Thursday 22nd October 2026
Around Incheon
The sleep pattern thing didn’t quite kick in and we were both a pair of restless bod’s most of the night.
Mastered the one toilet and shower without flooding the room and went hunting for breakfast. Found a coffee shop and the technology odyssey continued. Ordered a coffee and croissant but couldn’t quite get butter and jam, butter order popped out and we enjoyed the lightest and flakiest croisssnt ever.
Mr Sweepy from behind the counter was soon out with the dustpan returning the place to clean and shiny.
Decided that a good dose of exercise might be the go and set off in search of the Cheong Ghe Cheon stream. On the way we got a day time view of this amazing city with towering building, many adorned with huge external electronic displays.
You could never go hungry here with food outlets galore. Starbucks reputedly has 1200
Stores in Korea and we saw a fair swag of them. It would also be impossible to die of thirst with cafes, juice bars and pubs.
We soon found thestream after dodging a couple of peaceful protests against what we don’t know.
It is a completely restored creek, having been a shanty town, then covered over with concrete and then covered by a freeway. A bit of a citizen revolt saw the freeway demolished and the stream rehabilitated for its 11 km journey to the sea. Interestingly they left a couple of the freeway staunches to prove a point.
It’s now a pristine waterway with fish, birds, plants all flourishing, It has cross paths of stepping stones and pathways run along each side. It’s a magnet for people wanting a bit of exercise. Interestingly it does flood and there are evacuation ladders spread along its length.
We managed about 6 kms and then popped out to walk along the street front abutting the stream. What an amazing array of tiny retailers selling everything from hardware to hats and haberdashery.
Everybody seemed to specialise particularly the hardware guys. It was like each was an individual aisle at Bunnings.
Storage was at a premium and many had the excess stock wrapped up on the footpath. For a country renowned for manufacturing it was interesting to note that clothes came from Indonesia, China, Cambodia, India and Vietnam. Perhaps cars are their speciality.
The quantity of stock held in each store was amazing and it’s hard to imagine how they sell it all. I guess with as metropolitan population of 25 million there are plenty of eager consumers.
Popped into a local sandwich shop and like breakfast it was the land of the technocrats. After mastering the ordering here it might be safe to take the grandkids to McDonalds.
Wend our way back towards the hotel to work out the next puzzle which was buying a subway ticket. Simple – NO- as you need a travel card and to get that you need cash. Simple go to an ATM – if only they had global card services. Solution go to a Currency Exchange and cash in a few Euros. Now go to 7 Eleven and buy the card. Just when you thought it was over it’s off to another store who can add cash onto the card.
Right we are now ready to chance our arm to find the subway and the right line to take us to our evening Street Food tour, mainly in the huge market.
Teamed up with a very eclectic crew including a Gene Therapist, Accountant, 3 Doctors and a couple who ran a Cheerleader clothing business.
A pretty good guide had us tasting an array of yummy Korea food, the only one we couldn’t stomach was the libe octopus which wriggled on your fork.
To wash it all down we engaged in a series of Korean drinking games, something at which they are apparently adept.
Finished the tour and managed the return subway with our T/Card, which is now useless and will need to be donated to anybody we know travelling to Korea.
It was 10 when we got home and we had a 330am cab booked to take us to the airport. If we got 3 hours sleep between the two of us I would be surprised.
