Today I leave Korea. I wish I could stay longer in Korea because I feel there is still a lot I didn’t see. I think I’ll have to come back sometime. Doesn’t seem like a bad place to teach English either, if I wanted to do that.
It rained in the morning. By the way, Accuweather.com has been totally inaccurate in weather forecasts in Korea. It has rained many times, but the site has not shown it once. I checked out of my hotel at noon and stopped by the Yongsan Electronics Market. It is similar to some "electric town" areas in Japan, but I think the focus here is more on PCs. There are hundreds of PC builders and repairers in shops lining a number of buildings. There are also speciality stores like one that old only heatsink/fans. Also a huge number of stores that sold used parts. However, it didn’t have some of the weird stuff that you see in Japan, like Maid Cafes. The two major electronic companies in Korea are well represented: Samsung and LG. I saw plenty of phones. Maybe not quite as impressive as the Japanese ones, but I may have saw some that were smaller here. One was a little bigger than a pack of gum.
I got my ticket for the Incheon -> Tianjin ferry in the afternoon. I tried to use up all my Korean Won, which I did successfully. Maybe a little too successful since I only left $4 for food. So I had to go to the supermarket and find the cheapest food that will last me at least the next 30 hours. I found out the ferry was delayed two hours, so I had time to look around town. My travel guide mentions a General MacArthur statue in Jayu Park, so after some walking up a big hill, I found that. The port of Incheon is famous because it is the spot in the Korean war where MacArthur performed a beach landing and invasion.
Instead of departing at 7PM, the ferry left after 9PM. Instead of the economy room, I opted for a more luxurious Business class room. This room had 4 beds and more importantly an electrical plug I could use for my computer. The trip is 25-30 hours, so no problem since I have my computer which includes tons of videos and books. My ship was named the Tian-Ren. The price was about $123 and this included a 20% student discount I was surprised to get!
I shared the room with a Korean guy who is about the same age as me. We spent a lot of time talking and he wanted to practice some English since he wasn’t very good at it. We also used Korean<->English dictionary software on my computer to help. I find out most of his family has moved to Beijing, China and he has a Chinese step-mom and step-sister. He is in the business of buying vegetables (20 tons) in China and then selling in Korea. I also find out he likes computer games and he has made quite a bit of money at times playing a game called Lineage when he sells items.
This is probably my best ferry ride yet since it is my first where I have an actual bed to sleep in!