To The Future

Yesterday, Corey and I went to Songdo International Business District. It's a fancy new development with a lot of Western style apartments, shops, and hotels. Oh and did I mention that it's actually part of Incheon! So cool!

We got off the subway at "Central Park" Station on the Incheon subway line. The first thing we saw was the Tri-bowl. It's a huge piece of architecture that is overwhelming to try and take in. I've heard that it lights up at night and looks like a spaceship. We will have to go back to see that! We will have to go back in general because there is so much to see and do. 

Anyway, around the tri-bowl are all these modern glass apartments that look like they are bending and swaying. They are not the usual rigid apartments that announce "here I am standing in the way of the sun and anything else you might want to see." No. These apartments coo, "really, you came to see me, so look at me-- I'm beautiful." And they're right.

Then there's a path that leads into Songdo Central Park (as the station name suggests). The park is young, but there are saplings everywhere that will turn into mature trees to shade walkways, create miniature pine forests, and an orchard. Although the pathways are not as endless or winding as those in New York's central park, they are beautiful and every inch has been well though out. There are arched walkways covered in vines and Fall vegetation. There's a man-made river that runs the length of the park, with a boat house at the end. All the way along are plans, rocks, sculptures, and a million other things to stop and admire if you're not focused on running along the runners' path or zooming along the bike paths.

Corey and I just meandered along every path we came across and then we went across the street to find.......another park! This one was more of a kids park with a musical fountain, splash pad, and jungle gyms. A group of kids were sitting on a blanket playing with Lego blocks, designing their own creative architectural works. There were also kids playing catch and soccer in the field areas. There were kids climbing on the sculptures of whales. There were kids riding on rented quadricycle cars along the pretend road that runs through the park. Basically the park belonged to kids, but Corey and I still enjoyed walking through and we even wandered into a sculpture garden where no one was around, because I guess kids don't care that much about sculptures of The Birth of Venus. 

After all this walking, Corey and I got some ice cream at the local Baskin Robbins and then headed back toward home. On the way we stopped into the "Compact Smart City" museum that showed diagrams of how the city has changed. There were even descriptions in English. So we read a bit, but the museum couldn't capture how amazing the reality of all this city-planning was. You had to go outside to appreciate it, I think. Sorry for the endlessness of this blog entry but it does seem to go with the endlessness of the International Business District. If you get a chance, check it out!