Back in October I started on a project I dubbed the Seoul Metro Challenge. The ultimate goal: Visit all of the end stations in the Seoul Metro system. So far I’ve only covered two stations (shame on me), but I forgot to share photos from my second excursion. In november I took line 1 from Sindorim all the way to Incheon Station that lets you off right in front of the entrance to Chinatown (fun fact: this is the only formal Chinatown in Korea).
In addition to hosting the world’s greatest airport, Incheon is Korea’s third largest city with it’s 2.9 million inhabitants. The city is considered a part of the greater Seoul metropolitan, and together they make up the second most populated metropolitan area in the world (after Tokyo) with a population over 25 million people as of 2013. In comparison, the areas that we visited were in a smaller, more cozy part of town, with low buildings and history in every nook.
It was a fairly cold Tuesday morning, so the streets where mostly empty. We bought some lunch from Paris Baguette and walked through the reds and golds that make up the streets of most Chinatowns. While I didn’t bring my camera, my trusted iPhone-camera still works fairly OK as a photography companion.
Walking towards the south we found this incredibly cool block were the houses were decorated with bottle caps and the streets were lined with cabbage flowers. Cool, right?
We had coffee across the street, then wandered through a more commercial district and a fish market, before making our way back towards the station again.
One our way back I picked up a tourist map and spotted an area called Fairytale Village on the outskirts of Chinatown. Following the signs we suddenly found ourselves in a neighborhood painted in all the colors of the rainbow (and then some). Walls, ceilings, doors, windows and mail boxes were all decorated to portray figures and events from fairytales. And there are actual people living in these buildings.
We got a beer before taking the subway back into Seoul.
Så herlige bilder! Og herregud, fairytale village, for et fantastisk sted! :D
Mange bydeler som har begynt med slike prosjekter her for å bringe mer liv til nabolaget, og for å forhindre at ting blir revet ned til fordel for nye og moderne ting. Liker det!