way ahead.  He didn’t wait until everyone was off of the bus and there was only one door so it took time.   Luckily, he gave us the choice inside the Museum to follow him or to go our own way.  We chose going our own way and were happy we did.

The Museum was not crowded at all, in fact there were not may people there at that time of the morning.  When we left later, there were beginning to be more buses and more people visiting.  It is a new museum built on land that used to be part of the US Military base.  It is a huge complex and beautifully designed and executed.  We saw part of the pre-history galley and then went up to the ceramics.  The Koreas are known for beautiful pottery in a gray-green color.

We made it to the Museum shop in time to purchase a book about the Museum’s collection that has more information about the history of Korea and some small pottery pieces, one of which is a reproduction of a famous incense burner.

We went next to the area where we were going to have lunch and then some time for shopping.  The area is called Insa-kong.  There is one long main street with lots and lots of small shops and off of that street and many smaller alleys and lanes with restaurants.  We went down one small lane and had lunch at a Korean restaurant that we enjoyed.  We had bulgogi, which is a beef dish somewhat like sukiyaki, i.e. beef, onions and a type of cabbage in a nice sauce.  We also had a dish of Kim chi, the national dish of Korea, which is fermented cabbage..it was very spicy and not Jan’s favorite.  There were other dishes such as a soup, rice, and various condiments such as sesame beans, bean sprout salad, and other “little bites”.

We had about one hour to stroll down the street looking at the various shops but we didn’t buy anything.  Next stop was the Deoksugung Palace, the smallest palace in the city of Seoul.  We again made it in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony that was more elaborate than we say in Taipei.  This was had guards dressed in the traditional uniforms complete with a band and large drum.  The grounds were very green and it was interesting to see the throne that was mostly all there was in the audience hall of the Palace.  There were other buildings there but we didn’t have time to see them.

Last stop was the Namdaemun Market, a typical street market full of small shops and even people with goods just spread out on clothes in the middle of the streets.  Fred has tired and decided to stay on the bus but Eugene and Jan went together so hopefully one of them could find their way back.  You could buy most anything you wanted in the market and we only say a very small market.  The entire market is huge and we just barely stepped into one side.  Just as it was time to get back to the bus, we found the more interesting part where they had herbs and spices.   Eugene and Jan did make it back to the bus right on time with only one double back.

While we enjoyed all of the stops on this tour, we did not enjoy the guide.

We had dinner in our room which was great after the long full day trip.