On the way home from Urban Sketching Symposium in Singapore, I had a 10-hour layover in Inchon, Korea. I did some research beforehand and found that the airport offers free city tours specifically catering to people who are on long layovers!
After my arrival, I signed up for a Heungryunsa Temple tour of Inchon. The stop itself was very brief - maybe 15-20 minutes at the most - so I made the best of it by sketching as fast as I can. I ran out of time for painting, so this was colored at home.
For the rest of the tour time, I scribbled what I saw out of the bus window. The town on Inchon looked clean and quiet. I hardly saw anyone walking (this was on a Thursday afternoon) - maybe it was due to the humid summer heat.
I passed through modern highways, spanning bridges, leafy trees, and a glimpse of the Yellow Sea. It made me contemplate that a city like this on the peninsula has a different landscape from an island (like my childhood in Japan), or an edge of a continent (like my current home in Los Angeles).
I had a pleasant experience back at the airport. I browsed some pottery and scrolls and got some stamps for my sketchbook at Korean cultural museum. I also visited a Korean spa with showers, communal bath, and a lounge to relax. After a good meal, I found the indoor observation deck area upstairs with Korean-style structure and benches for people to sit and watch the planes.
This was the most enjoyable layover I had. It made me want to visit Korea for a longer stay: it is another item on my growing list of places to visit!
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