Seoul's Coney Island

Luckily, after our disappointment with Chinatown, our hour+ subway commute wasn't completely wasted.  A short bus ride away from Incheon station is Wolmi-Do Island, another place we'd yet to explore.  The Lonely Planet described it as a seaside tourist attraction of restaurants and theme parks (two things we're into).  What the Lonely Planet failed to mention was the decrepit state the island is actually in.  The folks at LP also used the term 'theme park' very loosely.  In a theme park, rides aren't generally connected to the backs of trucks.  The Lonely Planet should have described the island as follows:  "It seems that Wolmi-Do was host to a few county fairs during the 70's that moved in, set up, then never left, cleaned, painted, weeded or updated." 

 

월미도's mascots

Along the boardwalk, there was a 3 story building filled with restaurants, all serving different Korean seafood fare, as you'd expect at a touristy island.  We're not sure if these restaurateurs were the butt of a joke or it was just the product of poor/lazy translations, but each one had an amazing English name. 

Do not move! Restaurant

Let's not to pay Restaurant

liver big girl Restaurant

Mrs. Beeper Restaurant

More help Restaurant

Closed Soon Sashimi Restaurant

mrs. Cow Restaurant

I Forgot Sashimi Restaurant

Go Go Go die Restaurant

Koreans will print anything in English without proofreading, or even thinking about it really.  And this isn't just true in restaurant related situations, it applies to magazines, text books, you name it.  It's incredible. 

[knockoff] Tune Town

Making friends

We seem to end up saying this a lot, and we're sorry.

But trust us, Judy is not handicapped. 

Winning something special for his lady

What a prize!

A 'lil treat for himself

Like Chinatown, Wolmi-Do didn't take long to explore.  We had just eaten our 'Chinese' food, so we weren't hungry for any of those 'delicious' sounding restaurants yet (like liver big girl or Go Go Go die Restaurant) and the rides were scary-rickety so that wasn't really an option either.  Since we'd traveled so far, we decided to park ourselves out front of the YOU & I mart to sit in the shade and read up an appetite. 

According to the can:

"100% German ingredients, brewed in Korea."

Riiiight...

Here, the ivy managed to creep from the vacant lot and cover the garbage and broken windows in a very beautiful way!

Maybe this motel used to have a pool?

Another good name

Judy was too nice to say, 'No.'

This woman (on behalf of her elementary-aged daughter) attacked Judy and had her record a poem a couple of times.  Our only guess is that the daughter had to recite it as part of a presentation or a speaking test and the mom wanted to be sure her intonation sounded natural.