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Published: March 28th 2011
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24 March – Incheon, South Korea
We entered the Port of Incheon at 5:30am this morning through a lock system. This keeps the harbour water level constant and not reliant on tides. On the way to our berth, we passed a holding yard for cars and I have never seen so many new cars in one spot! There must have been tens of thousands of them – all white!
I had organised to go on a tour to Seoul, while Barrie decided to go explore Incheon. Seoul is 23 kilometres away, however the trip took about an hour due to peak hour traffic; not unlike the M1 to Brisbane. There is a fairly good road system, but still the traffic was heavy.
Seoul is situated in a valley with mountains to the north, south and east which made it a perfect spot to create a new capital during the Yi Dynasty in 1392. By the late 1800’s Korea had become a vassal state of Japan and remained so until the end of World War II. Korea was divided along the 38th parallel by the United States and the Soviet Union. In June of 1950 the Soviet and Chinese backed army of
Communist North Korea sattached in mass across the 38th parallel with a cease fire agreement being signed in 1953. Seoul was flattened during the war and it wasn’t until the late 70’s that real re-construction began and is now a modern high rise metropolis and home to 20% of South Korea’s population.
Our first stop was the Cultural Museum where the different galleries focussed on lifestyle and customs of Korea.
Next we visited the ancient Gyeongbokgung Palace first constructed in 1395. It was destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasions of 1592 and rebuilt in 1868. During the later Japanese occupation, most of the palace was torn down; only a few buildings including Gyeonghoeru Pavillion and Gyeonghoeru Hall were left standing. The restoration of the buildings has been ongoing since 1990.
Lunch was at a traditional Korean barbecue restaurant where the dish was cooked at the table. We tasted several Korean vegetable and rice dishes, but most were quite spicy. Overall, it was a pleasant experience.
The bus dropped us at a very busy wholesale market place and while it was not the ideal place for shopping, it was interesting to see the vast array of goods that could be
bought.
By mid afternoon the temperature had dropped to about 2 degrees with snow forecast for the evening. It was a relief to get back on the bus.
We were sailing at 4:00pm so Barrie and I both went up the front bar to watch the ship passing through the port lock. Just before the front lock was open so we could pass through, it started to rain and visibility was practically zero. On our way back to our usual bar, Barrie opened the door to the pool area and it was actually snowing! Very pretty, but also very cold!
25 March – Jeju Island
Today we are docked in Jeju Island. The island is a popular holiday destination for South Koreans. The outside temperature is 6 degrees with a wind chill factor of 1! It wasn’t difficult to decide not to venture out, but to stay onboard. One piece of interesting historical trivia is the remarkable islander women who dive for abalone, sea cucumber, urchin, octopus, slugs, conch and an assortment of other shellfish. home to the “Women of the Sea” or “Haenyo” who continue the tradition that has been passed down by their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers for
A Fertility God
Touch his nose and you will become with child - needless to say none of our party went anywhere near it! hundreds o f years. They free dive with just a single breath of air, and descend to depths of nearly 70 feet for 3 – 4 minutes at a time.
The small Jeju City looks rather quaint from where we are berthed, but doesn’t pique my interest enough to brave the freezing weather. I have every confidence that we will have more snow this afternoon. Roll on Hong Kong!!!
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