Exploring China Town: (Part 10)

 

This is the last entry (for the mean time:-) of our trip to China Town. This stairs led us to the Freedom Park (see my other entries about it). 

Blue Sky combined with a bright day in the midst of stifling hot summer afternoon seemed to be a perfect formula to enjoy China Town. 

The contrasting color and the different facades of buildings we rarely see back in Seoul are some of the reasons as to why we loved taking a stroll along this town. 

The house number @ one of the streets in China Town.

I like the efforts put into this plate. Yes..each house/building has one of these posted on their gate or walls. 

We would not be lost so long as we got the map with us. Or..just remember where to begin with as we ventured into the China Town. Or just remember the shape and color of the building since most of the characters are written in Chinese.^^ Sure..the names of the streets are in Hangeul, though. But, still... 

Eyra was buying ice cream.... 

This is a name plate posted on the street waste/garbage pot.^^ 

Not sure what that was but...it just looked cool that I simply clicked my camera. 

Bye-Bye China Town. Now we were going to Wolmido and we would take a 90-minute cruise ship which many cited as one of the must-do lists in Incheon.

Exploring China Town: (part 8)

China Town Road Sign. This China Town is not that big but..surely it may take several hours if we want to explore every bit of it. If you happen to love photography...make sure that you'll take time to explore more of it. 

hmm..I was just directing my camera to the street when this car passed my by..and it became one of the cool touch to the picture, I hope. I just hope that the owner of the car did not mind me putting his/her car into this blog. I just loved the contrasting palette shown in this picture. 

It never occurred to me that green architecture could be found in Chinese area. I thought that red was supposed to be the culmination of all things for the Chinese..so much so that red must be incorporated into all aspects of life. But..the building on the right...painted itself....green. a light green... 

That's why..it captured my imagination of having myself on the veranda and sipping a coffee on one evening while overlooking down the streets full of people passing by.

Ok..despite its main green color, this building's columns are red!!! 

See? I was not incorrect after all..that red was/is/has been/will be(?) the indispensable color to any Chinese architecture. 

We've walked like...10 kilometers circling the town.^^

 boy oh boy..we did have fun, though.  

Take a last one glance at the green house.  

Back into the street...and we encountered the street where we stepped into the town in the first place. After long hours of spending the time in China Town, we finally got the hang of it or realized our whereabouts. 

The dragon ornaments perched on the lamp pole 

are other characteristics of China Town.

Exploring China Town (part 7)

After being zapped into the Japanese architecture inside China Town, we continued our journey to another section of the town only to find out that there was a parade marching along far ahead. We rushed to see what it was all about.

It turned that the commotion was in part a festival held that seemed to celebrate something I was not quite sure of. But, it was our lucky day though we caught a glimpse of it. 

But one more float was coming along the way. Not quite sure of what that was until I noticed that some people were actually standing by the street to greet them. I guess some people did know about it all along. Is it carried out on a daily basis? 

A dragon float typical of any Chinese-related festivities was seen passing us by. It looked ordinary, but that's not the point. The fact that we barely missed the parade and accidentally encountered it along the way...was a bliss in itself. 

Then..off we went to another section of China Town. It looked cool, eh? The houses and the neighborhood seemed pretty much neatly arranged. 

Restaurant after restaurant seemed to dot the landscape of this whole area.

See the lamp pole? A decorated red pole with lamps on it is also a typically common sight there. 

Then..we bumped into a small Chinese park situated in one corner of the street. We did not have much time, but managed to take a peep into it.

Loved the little bridge. 

This is the lamp pole I was referring to. See the intricate details on the lamps? 

Silhouette of the lamps made it even strikingly & visibly distinctive.  

Then...another unique building in contrast to the white car parked right in front of it...imbued with the red lamp poles next to it. 

At least..to me..they posed a nice touch 

to our experience of exploring the China Town.

Exploring "Japan Town" Inside "China Town"@ Incheon

As we strolled along the Japanese-style thoroughfare, we ended up looking at the seemingly the tallest 'building' in the neighborhood. It is/was a church. But..I think it is.  

With the sky this blue, our senses triggered us not not miss any chance of 'perpetuating' the moment.  

Every move that my family made during this trip was so precious that I should capture it on camera.  

The backdrop gave us a sense of excitement.

What a great weekend! 

wait..is this the same picture? Nope.  

Now..it's my turn to take a picture with the kids. I've been always the man behind the camera most of the time....so... 

give Daddy a break and let him be 'captured' on camera.

Kids..look at the cam, please....

*Memories @ Japan Town a.k.a. China Town. :-}

Exploring China Town: Wait...., is this Japan Town????

As we ventured out of the Freedom Park and walked down the hill, we ended up in a wait-what-is-this-???-kind of question. Instead of finding the China Town, we encountered this thoroughfare of Japanese-style buildings. Not even one dot of red color in it. Is this Japan Town??? 

Yet..we were still sure that we 'were' in the vicinity of China Town. So, it did intrigued us by exploring more of it. The shops' names were surely in Korean. Not even a single Japanese alphabet was visible. Not like those in China Town where Chinese characters characterized the town. Still..we were encapsulated by this notion to explore more.... 

until we found more and more Japanese-style or made-into-Japanese-style or Japan-ified buildings. Guess...I need to look into more of these as to why they were made so. It may have something to do with the Japanese annexation of Korea back at the onset of 1910s.  

Eyra and Freya could not understand what I was baffling about since they were enjoying every corner we went to. They seemed to be undisturbed by the striking difference of what we'd just experienced in the 'China Town' and what we then saw in 'Japan Town' (Although I am not sure as to whether refer it to as one).^-^ 

But..again and again..I was petrified to find out that the striking resemblance of these buildings to those of Japan architectural traits. 

In fact, we did find it absorbingly captivating.

Simply loved it. 

Moreover, not many people were around this area. I guess there were only a bunch of tourists who also wondered where they were.  

I myself wouldn't have been this surprised had I equipped myself with enough prior-knowledge of the area. Funny..that the last time I was in China Town..I did not know anything about it.  

That's one of the reason as to why I explored the intricate styles of the buildings that dotted the thoroughfare of Japanese-style designs. 

Oh..one more thing..we were like walking inside the huge film studio made out of card boxes ready to be assembled and reassembled...

Yes..that's pretty much what I felt.

so..were we still in China Town or in Japan Town???^-^

Exploring The Freedom Park (자유공원) @ Incheon (part 4)

A tropical park in Incheon. Well, sort of. But..it does resemble some parks back home. I guess summer does bring the best in nature as well.  

Benches lined up under the trees...along its sides.

This tempted me to take a nap on one of them.:)-:}

An Incheon city mascot tugged on the branch of a tree. 

We spared some time to have lunch while literally cooling ourselves down. 

The heat may suffocate us unless we sprayed some 'spray' on our face. No..not mine..but the kids simply loved spraying it on theirs. They kinda felt the briskly and prickly sensation that came out of it. 

Freya did it. 

So did Eyra. 

The 1st panoramic view of the park. Looks cool in reality. The camera did not do any justice....^^ 

The 2nd panoramic view of the park. The sun shone in through the trees... 

The 3rd panoramic view of the park. Kimbab+fruits+iced tea in the park...