Where To Next?

I’ve heard Nami Island is touristy and it certainly is.  However, my theory is if a place is pretty and I enjoy being there, I don’t care how popular it is.  Some places are well-known for a reason.

I took the train to Gapyeong station, which is the closest station to the ferry pier to Nami Island.  You can take the local trains all the way from Seoul to Gapyeong station, but I went for the 40 minute ride on the ITX train instead.

You can take a bus or taxi to the pier from the train station, but I ended up walking because the buses don’t come frequently and I didn’t want to spend the extra money on a taxi since I was by myself.  It only took 20 minutes of walking along the main road.

Once you arrive at the pier, you buy a “visa” to the island.  Part of the tourism scheme (is scheme too harsh a word?) is the idea that Nami Island is its own country.  You can buy a passport for more money that allows unlimited access to the island for a set amount of months.  The visa costs 10,000 won but since I am a foreigner, I got a visa for 8,000 won.

The ferries run often and the ride is short.  There is a sitting area on the ferry or you can stand on the deck.  A round-trip ferry ride is included in the price of the visa.

the “immigration” office

the river view

The weather switched between cloudy and sunny throughout the day.  I got there in the morning and left after eating lunch.  It was fairly crowded in the morning but I could still walk around without running into people.  As the day went on, the tour buses came rolling into the pier parking lot and the island was packed.

I liked seeing all the gardens and snowmen statues.  It was nice to put my phone away and breathe in some fresh air.

I didn’t see any wild ostriches, but apparently they were out there somewhere

The island had several gift shops, restaurants, a few hotels/cabins, and a wild peacock that scared every small child with its terrifying chirping.  Peacocks are loud.

you could buy ostrich pens

does this remind anyone of a spaceship?

There were several restaurants and coffee shops around the pier parking lot.  When I came back from the island, I crashed in a coffee shop just to decompress and stay out of the hot sun.  This day trip was worth getting up early.

I ventured out to Nami island last weekend.  It is a little island in the middle of Bukhan river, a tributary of the Han river.

Besides being a beautiful picture background, the island’s big claim to fame is being a shooting location for the incredibly popular Korean drama Winter Sonata.  They have signs throughout the island pointing out where scenes were filmed.

The island also has an adorable snowman to be its mascot.  You can buy snowman cookies, ice creams, salt shakers, mugs, and just about anything else you can cover with printed picture of a snowman.

isn’t it cute?

family of snowmen

They had several snowmen in traditional dress of different countries.

a secret snowman

some Thai snowmen

The Winter Sonata cafe

They aren’t the most appropriate mascot for the summer season but they’re so cute, they can get away with it.

I am always slightly skeptical of places with the UNESCO World Heritage Site title.  I don’t know what the requirements are to earn the title and I get nervous that it won’t live up to the hype.  Fortunately, the village lived up to the hype.

The Hahoe Folk Village is the holy grail of Andong tourism.  Photography enthusiasts come here to take pictures of the charming thatched roof houses and every Korean couple with a selfie stick has to come here to get their new profile pictures.

Fun fact: The Queen of England visited the village on her birthday in 1999.  Korea is probably one of the few countries she has visited that she didn’t reign over at some point.

It was about 45 minutes by bus to get to the village from downtown Andong.  The views from the bus were pretty enough to justify the trip.

even the bus ride was beautiful

I went on a Sunday, but I got there before 9 am and there was only a handful of people in the village.  Once noon hit, lines and lines of tour buses came in and I decided that was a good time to leave.

this was right at the entrance to the village

Most of the houses in the villages have been turned into displays of historic life in Korea, cafes, guest houses, and souvenirs shops.  Some farmers still live there but those numbers are decreasing.

You can take a ferry across the river to Buyongdae cliff where you can find an amazing view of the entire village.

the cliff

the view

This trip was definitely worth the several hours of travel.

I should start by saying I’m from a small town of around 10,000 people so I’m not sure if you can classify Andong as a town since it has more than 150,000 people.  I have friends who are from towns with 700 people and they roll their eyes at me when I call my hometown small.

I enjoy visiting smaller towns and exploring their surrounding areas at a leisurely pace.  I feel nostalgic and peaceful out in the countryside but I also shake my head at those who say small town life is perfect.  Some days I love living in a huge metropolis and some days I want nothing but peace and quiet.

This trip made me want to return to Andong immediately.  The mountains around the town are beautiful, there are plenty of cultural sites, outdoor markets, a river, and the train station and bus terminal make it convenient to get out of town.  The people were more laid back, loved to eat, and were friendly to clueless tourists like me.  One taxi driver played Alicia Keys for the drive, these are my kind of people.

Andong station

a temple I stumbled upon

Andong isn’t next to the ocean but one famous dish I was told I must try was salted mackerel.  I love mackerel in all forms and this was no exception.  I’m still terrible at picking out all the bones with my chopsticks.

salted mackerel and plenty of side dishes

I also went to a bakery specializing in organic doughnuts.  They had ginger doughnuts, sweet potato doughnuts, sesame doughnuts, and various other super food flavors.  I stuck with a coffee doughnut because I didn’t know how experimental the other doughnuts would taste.

I also had milk because I’m a child

I loved walking by the river and seeing the dam.  There were a lot of couples in canoes on the river.  If you want to test the strength of your relationship, paddling a boat together is a good place to start.

Being on the train for more than three hours was worth it!

Public transportation is easy to use and won’t empty your wallet in Korea.  The KTX is the high speed train and is obviously the quickest way to get to the major cities, but many smaller cities and towns don’t have train stations accessed by KTX trains.

Cheongnyangni station in Seoul

I went to Andong for a long weekend.  No KTX trains go to Andong station so I had to take the slow mugunghwa train from Cheongnynagni station.

You can reserve tickets online through KORAIL’s English website.  You get a reservation number that you can print and when you arrive at the train station, just show them the paper with the number and they will print off the ticket for you.  The instructions on the KORAIL website say to bring your passport, if you reserve tickets on the English website and you don’t have Korean ID you need to put in your passport number, so they can make sure it’s you.  I’ve never been asked to show my passport though.

I do wish they printed the tickets on thicker paper.  I’m sure people have accidently crumpled up their tickets, thinking it was a receipt for a bottle of water.

Most train stations will have, at the very least, well stocked convenience stores so you can buy plenty of snacks and drinks for the journey.  Larger ones will have fast food options, cafes, and nicer sit-down restaurants.

inside the station

I enjoyed some Coco curry, a Japanese chain, before my train departed.

calamari, asparagus, and tomato curry

The ticket tells you the car number and seat number but not the actual platform where the train will be waiting. Fortunately, there are giant digital screens around the train station telling you which trains are where and if there are any delays or changes.

I sat in first class on the way to Andong and economy class on the way back.  The only difference I noticed was that the seats in first class were slightly wider than the other seats in economy.  I spent my time on the 3 hour and 20 minute journey finishing the book All the Light We Cannot See and watching Summer Wars.  I recommend both.

The nicest part of train travel is getting all the beautiful views of Korea without having to leave your seat.  We passed through small towns, bridges, rivers, and beautiful mountains and forests.

I wanted the train to stop at every place so I could go outside and explore, but I was still happy when we got to Andong.

If you get a chance to visit Korea, take a train!

I’ve been to the Cheonggye stream before, but that was in March and none of the trees or flowers were in bloom.  The area around the stream is much prettier in May.

You can get to the stream from several places, but the main entrance is at Euljiro-3-ga station.  From that station, you can walk down a path into the stream, but several points have stairs right next to the busy Seoul streets.

You can take your time to look at the fish, birds, frogs, and various other creatures hanging out in the water.  You are also guaranteed to see at least ten couples taking selfies if you visit on the weekend.

Some sections also feature artwork painted on the walls next to the stream.  If you go during the day when the weather is nice, sometimes you can find artists painting portraits for people walking along the paths.

It was strange to be in the center of high-rise apartment buildings and noisy traffic and hear nothing.  Sometimes we all need some peace and quiet.

Korea got hot!  It seems likes someone snapped their fingers and spring was over.  It creeped up to almost 90 degrees fahrenheit.  I decided to go out anyway but I prepared myself with extra sunscreen and water.

Hongdae is the shortened name for the Hongik University neighborhood.  Hongik is an art university and there are always people hanging around to sing, play guitar, dance, paint, draw, and do general artistic things that I have no talent for.

there are little walls in the middle of a shopping area that people can paint

the entrance to Hongik University

dance team showing off their moves

I’ve been to Hongdae many times and there is always something new to see or do.  As you can imagine, it gets crazy on the weekend.  But even with the crowds, it stays fun.

Seoul is a dense city.  There’s about ten million people all packed into apartment blocks and cramped little studios.  You would think there would be no room for greenery, but apparently they decided to put a whole forest in the middle of Seoul.

Seoul Forest is actually made up of five parks, spanning over 1 million meters squared.  Good luck trying to see it all in one day.  There’s a cultural art park, an ecological forest preserved for various woodland creatures, a wetlands field, and a rest area right by the Han river.  It has its own subway station on the Bundang line.

the entrance

All the kids at the park were begging their parents to take them over to see the deer.

What really amazed me was the bridge going over a highway to the park by the Han river.  It stopped me in my tracks when I realized I was suspended over a busy road with a view of the entire city.