Incheon
Trip Start
May 14, 2010
1
55
108
Trip End
Ongoing
Incheon, Korea Rep.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
There was only one other obvious foreigner on the boat -- a fellow American, who had lived in South Korea for many years and was now living in China -- and I chatted with him for a while. He didn't have much positive to say about either country, though, and was so negative about South Korea that I wondered if he'd left an ex-wife there. In any case, I found his conversation annoying, and soon returned to the company of the three Chinese roommates in my cabin -- but he did help me to exchange a little money (which was useful, since only Korean currency was accepted on the boat).
The following morning, I met another fluent English-speaker on my boat -- a Korean pastor, who had been visiting China for a couple of weeks. I enjoyed chatting with him for a while, as we waited for the boat to dock. We arrived at Incheon around 9 AM, and the border crossing was a breeze -- no interrogation, no searches of my luggage -- just a passport stamp and a friendly "Welcome to Korea!"
I wanted to get to a bus station in Seoul so that I could travel directly onward to Andong, and the Korean pastor said that he'd go with me almost all the way to my bus station (except that he'd get out a couple of stops earlier). He had two transit cards in his wallet, and insisted on using the second one to pay for me -- and then insisted on giving me the second card, since he said I'd need to swipe the card a second time when leaving the subway. I couldn't believe how nice he was! Then, as the pastor was getting out, another Korean man who'd overheard us talking said that he'd show me the rest of the way to the bus station, since he was going there anyway. I was so pleased by how nice and friendly people were, and felt quite comfortable there.
At the bus station, I tried to use an ATM since I didn't have enough Korean money to buy a ticket, but it wouldn't take my card! I tried a couple of other nearby ATMs, and had the same problems (though I think I could have gotten a credit card advance if necessary). I looked up the phrase "exchange money" in my phrasebook, and asked a guard, who gave me surprisingly accurate handwavy directions that eventually led me to a bank -- and the ATM there finally accepted my card. So with money in hand, I bought a ticket and headed south -- in a half-empty bus which left right on time (reminding me again that I was in a First World country once more) -- toward Andong.
