Destination: the new city of Songdo (Incheon)

What a difference two years makes.

When I visited the Songdo / Incheon Central Park area in June 2009, the area was a construction zone. To put it nicely, walking down the street would not have been possible had I gone during a work day. Now, traffic is flowing, the area has a finished look about it, and there’s finally something to write about.

To put it clearly, the area is still developing, and a couple critical things are missing. If a place was ever deserving of a software-like ‘beta’ label, this is one.

The Tri-Bowl – a gleaming symbol celebrating the Incheon Global Fair and Festival in 2009. It now serves a fascinating role as a Hello Kitty hall. The plastic bubbles in the water all feature the iconic logo, but at 12,000 won per person (and being a guy), there was no interest in going inside.

A free thing to meander about: the Compact Smart City. While far from a complete history of the area, the three-story building portrays Incheon as a bustling port, a welcoming harbor to the world, and a place of continual growth.

As if to demonstrate the technology (and money) going into the area, the large touchscreens offered ample information in four languages

A four-meter-tall board of pretty.

Part of a photo exhibit showing off the winners of a previous photo contest.

Looking towards the future – the 2014 Asian Games will feature a $54,200,000 (USD) indoor volleyball court.

The next major section had to do with Incheon’s history of progress. This building, the Incheon branch of the Japanese First Bank, dates back to 1888. If the door were open, you could probably stand up inside these buildings.

Head up to the second floor to start looking at the future:

A stylized version of the Songdo / Yeongjongdo / Cheongna area, as connected by a few grand bridges.

A closer look at Cheongna – still a lot of unknowns and plans at this point – if anyone else had even heard of the plans here, let me know. With 17.8 square kilometers and a construction plan that finishes up in 2020, it’s still a long ways away from being completed. Intending to become an international finance and leisure city, it’s directly north of Incheon station and looks to be a bus ride away from Geomam station (AREX line).

Done with models and plastic figurines, we stepped out into the Songdo Central Park, which was right behind the museum:

It’s real, people – and the HDR technique was an excellent way to catch the brilliance of the area. The 88-floor building to the right is the North East Asia Trade Tower, and the 65th floor observation deck was showed off some of the G20 guests last year.

Never let it be said that fancy buildings means we forget about traditional things.

Who says fancy and traditional can’t coincide – at least long enough to pose for a picture?

After leaving Central Park (stay tuned for a separate post about another interesting sight in the park), we wandered down toward Tomorrow City and found this interesting artwork displaying 120 faces from around the world – entitled 지구촌의 얼굴 (ji-gu-chon-ui eol-gul – Faces of the Global Village).

Tomorrow City was closed, but no biggie – the architecture was still a sight to behold.

Looking straight up at a tornado-like funnel.

If you’re a tourist that likes to see places before they’re officially open to the public, you’ll probably enjoy Songdo. The construction is still happening, and you’ll see a couple signs of some rough edges still being worked out. The most glaring example: in an afternoon of walking around the park and the larger area, we never saw a single restaurant or convenience store. The only exception was the convenience store inside the subway station – beyond that, nothing. If you go, bring some stuff with you to hold you over until you leave.

Directions to Songdo: take line 1 of the Incheon subway system to the Central Park station (get to the Incheon line from Bupyeong station on Seoul‘s line 1). Once at Central Park station, take exit 4 to street level and look left.