Sunday, September 15, 2013

Early Autumn-Late Summer Vacation with Joyful Spring - Part 1, Where it all started (Gapyeong Area & 63 Building Sea World)

Introduction to this post series

Hi, welcome to my post. This time I will review about my trip in Seoul vicinity with my old friend last week. For simplicity I'll regard her as Spring throughout this post, and also to make my post title eye-catching :). This review will be divided into three parts, each describes my complete journey in one day I made during the whole trip. This review will serve as my travel journal as well as trip's tips for you who plan to travel to Seoul and Gapyeong area, and luckily read my post before you start your journey.

Accommodation in Seoul

So, the first day of the trip I met Spring and her friends in their guest house, TravelersA. I would like to recommend you this guest house if you visit Seoul next time, since it has a perfect location. Located in the heart of Seoul downtown, from the nearest subway station to the guest house  (Euljiro-4-ga station) you may travel to the rest of Seoul easily by the subway line 2, subway line 5 (pass the Euljiro-4-ga station), and subway line 3 (pass the Euljiro-3-ga station, which is not so far from Euljiro-4-ga station and can be reached by walking through an underground tunnel). Those three lines are the most important lines in Seoul subway. In addition to strategic subway location, this guest house also provides direct easy access by walking to Dongdaemun shooping complex, Insa-dong, Chonggye stream, Jongmyo Shrine, and Chungmuro station (bus stop to Namsan Tower). Moreover, the room price and facilities offered by TravelersA are quite decent, make it a recommended place to stay.

Transportation in South Korea

For better transportation accessibility during your travel in South Korea, it is preferred to use T-Money. This T-Money is basically a transportation card that can widely used for any public transportation in South Korea. You just need to put some amount of money, and whenever you take public transportation just tap it on the designated pad. It will automatically calculate the total amount of fare for each transportation you take. The advantage of this T-Money is that you can transfer between buses or between bus and subway free of charge within 30 minutes since the last tap you make. This means when you exit subway and continue your travel with bus, you will not be charged at all. This T-Money is rechargeable and you can recharge it in the multiple of KRW 1000 from GS25 minimart, CU minimart, or subway station. Please note that to recharge T-Money you need to pay it in cash. They don't accept card payment for recharging T-Money.

Nami Island

How to get there

From TravelersA we started our trip to go to Nami Island, it is a small half-moon-shaped island located near Gapyeong area. This island becomes famous of the 2002 Korean drama namely Winter Sonata. From Seoul you can go to nami island by either shuttle bus, subway, or train. The shuttle bus departs from a bus stop in Jamsil station exit 4 and Jonggak station exit 3 everyday at 9.30 and returns from Nami Island at 16.00. The shuttle bus costs KRW 7500 for one way trip. Because it has limited number of seats, reservation prior to departure is required. Shuttle bus is actually the most convenient way to reach Nami Island. However, since it has a fix schedule you won't have time flexibility in your trip. The second way is by intercity train express (ITX Cheongchun). It is the second fastest train in Korea after Korean train express (KTX). It is also the second most convenient way to reach Nami Island and costs around KRW 4000 from Cheongyangni station to Gapyeong station (the closest station to Nami Island). To take ITX, first make your way to Cheongyangni station by subway line 1 or Jungang line, then after take off from the subway find the ITX transit station without exiting the subway gate. After you find the ITX station, don't forget to tap your T-Money to indicate that you will transfer to ITX. The ITX ticket can be self-purchased from the machine available at the station, buy from Korail web or Korail smartphone app. After purchasing the ticket you will get cart and seat number. The ITX runs every 30 minutes and the it will take approximately 40 minutes from Cheongyangni station to Gapyeong station. The last and cheapest way to get Nami island is by subway from Seoul. First you need to make your way to Sangbong station by either subway line 7 or Jungang line. From here you transfer to Gyeongchun line and stop at Gapyeong station. The subway to Gapyeong station runs every 20 minutes. It will cost around KRW 2000 from Seoul downtown to Gapyeong station and travel time will take approximately between 90 minutes to 2 hours depends on your starting point, transfer time and waiting subway time. For reference, from Sangbong station itself to go to Gapyeong station takes around 50 minutes.

Arriving at Gapyeong station

Gapyeong station on a wonderful day

In my previous trip with Spring and her friends, since we started early in the morning (08.05) we decided to take the subway to get Nami Island. We arrived at Gapyeong station around 09.50 and made our way to the tourist information center outside Gapyeong station. Here we waited for shuttle bus to take us to Nami Island. For your information, this shuttle bus is different from the shuttle bus I explained earlier in the How to get Nami Island section. This shuttle bus is the special Gapyeong tour shuttle bus which visits the famous tourist destinations in Gapyeong area, including Nami Island, Petite France, and The Garden of Morning Calm. To take this bus you need to purchase the bus ticket from the bus driver. It costs KRW 5000 for single ticket and you will be able to take unlimited bus ride in one day without need to pay extra fare. Just show the bus ticket that you have purchased earlier to the bus driver whenever you take the shuttle bus. The important thing is don't lose the bus ticket. The shuttle bus has schedule as depicted in the picture below. Please remember the bus arrival and departure schedule at each place so you will not miss the bus. If you miss the bus and decide to take the taxi to travel between each bus stop, it will costs around KRW 20000 because the distance between each bus stops are quite far.

Gapyeong tour shuttle bus schedule

On Nami Island

We finally took the 10.10 bus from Gapyeong station and rode the bus to the Nami Island's ferry wharf. We arrived there around 10.15 and tried to look the "visa" counter. Yep, you read it right. The Naminara Republic is an imaginary nation where its territory is located over the Nami Island. Of course the visa you will buy is actually the admission ticket for Nami Island. After bought the ticket we waited for the ferry to take us to the island. It took 5 minutes by ferry to reach the island. The ferry runs every 20 minutes within 09.00-18.00. There is also another exciting way to reach Nami Island which is via Zip Wire. This zip wire spans over 940 m from Nami Island's wharf to the Nami Island. You will start at the height of 80 m and enjoy the zipping to Nami Island for about 1-2 minutes. However, this exciting experience costs almost five times the price of ferry ticket.

Rock with Nami Island name written in Hangeul

After arriving on Nami Island we took some pictures near the wharf. If you want to remember the place you visited, don't forget to capture the photo of rock with the Nami Island name is written in Hangeul (Korean alphabet). You can find the rock easily just after you step out the ferry on the island. Most of our activity on Nami Island were capturing photos, either group photos or individual photos, and while also enjoying the beauty of nature. Nami Island has many great photo spots, which are previously shown in Winter Sonata drama. There are also some spots to commemorate the Winter sonata drama, like the statue of Bae Yong-Joon and Choi Ji-Woo and their first kiss spot. There are also several art galleries there which exhibit sculptures made from clay. We planned to be on Nami Island around 3 hours. However, as I said even though it was small just a small island, it had a lot of beautiful photo spots those should not be missed and it took us more than 3 hours to enjoy the island and capturing all those spots.

Photo spots on Nami Island. (Left) Statue of one Winter Sonata scene. (Right) The famous Gingko tress path on Nami Island.

Tips for taking pictures of yourself or your group without any of the group member is left, are bringing a camera tripod or learning to ask local residents to take a picture for you. If you don't want to bother other people, bringing tripod is a good alternative. However, since in our trip we didn't bring a tripod we ended up by asking help from local residents to take our pictures. Luckily, Koreans are kind. All of the Koreans we asked for help were willingly to help us to take our photos. Although they didn't seem to care at first, when we asked them politely they never hesitated to help us. It was one great fact I just recently found during my trip. So, if you face the similar situation, you can practice to say this phrase: "죄송한데요, 혹시 사진 찍어 주시겠어요?" (Joesonghandeyo, hogsi sajin jjig-eo jusigess-eoyo?) which literally means "Excuse me, would you mind to help us to take a picture?"

Since we visited Nami Island during summer, the photos we captured were slightly less stunning compare to the photos captured by professionals who visited this island during autumn or winter season. During the autumn season, the gingko tree leaves change its color into bright yellow, meanwhile during the winter season you may see the leafless trees covered by snow. But, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't go there in spring or summer season. The environment itself in Nami Island is really wonderful. If you come from crowded and densely populated big city, this natural and country side situation in the island can give you another great feeling and also help you to refresh your mind from all the stress you have. On the island you can also see wild animals hang around, such as squirrels and ostriches, which enables closer-to-nature sensation. Other thing that you can do in Nami Island is riding a bicycle. There is bicycle rent in the island, which offers different kinds of bicycle and of course it is not free.

We spent our time during lunch time on the island and we decided to have lunch there as well. There were around 4/5 restaurants on the islands, but not so many variety of food. As I remembered, there were Italian, Chinese, and Korean foods there. We compared all the menus and price and ended up by choosing Korean foods. At first I saw the Korean food were quite pricey, but I thought it might be delicious. We ordered Korean chicken and pork BBQ, or well known in its local language as 닭갈비 (dak galbi) and 삼겹살 (samgyeopsal). The dak galbi we ordered was a non-Chuncheon dak galbi, it was literally only grilled chicken ribs without other additional accompanying stuffs like in Chuncheon dak galbi. To be honest, for the one who has been living in Korea for some time like me, those food we ordered on Nami Island didn't taste good enough. It had less seasoning and tasted somehow bitter. I felt really terrible to my friends because of that. Later when I came back to my lab and told my experience to my senior in lab, he replied to me with the exactly same thing. He experienced it just a few weeks before I went there. Sigh.. if only I had had the conversation before I actually went there, I definitely wouldn't have eaten our lunch there.

Petite France

How to get there

After finishing on Nami Island, we went back to the shuttle bus stop where we took the 15.15 bus to our next destination, Petite France. It took 25 minutes by shuttle bus to get there. If you want to go here directly from Seoul, make sure that you stop at Cheongpyeong station instead of Gapyeong station, since Cheongpyeong station is closer to Petite France. If you stop at Cheongpyeong station, you can take the Gapyeong tour shuttle bus, but with different route (red route). There are two routes with its detail you can find in the previous photo.

At Petite France

Petite France gate
After arriving at Petite France, we bought the entrance ticket. It cost KRW 8000 per person, but by printing some discount voucher from the internet we only needed to pay KRW 6000 per person. The name of this place has a meaning of Small France (village), and the term small (petite) in this case is really literal because the land occupied by this place is not so spacious. The colorful buildings here are built on a small hill and we need to climb stairs to visit each building. First time you've been here, it reminds you of the French country side village. Since this place is not so big, you can finish exploring this place in the quickest one hour. In our case, we spent our time here by capturing photos, eating some snacks and enjoying the view of Cheongpyeong lake across this place. There are two or three mini store in this places where they sell churros and ice cream. This place is well known as the shooting location for several Korean dramas (Beethoven Virus, Secret Garden) and also reality show (Running Man). We took a shuttle bus ride (17.40) to get Cheongpyeong station. From there we went back to Seoul by using subway.


The view inside Petite France (left) and outside (right)

63 Building Sea World

How to get there

From Cheongpyeong station we started at 18.13 and took the subway to get the center of Seoul for our next destination, 63 Building Sea World. The journey we took from Cheongpyeong station by subway was around 2 hours. We stopped at Yeouinaru station, the closest subway station to 63 Building using subway line 5, the only subway line which passed this station. From Yeouinaru station exit 1 we waited for either city bus no 5534, 5633, or 261 to take us to 63 Building. If you decide to walk from the Yeouinaru station, it will take around 15 minutes.

At the 63 Building

63 Building is the tallest building in Korea and located on the Han Gang (river) side. The sea world is located on the B1 floor of this building, but first you need to buy the admission ticket in the ticket counter on the first floor. The entrance door to the sea world is also located on the first floor. It opens until 22.00 and the last admission is 21.00. The ticket cost us KRW 15000 per person, a little bit pricey in my opinion. Because we arrived there at 20.20 and hadn't had dinner yet, we directly went to the food court located on the first floor of the building. There are several food booths here which serve Bibimbab (비빔밥), cold noodles (냉면), and fast food (Lotteria). In my experience, this food court's food prices were acceptable. Not to high for the standard of food court located at the main centers building like 63 Building. For your information, the food court opens until 21.00. After finishing our dinner, we entered the sea world exactly at 21.00. This sea world wasn't so big, and we finished exploring it in the last hour of admission.But there were two memorable things happened during our trip here. The first one was when we entered a special room in the sea world. This room had a transparent floor where we could see sharks swam several meters under our foot. When we walked deeper inside the room, suddenly we heard a noise similar with breaking glass sound. We were shocked that time, thought that the floor was breaking apart. That was a nice prank and we all laughed after realizing it was only a prank. The second surprise was located near the exit door of the sea world. Here we were startled by a romantic candle light dinner set between two aquariums, and three crews who were readily in charge of slide show, camera, and video recorder respectively. We guessed that probably someone would propose her girlfriend here. Not so long after we got there, the targeted girl, who was also surprised at first, sat the designated chair while watching a slide show on the screen. A few minutes later, from the behind the man came with a bouquet of flower in his hand and sang a love song. His voice wasn't so good, but I was impressed by his confident in arranging the whole things. It was really romantic that night. Unfortunately, the security guard approached us and told us that we couldn't be around anymore because the sea world had close at 22.00. But I guessed, the security guard also didn't want us to disturb the whole romantic things which was still ongoing there. So, we went out without knowing the results of the romantic proposal. The extra romantic features really concluded our day perfectly in the sea world.

From 63 Building we went back to our place with one little stop in Han Gang side near Yeouinaru station to take some night pictures of Han Gang. From this place we could also saw the 63 Building towering to the sky. I will talk about our second day trip in Seoul in the next post.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Pramudita,

    Came across your blog as I was checking up for my upcoming trip to Seoul. Did you make reservation for the Secret Garden tour online? I can't find the website to buy Integrated Admission for the palaces. Does that mean I'm forced to buy separate tickets if I book online?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Joanne,

      Thanks for reading my blog ^^
      To answer your question: No, I didn't reserve the ticket before. Instead I just went there and buy the ticket on the ticket counter. Moreover, I bought the ticket 5 minutes before the guided tour even started. In my experience there was no limitation on the total number of participant in one guided tour.

      If you want to reserve the ticket, probably you've already known, you can visit here http://eng.cdg.go.kr/reservation/reserv_01.htm (for secret garden only). But I guess from the information in the website, it means that you reserve the ticket for secret garden/Changdeokgung only.

      Unfortunately, I also couldn't find any website which sells the integrated admission ticket. The integrated ticket, based on my experience is sold in the ticket counter of Gyeongbokgung. But I guess the ticket counter of Changdeokgung/Secret Garden also sells that integrated ticket. I highly recommend you to buy the integrated ticket, since it can be used in all of royal palaces up to one month after purchasing.

      Good luck for tour trip. Please let me know if you need further suggestion. ^^

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