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Sunday, April 26, 2015

To The Hermit Kingdom... Part II

My journey to South Korea continues...


By the time we took off from Hong Kong, it had turned cloudy with a touch of rain...


The flight was nearly an hour late - there was a technical issue with of the engines of the Airbus A330. But I wasn't complaining, as I got an extra hour of Plane Spotting at Hong Kong...





We enter a thick cloud, with some turbulence...




Setting course for Incheon...




At cruising altitude FL360...






Catching up with Bollywood - Mary Kom. I loved the movie and Priyanka Chopra's acting as well...



Entering Taiwanese airspace...


Overflying Taichung. If I recall correctly, Sun Moon Lake isn't too far from Taichung...


Taiwan looks pretty with lush greenery. Hopefully, I will get to visit Taiwan soon, alongwith Neeti...


It's so bright and dazzling up there...



A glimpse of the moon...



Overflying Jeju island...



Jeju is an island of Korea, a hot tourist destination...


And the best thing - Jeju is visa-free for Indians...





My instrumental playlist...


Approaching the Korean peninsula...




The whole East Asian coastline is littered with tiny islands...






Watching Dolly Parton's performance at the Glastonbury Festival 2014...


It seems quite misty over Korea...


Approach into Incheon...


Mud flats visible due to the low tide...




On shortfinals...




Touch down...


...and braking!




A Korean Air Boeing 747-400 freighter...


All I see is blue, the blue of Korean Air...



Taking the inter-terminal train...

So finally, I had reached my destination. Incheon Airport is one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. It has been rated the best airport worldwide by Airports Council International every year since 2005. And I could see it is indeed efficient. However, we encountered a bottleneck at immigration, where we were stuck for 45-odd minutes. Other than that, it was all smooth...
I was to take a bus, a KAL Limousine, from here to Incheon, which was to depart in 45 minutes. That gave me time to grab a snack in the arrivals area.


I chose a Japanese place - Sanuki Bore...




Tempura...




At 8000 Won, my meal seems expensive, but you nearly get a 1000 Won for each US Dollar, and nearly 17 Won for each Indian Rupee...
And a single won is divided into 100 Jeon, which is no longer used for everyday transactions it appears only in foreign exchange rates. Banknotes come in the denominations of 50,000, 10,000, 5,000 and 1,000 Won and coins in the denominations of 500, 100, 50 and 10 Won. A wallet full of Wons can run into millions, but how much can it buy?


My order comes - spicy Kimchi Udon soup...


...with Korean pickles on the side!
Afterall, I am in Kimchi land!


Waiting for my bus! And I spot Gangnam written here...
Oh yes! I am in the land of Psy's "Gangnam Style"...



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