Well, that was quite a day. There’s a lot to see and do in South Korea’s sprawling capital city, too much to squeeze into a single day, especially if you’re starting out from Incheon, like we were. But we made the most of it and completed our aggressive itinerary, though at the cost of time for thoughtful contemplation at any of our stops. To give you an idea of how aggressive our itinerary was, and how quickly our tour guide moved us through it, ours was the only one of four buses from the ship to complete it without missing a scheduled stop. And we were late returning to the ship, arriving well after dark. As I said, quite a day. But let’s start at the beginning.
Seoul is inland, so if you’re arriving by ship you dock at Incheon, a busy port city with a population of 2.8 million. For perspective, my fellow Pennsylvanians, that makes Incheon nearly twice as large as Philadelphia, which I’ve always considered to be a big city. I point this out because getting from Incheon to Seoul, with its 10 million inhabitants, isn’t a question of distance, but of time, especially on a busy Friday.
Unfortunately we were behind schedule from the beginning, as getting from the ship to the bus this morning was excruciatingly slow due to airport-like lines inching through South Korean immigration. Immigration at many countries we’ve visited has been pretty perfunctory, but not here. Our passports were thoroughly examined, and we were given a good look to make sure our faces matched our photos. That took time, so we were fully half an hour late leaving the port, not good on a day when there wasn’t much of a margin of error.
Then there was the traffic, which is what I was alluding to above. There’s really no end to Incheon and beginning to Seoul, as it’s really one big city, and we saw LA-like traffic on multi-lane freeways all the way to the capital. Fortunately there were no accidents or other extra backups, and the trip “only” took around 90 minutes.
Arriving in Seoul, our first stop was at Lotte World Tower, a 123 story supertall skyscraper, which we only caught glimpses of from the outside, because our bus drove us directly into the building’s underground parking garage. From there we made our way to the elevator that eventually flew us all the way up to the observation floors at the top of the building. As our recent experience at Taipei 101 taught me, the elevators are remarkably fast, but the wait to get on them can be Disney-like because so many people want to ride them.
The views from the top were, as expected, incredible. Lotte World Tower is currently the world’s sixth tallest building, and I could tell we were a good deal higher up than we had been on the observation deck of Taipei 101. You don’t need to board a plane to see what this city of ten million looks like from the air, because we could see it all from up there. The one cool feature that stood out for me was the corners where glass floors jutted out from the edge of the building, allowing us to stand on them and look straight down all the way to the ground. A little scary, but hey, you have to do it, right?
The ride back down was just as fast as the ride up, and my ears popped several times before we were deposited at the shopping mall that occupies the bottom few floors. It took some time for our tour guide to figure out how to get us to the right spot to pick up our bus, but after a bit of back and forth in the mall and up and down a couple escalators we managed it and were on our way to our next stop, the Bongeunsa Buddhist Temple.
Bongeunsa is a large and important Buddhist shrine, dating all the way back to 794 CE in its original iteration. Unsurprisingly, not much of the sprawling complex is original, and most of it was destroyed during the Korean War, but the reconstruction efforts have been very successful, and there was plenty to see as we wandered around the grounds. The highlight for me was the giant statue of Maitreya Buddha, the Future Buddha, which is set in a plaza partially surrounded by rows of smaller statues. Including its pedestal Maitreya rises more than 90 feet, and while it only dates back to 1996, it was certainly impressive. I should also mention the colorful lanterns that hung overhead in many areas of the complex, lending it a bright, cheery feel. The temple also has a large and bustling gift shop at the entrance/exit, which I imagine helps finance the still ongoing reconstruction efforts. Bongeunsa is located in the upscale Gangnam area of the city, across the street from the large COEX shopping mall, which I must say makes for quite a contrast. I really enjoyed our visit and am glad it was on our itinerary.
By now it was almost 2:00 pm, time for lunch, and our clever tour guide had rearranged our original schedule to our advantage, because our planned meal was at a Korean barbecue restaurant only a couple blocks from the temple. A short walk and we were seated family style at long tables where our servers cut and cooked the meat on charcoal grills built into the tables in front of us. The rest of it was much like our lunch on Jeju Island yesterday, so I won’t go into detail. I’ll just say that while I’m not a fan, it’s exactly the kind of different experience that has made this cruise so enriching and worthwhile.
Back on the bus, our next destination was the National Museum of Korea, a modern three floor building that houses an astonishing collection of ancient artifacts. We were under time pressure by this point, so our visit was a bit rushed, but we saw a lot of really remarkable pieces, and I plan to do some after the fact research to get a better understanding of their significance. If I had to pick out a single piece that most impressed me, it would be the fifth century Silla gold crown. I got a nice photo, so look for it below.
I mentioned that we were already under time pressure when we got to the museum, and despite our tour guide’s best efforts that only got worse when two ladies in our group lagged behind to take photos, got lost, left the building by the wrong exit, and were fifteen minutes late getting back to the bus. The problem was that the gates to our final destination, the Changdeokgung Palace Complex, which was quite a distance across the city, close at 5:00 pm, and it was now well after 4:00 on a Friday afternoon at rush hour. I have to give our bus driver a lot of credit, because he impressed me with his lane changing skills as he made a valiant effort to get us there before the deadline. When we reached the last intersection before the palace, with the gates in sight, our tour guide jumped off the bus and dashed to the ticket window, managing to get us in just at 5:00, with the gates literally closing behind us.
Once we were in all was well, as we had the better part of an hour to stroll the grounds, with our intrepid guide providing expert commentary. Changdeokgung Palace was the primary residence for many kings of the Joseon Dynasty and is a spectacular example of East Asian architecture. It’s a vast complex, and every time you think you’ve seen all of it you step through a doorway or turn a corner and discover that there’s a whole new area to explore. It’s not a single large building; indeed, far from it. Rather, it’s a large complex of buildings and courtyards, some interconnected, others not. But all of it is ornately done and painted in bright colors and designs. I loved it and took a lot of photos.
We exited the palace grounds a little before 6:00, and discovered that one of our ship’s other buses was just arriving, far too late to be admitted. That’s how far behind they had gotten on a wonderful itinerary that was just too ambitious, given the challenges of immigration, Friday traffic, and the distance between our destinations in the city. As I said above, ours was the only one of four buses on this itinerary to see everything, and we owe most of that to our skillful bus driver and amazing tour guide, a tiny older lady who could walk most of us into the ground.
All that remained at this point was the drive back to Incheon, which took a full two hours due to the heavy Friday evening rush hour traffic. We arrived back at the cruise terminal around 8:00 pm, long past our scheduled return time of 6:30, and half an hour after the deadline for passengers to be back on board. Ordinarily the ship will leave without passengers if they’re late, but here’s where paying a little extra for a tour really pays off. The rule, which is hard and fast, is that if you book a tour directly through Royal Caribbean (which invariably costs more than what you could arrange for yourself privately through a third party), the ship will wait for you no matter how late you are. The premium you pay for a Royal Caribbean tour is like an insurance policy, and it has paid off for us more than once over the years. The ship knew we were out on one of their own tours, so we weren’t the slightest bit concerned that we were late in returning.
All of that said, we were pretty tired and hungry, and couldn’t wait to get up to the Windjammer buffet on Deck 11 and have a hearty dinner. I can’t remember a more hectic day on this cruise, but my goodness, we certainly made the most of it. Despite all the challenges we got up to the top of the 123 floor Lotte World Tower, toured the Bongeunsa Buddhist Temple, enjoyed a traditional Korean barbecue lunch, saw all three floors of the National Museum of Korea, and explored the grounds of the Changdeokgung Palace. Quite a successful day in my book.
My overall assessment of Incheon and Seoul, as seen primarily through our bus window, is that they are clean and modern, with nary a sign of older or worn buildings. There were plenty of higher priced western cars on the road and the businesses we passed seemed to be thriving. Maybe I’ll get a chance to come back some day, when I’ll be able to develop more than a superficial impression of this fascinating country, which is still technically at war with its northern neighbor, North Korea. You would never guess as you travel around Seoul that you’re only 40 miles from the border with their nuclear equipped enemy, but I doubt it’s far from the consciousness of the city’s residents.
As I write this we’re sailing through the Yellow Sea on our way to Beijing, where we hope to visit the Great Wall of China and see the Forbidden City. Once we reach Chinese waters the ship will again lose Starlink internet connectivity, so it may be a while before you hear from me again, but I’ll continue writing these posts and get them out as soon as I can. Until then, stay tuned. The adventure continues.
The only view we got of the outside of the 123 floor Lotte World Tower was from our bus window. We didn’t have time to go outside and admire it while giving ourselves stiff necks looking up.
The view from the top was incredible though. This is really high up.
You could step out on the glass floor and look straight down. Yes, that’s my feet.
I applied for a job as a window washer while I was there. I had it in the bag until they learned I didn’t have a work visa. Mostly I just liked the jumpsuit.
At the Bongeunsa Temple. Beautiful building, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom too.
Inside the main temple. Note the monk praying in the bottom left of the photo.
Buddha statue in a small pond on the grounds.
There were colorful lanterns everywhere.
For me the highlight was the giant statue of Maitreya Buddha, the Future Buddha. Note the rows of smaller statues ringing it in the background.
The sides at our traditional Korean barbecue lunch looked a lot like the ones we had on Jeju Island yesterday.
Our pork belly starting to cook over the charcoal fire right on our table.
Almost ready to eat.
At the National Museum of Korea. This is the incredible fifth century Silla gold crown.
One of the many Buddha statues on display.
Golden armor. How about that.
Look at the workmanship.
There were some wonderful porcelain pieces too.
Main building containing the throne at the Changdeokgung Palace Complex. The overall complex is huge, and contains many buildings and several courtyards.
The seat of power. I should have decorated my old offices this way. I kind of like it.
Another interior at the complex. It’s all this good.
Everywhere we looked the architecture and decoration were wonderful.
In one of the courtyards. Like I said, it’s a big, sprawling comlex.
Sailing out after a long but wonderful day in South Korea. The bridge we went under was beautifully lit and frequently changed color.
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