As it happens, both the departure and arrival airports for my flight today are located on man-made islands.
It took two train rides to get me to Osaka’s Kansai International airport (KIX), and after I had arrived at Seoul’s Incheon airport (ICN), two more trains to get me to my hotel in the city.
Early morning on the platform at Tengachaya Station, Osaka. This is the train operated by Nankai Electric Railway (Nankai Den-tetsu), that ran us out on the Nankai Line to Kansai International airport.Kansai International Airport sits out in Osaka Bay, and is connected to Osaka by a causeway that carries road and rail traffic.The view out the window at Kansai International Airport (KIX). The airport is famous (infamous?) for sinking into the sea because its foundation was built on the soft, compressible clay in Osaka Bay, which could not fully support the immense weight of the artificial island. Engineers have implemented ground improvement techniques like vertical sand drains to speed up the drainage of water from the clay and stabilize the ground, which reduced the sinking rate from over 19 inches per year to about 2.3 inches annually by 2023. [Source: Google AI Overview]Here’s our flight path to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, about 2 hours in duration.The Asiana Airlines Airbus A350-900 (twin-jet) that took us to Incheon International Airport, at the gate at Terminal 1.Inside Incheon International Airport’s lower level, with the ceiling that makes me think of a Star Trek spaceship. I’m making my way to the Airport Express train platform.An art installation of stylized traditional Korean houses— known as “hanok” (한옥)—in the airport’s ceiling.Here is the platform for the Airport Express train that runs from Incheon Airport to Seoul Station in the city, with no stops. There are ‘milk trains’ (All Stations trains) that depart from this platform as well.TV screen on the Airport Express train. The debacle with the 300-some South Koreans detained in the immigration raid at Hyundai’s facility in Georgia is front page news here.The route from Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station.Here’s Banghwa Bridge (방화대교), seen from the Airport Express train. It is a distinctive orange-colored arch bridge over the Han River.I had made it into Seoul Station, and took the local line just one stop to City Hall station. That’s City Hall, with a futuristic new (2012) extension behind it. I will take a few more pictures tomorrow.
