I landed in Inchon International Airport, Terminal 1, at
about 6 am, and a few minutes later I was in the train heading for downtown
Seoul. It was a piece of cake to buy my ticket and keep track of the few stops
until I got to the Central Train Station. From here on it was uncharted
territory with only a couple of oversimplified maps to guide me. I should add
that my backpack was booked all the way to San Francisco, so I could enjoy myself
without being loaded like a burrito.
Right away I stumbled upon the elevated Pedestrian Causeway,
which runs at the level of a two-story building for about a mile. It is very
nicely landscaped, gives you great views of the busy city below, and you don’t
have to contend with traffic. What a brilliant invention! My only regret is
that it doesn’t extend all over the city, so all too soon I had to go back to
being a morning pedestrian zig-zagging my way through traffic.
My plan was to take the hop-on hop-off touristic bus, which
presumably had two different routes. The bus does not start running until 9 am,
so when I arrived to the starting point at 8 am the place was deserted. Don’t
this people know that some of us take our tourism seriously and like to start
early to enjoy the fresh of the morning? So I waited, and then I had to regret
not sleeping in the plane between Irkutsk and Seoul, as my eyes started to
close. It was only a cat nap, however, so the tiredness stayed with me for the
rest of the day.
The ticket sales window opened at 8:45 am, at which time I
was informed that only route A was operating. Rats! So I climbed on the Route A
bus, and reveled on the luxury of being driven through this exciting Asian
city. We drove past the Modern Art Museum, the old, Victorian-era railroad
station, the emperor’s palace, and through a jungle of skyscrapers. One that I
like looks as if I giant had cleaved it with an enormous ax.
I stepped down from the bus to visit the Jongmyo Shrine,
which has been designated as a World Heritage place. It is a very holy enclosed
park, with many self-standing shrines of great beauty, but what impressed me
most was the Spirit Way, which is a path made of granite blocks that connects
all the shrines. Visitors are kindly directed not to walk on this path, which
is reserved for the spirits. I, of course, was glad to oblige since I had no
intention of interfere with Korean spirits (or spirits of any other nationality
for that matter).
I was sorely tempted to get off the bus at the market place,
which like all Asian markets was full of enticing pots and pans, hardware, food
stuffs, and handcrafts. Alas, I had promised myself I would start on my way
back at noon, and I could just see myself staying in the market for hours and
missing my plane. Instead I enjoyed the full ride, and stayed on the bus for a second
ride, just so that I could get down at the old railroad station, from which I
only had a 10-minute walk to get to the new Central Rail Station.
I got to the airport in plenty of good time to have a bowl
of noodles for lunch, and to take a complimentary hot shower (I love this
airport!). By the time I was done I had but a short wait until we started
boarding the plane that would bring me back to San Francisco and my “normal”
life. It is sad when an adventure comes to an end (but there is always the
thrill of starting to plan the next adventure!).
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