The Sound Of Music

On Saturday we met some friends in Incheon, the city directly adjacent to our little island. Technically, Ganghwa-do is within Incheon’s city limits, but it’s about a two-hour bus ride from here to there, and it feels like another world entirely.

The plan was to meet everyone in Bupyeong, an area of Incheon renowned for its nightlife and shopping. It’s a district full of neon and crowds and street food, and it’s a central location for the others who got placed in the more urban areas. So we woke up and tried to catch the direct bus to Bupyeong, but we missed it, and, as we were already running late and didn’t want to miss everyone at the assigned time (we would never be able to catch up with them if that happened – we still don’t have cell phones), we had to take a cab. A 60 dollar cab ride.

The cab ride was kind of interesting. We were able to say, “Bupyeong bus terminal” to the driver, and he tried his best to find it on his GPS, but after a while, he spoke some Korean to us and we realized he was saying, “There is no Bupyeong bus terminal.” Beth had her handy phrase book and said, “Bupyeong yeok,” (“Bupyeong Station”), and he grinned and turned around.

We got there in just under an hour, which was nice, but that was because he ignored all speed limits, traffic laws and basic safety. Watching the meter keep rising to 60,000 won was kind of disappointing. But hey, we’ll know better next time.

Like I said, Bupyeong is very crowded, with people filing in and out of the myriad shops and bars and cafes. The streets are very narrow, and colorful signs loom over you as you walk, inviting you to eat and drink and spend more money.

But that’s nothing compared to the underground shopping area, a hot, confined hallway with a wall of bodies all looking for good deals on knock-off brands. I didn’t like it much, but it’s kind of unavoidable, because sometimes it’s the only way you can cross the busy streets above.

After exploring for a little while, we were all very hungry, so we ate a traditional Korean meal of barbecued pork and kimchi and rice and soup and, of course, beer.

Then we went to some weird little place where they served desserts and wine. They had a buffet with free ice cream and soft drinks, but they expected you to order something, so we ordered some sangria-like drinks, wine with soda water and filled with bits of fruit. Most everyone was impressed with the décor, all flowers and fake cherry blossom trees with the branches hanging over the tables.

After a while, we decided to take the train to downtown Incheon, to see Korea’s only Chinatown. It was a long train ride and we ended up taking the wrong one at one point, but we got there eventually, right at dusk when all the red paper lanterns were lit and the lights from the various shops and Chinese restaurants flooded the street.

We ate a very good Chinese meal, with crab meat soup and garlic chicken and octopus and a few shots of soju before heading out to the noraebang.

The nine of us sang for hours, belting out classics like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Thriller,” and, of course, “Don’t Stop Believing.” The noraebang is an interesting concept in Korea. It’s the place where Koreans can let loose, drinking and singing badly to Korean and Western songs in front of their peers. It’s apparently something they do with gusto, and we all fit right in. I think you can tell a lot about people in those “song rooms,” what kind of music they like and how similar interests progress from there and how some people who may have been too shy to speak much at first open up when doing their rendition of their favorite song.

That ended the night, for the most part, and Beth took plenty of pictures as always, so check them out below.