Language Exchange #3, Chinatown

I have 2 language exchange buddies, 지영 (f) and 희청 (m). I met them at 부원 Middle School's Teachers English camp. We meet once a week at a coffee shop but this week we took the subway to Chinatown (the only one in South Korea). Its a was a quick ride ~20 minutes.


^What is a Chinatown without a gate?

지영 and 희청 have never been so its something new for all 3 of us. Surprisingly there were lots of things to see and very touristy or as 희청 said "A Nice spot for a date". This part of town is all set up on a hill so there are lots of spots for great views. We went right in time to see the sunset so "very nice". [희청's catchphrase, he uses it almost after almost every sentence...!] I'm kind of curious if there are even any Chinese people living there...Because as we walked around all the shop owners we passed were Korean...)



Chinatown does have historical significance. It was on the shores by Chinatown where General McArthur landed and Battle of Incheon took place during the Korean War.


^Statue of General McArthur.

The other highlight of Chinatown is that it was the birthplace of 짜장면. So for dinner we had to eat 짜장면 (noodle with Black Soy Bean Sauce) and 탕수율 (fried pork in sweet and sour sauce, one of my favorites!). Unfortunately, the 짜장면 was so-so. I've definitely had better.


^Lots of parks here have permanent exercise machines... Why pay for a gym membership when there's free equipment in the park?



The other great thing about Chinatown is that a few K-Dramas have been filmed here. All I remember off the top of my head is that there's a fun coffeehouse that's covered in a bottle cap mural (can't remember the show...) I know there are others... going to do some research and create a little K-Drama-filming-location-tour.