Buddah's Birthday

 Last Friday was Buddah's birthday, which is a national holiday in Korea.  Everyone is off work and because it's a Friday, lots of three day weekend getaways are planned.   I had no class on Friday, so two other adoptees and I went on a little girls trip.  We decided to go to Incheon which is on the west sea and Woolmido, a neighboring town and small island.  We had a great time.

The biggest attraction in Incheon is Chinatown.  It was really crowded with tourists.  There are many delicious restaurants...we were lucky enough to find a mandu (dumpling) shop.  It was run by a mom and pop, and the mandu were the best we've had...absolutely delicious.  They are made by hand and we snapped a couple of pictures of them making them.

We visited a market in Incheon where there was lots of fresh fish for sale and beautiful, colorful mandu.  There were also open air cooking spots where the lines were really long.  It looked and smelled delicious.

There are several impressive memorials in Incheon and Woolmido.  In Jayg Park there is a memorial to General MacArthur who to led the troops in a successful campaign to drive communist forces out of South Korea.  Others include one celebrating 100 years of Christianity in Korea and the missionaries who brought it there.  One to the students who banded together and fought in the Korean War.  One to the naval soldiers who fought in the Korean War.  There was also a huge monument celebrating 100 years of good relations between Korea and the US.

The parks were beautiful...fantastic gardens, nicely maintained walkways, fountains, streams, waterfalls.  It was so fun just to walk through and see all the flora and fauna and people watch.  One of the parks was built as a "traditional" park.  Its buildings resemble traditional-style Korean buildings.  There are small rice paddies and the tools they use to water the fields, the contraptions they used to carry wood on their backs, traditional-style homes you can go through and see the various tools they used.  It's like going to an Amish village and seeing all the old-fashioned things.  Lots of families were there enjoying the beautiful weather, playing catch, playing soccer..it was really great.

Woolmido is a nearby island that we visited.  Their waterfront is built up and includes many restaurants, a small amusement park, a sound stage, a boat launch where you can take a ferry to several other nearby islands.  There is a nice place where you can sit on large boulders and watch the boats coming and going.  I snapped this picture of people relaxing...check out the old ladies with newspapers on their heads.  The Koreans are OBSESSED with white skin...so sitting outside is nice but they must still take shelter.  Under construction are a monorail and cable car that will take tourists around the island.  There are several other things under construction.  It's so strange to see that they leave their construction supplies, pallets of wood, bricks, nuts and bolts, just stacked neatly...no fences around them, no need to worry about anyone taking off with their supplies.  That is certainly something that is very different from the U.S.

After we left Incheon we stopped at an underground market that was enormous.  It's like having many little shops in the subway...as far as you could see in every direction.  They sell everything from Hello Kitty paraphenalia to cellphones.  They were having a run on umbrellas, as it started raining as we got there and when we left, the rain was pretty steady.  We got shoes for $10, shirts for $5...incredible buys of things we couldn't live without (of course).  I will add that the shoes, although plentiful, aren't always such good quality...but really cute.


It's a rainy Sunday morning.  This evening I'll go and help with the soup kitchen again.  I really like that activity more than feeding the homeless..it's well organized and the people we are helping seem like they really want to better themselves.  Until next time.