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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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 Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:23 pm Post subject: Incheon Airport's Fabulous Basement of Delight! |
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Split from another thread that was being rapidly hi-jacked, here is a list of the hidden treasures to be found in Incheon Airport's B1 level.
Yes, there is a basement, why not check it out as you fly home for the holidays!
* An opticians
* An underwear store (quite popular with shy honeymooners)
* Two food courts serving up all your korean and japanese favourites- including sushi, dolsot bibimbap, and my favourite- smoked Mackarel with dwengjjang soup and rice.
* A pretty good toy shop
* "Carib", a place with a bar-like atmosphere, and a decent korean menu
* A pretty big CD/DVD shop
* gift shop with all the souvenirs you can shake a stick at and a little kimbap cafe!
* Stationery store
* Employee lounge (including gym and "slumberette" for when you can't get through an 8 hour day without a nap)- Jongno Guru; this has replaced the bowling alley, which did open for several months, but was never, ever going to be a viable business. What were they thinking?
* Dairy Queen
* Beauty Parlour (for waxing and all that stuff)
* Hair shop
* Bakery
* pharmacy
* Sauna- how many airports have this? Two hot baths, two steam rooms, a cold pool, infra red lamps, showers, (legit) sports massage guy, (legit) barbershop, and a sleeping room. Men only though.
In other airport news- you don't need to fill in a departure card at immigration any more. Arrival cards still required when you come back though. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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| And, SJ, don't forget, full branches of Woori, KEB and Shinhan. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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Thankyou Wangja- now that's a lot of banks.
Don't you deserve a trip to the IABoD this holiday season? |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: Incheon Airport's Fabulous Basement of Delight! |
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Okay, no more sarcasm from me.
("Basement of Delight"!! Now who's being sarcastic!  )
My non-sarcastic comments in ...um... green.
| Swiss James wrote: |
Split from another thread that was being rapidly hi-jacked, here is a list of the hidden treasures to be found in Incheon Airport's B1 level.
Yes, there is a basement, why not check it out as you fly home for the holidays! (Why not? Well, I know I'm the only one on Dave's who feels this way, but whenever I'm about to leave Korea on holiday, IIA ceases to be just an airport and becomes a prison gate. I'm just too antsy to loiter around on landside for that long. I want to be in Duty-Free Land where I can see the big jets -- those ones that can take off even if their wheels were on a conveyor belt that was moving in the opposite... -- and hear them ROOOOOOOAR as they take another planeload of prisoners to freedom -- I mean another planeload of happy passengers to their foreign destinations. That's why not. But I'm weird that way, and I know it.)
* An opticians
* An underwear store (quite popular with shy honeymooners)
* Two food courts serving up all your korean and japanese favourites- including sushi, dolsot bibimbap, and my favourite- smoked Mackarel with dwengjjang soup and rice.
* A pretty good toy shop
* "Carib", a place with a bar-like atmosphere, and a decent korean menu
* A pretty big CD/DVD shop
* gift shop with all the souvenirs you can shake a stick at and a little kimbap cafe!
* Stationery store (and bookstore, right? or am I confusing this with another one upstairs?)
* Employee lounge (including gym and "slumberette" for when you can't get through an 8 hour day without a nap)- Jongno Guru; this has replaced the bowling alley, which did open for several months, but was never, ever going to be a viable business. What were they thinking? (so they did finally open it. Something along the lines of a slimmed-down Sbarro's that only served, say, pizza & drinks, INSIDE the bowling alley -- that might have made some sense)
* Dairy Queen
* Beauty Parlour (for waxing and all that stuff)
* Hair shop
* Bakery
* pharmacy
* Sauna- how many airports have this? Two hot baths, two steam rooms, a cold pool, infra red lamps, showers, (legit) sports massage guy, (legit) barbershop, and a sleeping room. Men only though. (Still men only? Do you get any sense from the girls you work with that they're miffed about that? The ones I asked didn't really care; said they wouldn't make much use of a sauna in the airport anyway.)
In other airport news- you don't need to fill in a departure card at immigration any more. Arrival cards still required when you come back though. (Well damn. One less thing to complain about. No, I'm not being sarcastic. I'm being honest.  ) |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject: Re: Incheon Airport's Fabulous Basement of Delight! |
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| Did you say Dairy Queen??!! |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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No, he said Hairy Queen. It's this dimly lit bar down the the bowels of the Passenger Terminal that caters to very particular crowd, yes, it's what you might call a... um...
Yes, he said Dairy Queen. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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Dairy Queen- yeah I'm pretty sure, but I think this is going to be one of those things where American / Canadian people go there and then complain that it's totally different to the same chain back home.
As far as I know, they do ice-cream and that's about it- so if the ones back in Minnesota serve up the best goshdarn chilli dogs in the world or whatever- don't blame me! |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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Ugh, Incheon Airport..
I miss Gimpo Airport.. jump on the subway and there in no time. That was my idea of the ideal airport.
Incheon equals long expensive bus and/or taxi rides and inconvenience up the ying-yang.
That being said.. Dairy Queen? Do they have starkisses? How about a DQ Burger? |
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hogwonguy1979
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: the racoon den
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I miss the Sbbarro, only decent place to eat landside. At least airside there is a subway and a dunkin donuts. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:43 am Post subject: Re: Incheon Airport's Fabulous Basement of Delight! |
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| Swiss James wrote: |
* Sauna- how many airports have this? Men only though.
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Are you sure about this? In July I checked out the sauna (which you had been dissin' on some thread.. i think you said it was the worst one you'd ever been to or something..) and I'm 99% certain there was a woman's sauna as well. I noticed because I'd remembered hearing it was men only, then was surprised to see a woman's sauna as well.
Maybe I just hallucinated the woman's section though. Hmm.
The men's sauna is a fairly decent place to sleep if you're a cheapskate and don't wanta to go to a mo/ho tel if you have a night to kill. Though it was expensive for a sauna.. i think it was like 8,000 or 10,000 or something.
-HE |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:58 am Post subject: |
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am pretty sure I've been to the sauna since July and it seemed to be still men only- and YES it's the worst sauna I've ever been to, but that doesn't mean it's bad, and on the other hand it's the best / only sauna in an airport I've ever been to.
Full of gangsters too, I've no idea why. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:14 am Post subject: |
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The sauna is small but serviceable. Very soothing before a long flight.
My question to the airport mavens -- what are my options for finding a beer & an ashtray in one place? Theres the Panorama Lounge before clearing security. There also used to be a little 5-stool bar in a hotel lounge near the gates (part of a restaurant) -- I forget the name & I couldnt find it again last time. Tips? |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:17 am Post subject: |
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| schwa wrote: |
The sauna is small but serviceable. Very soothing before a long flight.
My question to the airport mavens -- what are my options for finding a beer & an ashtray in one place? Theres the Panorama Lounge before clearing security. There also used to be a little 5-stool bar in a hotel lounge near the gates (part of a restaurant) -- I forget the name & I couldnt find it again last time. Tips? |
Schwa, you have no options. Landside or airside, you can only smoke in those smoking cubicles. And alcohol may not be carried/consumed out of the bars or restaurants.
But, you can prepare a hip-flask of your favourite tipple and take that along!  |
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hypnotist
Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Location: I wish I were a sock
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:43 am Post subject: |
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| schwa wrote: |
The sauna is small but serviceable. Very soothing before a long flight.
My question to the airport mavens -- what are my options for finding a beer & an ashtray in one place? Theres the Panorama Lounge before clearing security. There also used to be a little 5-stool bar in a hotel lounge near the gates (part of a restaurant) -- I forget the name & I couldnt find it again last time. Tips? |
I'm fairly sure you could get both in the lounges, particularly the KAL lounge. But I don't smoke and I don't drink before flights any more (unless the gin is really good  ) so I haven't tested the theory. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| schwa wrote: |
The sauna is small but serviceable. Very soothing before a long flight.
My question to the airport mavens -- what are my options for finding a beer & an ashtray in one place? Theres the Panorama Lounge before clearing security. There also used to be a little 5-stool bar in a hotel lounge near the gates (part of a restaurant) -- I forget the name & I couldnt find it again last time. Tips? |
In the hotel - after breakfast - there was that tiny bar and I sat and smoked while I drank coffee, but beer was available too. |
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