In the effort to cool off the summer heat me and some friends decided to go to the closest beach, Eulwangri Beach in Incheon. Before this, the only beach I've been in Korea are those down south such as Haeundae in Busan city and others in Jeju Island. So when my friend suggested Incheon, it wasn't beaches that I had in mind but planes flying off Incheon Airport and I was not wrong.
We decided to meet in Incheon airport itself. I took an airport express bus for 10.000 won which takes me straight to the airport. It took me around an hour and a half to reach in which I happily spent by sleeping fully air-conditioned for the entire journey. I was happy, first step in cooling off the summer heat.
The airport bus will normally drop you in third floor which is the departure hall. The bus #202 to the beach happens to stop in the same floor. If you find gate number 7 you should see the sign where to wait for the bus. I was ready for a long ride bus but it turns out the beach was only around 20 minutes ride away. It was actually a quite interesting ride as the bus spent most of the time circling around the big airport before turning to a small alley and suddenly you are in a small village and people setting up tents next to the beaches.
We got there earlier than we expected, but since everyone(by everyone I meant mostly me) were really hungry we decided to stop for food first. Our stop was a restaurant that serves grilled clams and we were seated in second floor where we can get a view of the beach. The owner of the shop was really kind to let us leave our bags after so we can play around without worrying about our bags. She even lent us some slippers as some of my friends had shoes on.
And finally, beach time! I put on two type of sunblock. The one with SPF 110 and spray ones. But even after that my skin went extremely tan the next day despite the effort of the sunscreen. In the future I think I would be a good person to review sunscreen and see which ones actually works. But for the moment, I'm embracing my tan for summer which is a proof that summer is in town again!
A good tip for those of you who are planning to visit the beach is make sure you bring your toiletries like shampoo, soap, and face wash since the public shower place do not offer any for free. Bring cash too because you would have to pay to use the shower (we paid 2.000 won per person). The tide is highest in the morning and it gets low from 12 noon so if you are planning to swim make sure you get there before 3 or 4.
I would visit this beach again when there are less people (we went on the weekend) and probably bring a tent or a mat and grill some meat too. I saw a lot of people bring their own food to cook in the beach, what an awesome way to spend summer: barbequing at the beach. For those that are still wondering what to do in their summer break, why not visit a beach near you and swim to get the heat off.
Till then,
de Journie