6 weeks.......

I'll set the scene first.

It's 11:37pm on friday, I'm sitting in my apartment, I got back from the gym (yeah I joined a gym) about an hour ago, had some gimbap and a ramyeon (pot noodle but a bit better), i've got Discovery channel on in the background (something about robots....not really watching) and I'm feeling very relaxed. Happy days.

Since Chuseok, things have settled back into the rhythm of teaching that I was getting used to. However, me and Neil got a shock a week ago today. I was not sure about putting this in my blog but I think it is important for everyone to get an idea of what it is like out here so I'm going to.

I went down to Neil's last week and we went for some dinner in his area, then decided we would get a taxi to Bupyeong, an area with a lots of bars and a good aptmosphere. The taxi rank is at the subway station but we had to cross the road (an 8-lane highway) so we went down the subway entrance on one side, under the road and started to climb the stairs on the other side.

We were about three steps from the top, when we heard a long screech and then a bang. Being a naive island boy, my first instinct was to go up and see what was happening but Neil held me back a bit in case there was a chance we were going to get hit by something. After the noises stopped we went up and looked at the road. On a first scan there was no mass pile-up, there were two cars stopped mid-road, a taxi and another car. However, after closer inspection we realised what had happened. A young guy, god knows what he was doing, had wandered out into the road and been hit by the taxi. He was lying face down, flat out on the road, motionless. In the UK, I'm sure I would have done something, even if it was just to call 999 and report it, or direct traffic or something. But me and Neil both looked at the situation and realised there was nothing we could really do, so we just stood, along with lots of other Koreans.

After about 10 minutes a police car (1) and an ambulance arrived, and this is where it got a bit weird. The paramedics got out, felt his pulse on his wrist, got back in the ambulance and drove off.

So he was dead.

I don't know much about what happens with things like that in the UK, but i'm sure they might have maybe done a couple of more tests or something. It just seemed a bit minimal. Meanwhile, some recovery van drivers had sprayed a couple of marks on the road but the taxi that hit him had already driven to the taxi rank and parked up so the scene had already been well altered. The taxi driver disappeared. The one policeman on the scene did seem to be directing things, but no other policemen arrived for about 25 minutes.

Another ambulance arrived after a while and they put a sheet over the guy and put him in the back of their ambulance. I found out afterwards that if someone has died at the scene then the 1st ambulance was not allowed to take the guy away, another ambulance has to do that. As all this is happening, traffic is still flying past on both sides of the accident, and, on the other side of the road, cars are crashing into each other as they take their eyes off the road to look. It was an entirely surreal experience, and one which I hope I never have to witness again, either in Korea or anywhere else. I suppose the one blessing for Neil and myself was that we missed seeing the guy being hit, though only just. 5 seconds earlier and we would have witnessed it all.

So, we made our way up to Bupyeong tightly strapped into the taxi and had a few strong drinks. I'm ok about it now and I think Neil is too, but at the time it was quite shocking.

Onto happier matters. We had a(nother) holiday this wednesday so I decided I would go and explore Incheon's "centre" itself. I got the subway to Incheon terminal and then took a taxi to Wolmido, a promenade area with an amusement park that I had high hopes for. Wolmido itself had a bit of a end-of-season feel to it. I think it didn't help that it was a bit of a hazy day, but the place was a bit run down. The promenade itself was ok, but some of the buildings looked like they'd seen better days. Here is a photo of the promenade.

I decided I would take the ferry to the airport island, Yeongjongoo. Although it has the main airport it is a big island so there are lots of other villages on it as well. I bought a return ticket and headed onto the ferry. The boarding arrangements are slightly different to the "Loch Buie's". Vehicles and people go on at the same time, though to be fair it was pretty safe. Here we are........

Although it looks like quite a fast boat, it only did about 8 knots and the trip over took about 20 minutes. It was a very hazy day and so unfortunately the views weren't great, I could just make out the massive bridge they are building between Songdo and the airport, but I was just happy to be on the water! Koreans LOVE to feed seagulls, and so we were followed by hundreds, which were very skillful at plucking the crisps and other thrown food out of the air. I decided not to get off at the other side, as the terminal didnt look like there was much to see, and so we chugged back again. The sea was very busy with lots of little boats and some bigger ones too, all sporting big Korean flags as it was an anniversary day in Korea I think.

I caught a taxi back to the station and then headed into Chinatown, which is Korea's only official Chinatown. Here is the main gate.

There were lots of restraunts and a few shops selling toy tigers and trinkets, and I had a good look around, but didnt spend any pennies. I then climbed up the hill into Jayu (Freedom) park, and saw a statue of General Macarthur (American), who is a bit of legend in Korea, because he landed in Incheon during the Korean war and fought off the North Koreans, but then the Chinese arrived and kind of took over everything again (Neil's Korean history guide.....in shops now). On a non-hazy/drizzley day there would have been great views over the port area, but I couldnt see much. Still I got an idea of the scale of the port itself, it is massive.

Here is a photo from the top of the hill.

I headed back down, got stared at a LOT in Incheon station by old people (im getting used to it) and then headed back to the flat. And now its the weekend again! Going to head into Seoul again on Saturday, so that will be good. I'm now waiting for my next pay cheque and I am hopefully going to purchase two things: one; a decent camera, because I am fed up of taking grainy ones on my phone. And two; some pet shrimp/crayfish. They are on sale in Emart for £2.50 and I can get a tank and all the rest for about £50, so I think they will make great companions in my apartment. Just imagine the line "Hey, do you want to come back to mine and help feed my shrimp?" Irresistable. I'm going to call them Bubba and Lt. Dannnnnnn. (film reference anyone?)

So that's all for now, I'll leave you with two videos shot on Wolmido promenade. Both slightly odd. One is of a guy catching a fish whilst a lone saxophonist plays on a MASSIVE stage out of shot, the other is of an old woman dancing around with some oddly dressed people play music. I love this country.