Venus Cruise @ Wolmido, Incheon (part 1)

 

Finally, it's 30 minutes before departure. Yes, we booked 4 tickets to board the Venus Cruise. The 90-minute cruise would take us to see Incheon sea, Incheon bridge and other islets that dot the area. 

That is the cruise ship we were about to board. 

It is actually different from what I thought. it does not look like a cruise ship, rather it is a cruise ferry--that's more like it. 

After showing our tickets at the entrance, we were ushered into the cruise. Hmm...it's gonna be so much fun. 

First..let me take your picture, first, gals.

"Hope you have a great adventure" 

The entrance into the cruise ferry. We were led to the 3rd floor directly. The 1st floor was a dance floor where we'd see the variety shows from Russia and China during our 90-minute cruise. 

This is what 3rd floor looked like. We managed to secure a table and 4 chairs circling it. A perfect spot to view the sea and what it offered to us. 

The kids received welcoming candies to 'seal' their mouth:)-:) 

With..a smile on our face..we were ready to explore more of Incheon by sea route. 

Wolmido (Part 5): Splashing in the Sunny Seaside

Sunny? well..in picture, it does look cool. But..boy oh boy..it was hot. 

Even the glaring sunlight could be visible from my lenses... 

Still..the kids seemed not to care or complain about the heat... 

They found their world here. 

This piano was just a painting that 'reminded' people to take heed as to when the next 'singing fountain' would be playing. 

Yes, this is the singing fountain where kids (mostly) would stop and be amazed by the spurting water that came out of the pre-orchestrated fountain. 

And it started.... 

Kids began to play and wait for the water to ooze out from the holes and that's when... 

Eyra and Freya were also tempted to play along. But..they did not bring any spare trousers. They did not take any heed whatsoever...and just got themselves wet. 

KIDS!!!  

At times..the water just shot up 2 meters up into the air..that some of us should get away from it so as not to get sprinkled by the water. 

Not long before....and just 30 minutes before embarking on a cruise ship, Eyra and Freya begged me to let them ride one of these remote-controlled car.

KIDS!!!!!

Exploring China Town: (part 9)

What would be going to a place without sampling one of the delicacies? So..as soon as we stepped into the main street, we could not but listen the shouting and chanting of street vendors of these delicacies.  

They repeatedly shouted the names of delicacies and asking the passers by to try tasting them. Well...how could we resist it? 

The 공갈빵 (gonggalppang) or hole bread ..yes that's what it literally means...is a specialty that people could try to taste. It's a bread so famous that even Ahn Cheol Soo's (the former candidate of Korean President in the previous election) picture was posted to lure customers....^^ 

And we did sample it.^^

Okay..it tasted "Oh..this is gonggalppang". 

See the whole view of gonggalppang there? But..instead of buying this hole bread, we bought 화덕만두 or hwadeok mandu.. 'dumpling' filled with peanuts, read bean, ground sesame, and other ingredients....which turned out to be okay-I-should-have-bought-more kind of dumplings. ^^

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...

Exploring China Town: Freedom Park (Jayu gongwon 자유공원) (part 3)

Let's take a peep into Freedom Park. I am not sure as to why it is called so. But its name must've derived from the fact that this used to be very spot where Gen. Macarthur initiated his role in freeing Korea during the Korean War. Or...I could be mistaken it for the fact that this park (which is located on mount Eungbongsan) is also an important location during Japanese colonialism. Anyhow...let's enjoy the park.

I took the picture of the Incheon port before going up the hill. 

But..before ascending into the hill (yes..I am sure it is just a hill *not a mountain*), I spotted an ajeossi who was selling Korean traditional cake. It cost only a Dollar for one piece. I did not buy it, though. He must've been so proud of preserving the traditional 'legacy'. Salute to you, ajeossi. Wait..he looks more like a harabeoji to me. 

okay..now let's start going up... 

The Park consists of trees with many benches where people could just relax and enjoy the day..especially in summer like this. And...as you'll see (in my other entry)..the park with the statue of Gen. MacArthur is also visible.Anyway... 

I was absorbed into what this harabeoji was doing. Apparently he was selling some calligraphy in Chinese characters. I do not quite make out what he was making but it seemed to me that he did draw some attention from passers by. 

See? 

And..the funny thing was that..most of them were also harabeoji. I guess it might've been due to the fact that Chinese characters appeal elderly more than to the youngsters these days. I could be wrong, though. Or it just happened on that particular day. 

Continuing our tour..we walked up the hill in the shades. Gosh..I love it. The fact that we came to this kind of place was a bliss in itself. Well, it's not that different from what we have back home in some parts of Indonesia. Yes...green trees with canopies... 

But..the heat...gosh...

Luckily, Mama prepared some right-onto-your-face kind of spray to tush away the heat...^^ 

The stairs leading to another entrance of the China Town.  

We did not descend the stairs, instead we went up straight to another section in the park..and let's see what came up next...