I usually don't take pictures on the plane, but I had nothing better to do, and the flight was only about 2 hours from Shanghai to Incheon, so I didn't feel like it was appropriate to take a lot of stuff out of my book bag, so I took sat in my seat listening to music and taking pictures of the plane's location.
As usual with Korean Air, the food was awesome.
I sat next to a nice man who let me borrow his fancy pen to fill out my arrival cards, and he tried to move aside, so I could take pictures of the clouds. At the Incheon airport, my friend, a Korean citizen, was able to quickly get into the country because Korea had implemented "automatic immigration" services where citizens were allowed to just scan their passports and get in, which looked awesome. Today was my first time entering Korea as a foreigner (or as a U.S. Citizen), and unfortunately, we didn't have an automatic system, so I waited in a long line, which delayed me from getting my bags on time. In summary, my time at the airport was a mess, and I was covered in sweat.
When I got to my aunt's house, she took me to a spicy chicken ribs restaurant, which I loved. It made me realize (even more) how much I missed Korean food. I felt like today was a long day, so after taking a shower, I decided to go to sleep, but I ended up catching up on Korean TV and playing with my aunt's dog.
Day 43: Today, I decided not to waste my time in Korea, and I told my aunt that I was going to Chinatown and Fairy Tale Village (two very popular attractions in Incheon, which are also right next to each other) alone, so she was pretty worried. After eating more Korean food (which my aunt's friends bought), I had some banana milk (my favorite drink that I often bought overpriced in Shanghai) and headed to ride the bus. I love public transportation so much, and being in Asia made me wish it was more accessible in Atlanta.
I know it sounds weird, but I chose to visit Chinatown even after spending 6 weeks in China. I saw lots of red and gold, many doors with the word 福 (AKA fú / luck) on it, and "Chinese-like" structures.
The best thing about Chinatown was definitely the food and drinks. It really combined Chinese and Korean culture as people reproduced Chinese dishes that really fit my Korean taste buds. I saw fancy cotton candy, drank fruit flavored soda in a light bulb, drank green tea bubble tea looking down on the whole area from a balcony, and so much more! I wanted to try everything, but the combination of being bloated, having my aunt call telling me to come back, and not wanting to wait in lines made me move on, but I'll be back in three weeks, and I'll make to finish up my food tour!
Like I mentioned, Chinatown and Fairy Tale Village are very close, so after my visit to Chinatown, I headed to Fairy Tale Village. It was definitely a completely different environment. The area itself was an actual residential area, but all the houses had cute drawings of different characters or just cute designs, and I really enjoyed slowly walking around taking pictures and looking at the amazingly drawn pictures. It really felt like I'd jumped into one of my picture books. The only regret I had was going alone because nearly everyone here was a couple, so I admit I felt pretty lonely, but it's okay, I had lots of fun. Enjoy my pictures!
This place also had a lot of food, but mainly desserts. I wanted to get more food, but I was still food from Chinatown, so the only thing I tried was a fish-shaped bread (no worries, it doesn't taste fishy at all) with ice cream in it, which was so good.
I also stopped by to get my first caricature drawn, and it was 10 Won (which is basically 10 USD), which I felt was relatively cheap. It was a little awkward just sitting around and having someone just stare directly at me for a long time, but it was still a lot of fun. My aunt saw my picture and said it looked nothing like me. What do you think?
Day 44: After my short stay in Korea, it was already time to go back to China. Because my aunt lived so close to the airport, she was convinced we could head to the airport at a later time, and eventually, I arrived a little after 12 PM to get on my international flight that departed at 1:05 PM, pretty risky right? The line for check-in was also extremely long, and luckily, the people at the airport didn't want me to miss the plane, so they sent me to a different line at 12:20 PM.
Again, after running around the airport for an hour, I successfully boarded to plane, and like when I was coming to Korea, I headed to Qingdao (which was an even shorter flight) listening to music and watching the plane location move.
We got a sandwich for lunch on the plane, and like usual with Korean Air, although it was simple, it was really good.
I sat next to another nice man who let me take pictures out the window occasionally, and when we finally arrived in Qingdao, I was really excited because all the buildings looked so pretty and colorful.
The same friend that I headed to Korea with was also on the same plane back to Qingdao, so we met up and rode the taxi to the hotel together. Our hotel in Qingdao was a hotel originally called Hichief Business Hotel, but it had recently changed its name to 爱尊客 (AKA ài zūn kè), and I really liked the meaning of the new name. 爱 means love, 尊 means respect, and 客 means guest, which as a whole basically meant "love and respect guests." The hotel itself was a lot fancier than our hotel in Shanghai, but our room's air conditioner wasn't working, and the carpet seemed a little dirty, so I put on the slippers right away. It was also really weird how the rooms in the hotel had a large glass window barrier between the restroom and the bedroom, so my roommate and I quickly made sure to lower the window curtain in the restroom. After unpacking a little, we had group dinner, and our professors took us to look around the area because our hotel was really close to the ocean side and the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center. I didn't take many pictures, but I'll make sure to take more pictures at some other time!
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