Itchy Toes Adventures: Korea Again (Part 2): "The Cold Never Bothered My Anyway," Gilbert the Family Guide and Slave

- December 29-31, 2013, Sunday to Tuesday.

- Our day trip on the 29th was to Gangwon province, a northeastern South Korean province right beside Gyeonggi. The most popular, and the most accessible places of interest include Petite France and Nami Island. We rode the train from our hotel to Sangbong, and transferred to the Chuncheon Line. After getting off at Cheongpyeong Station, we rode a taxi to Petite France, because we didn't want to waste time looking for the bus terminal that goes around the city. The total travel time from Seoul to Cheongpyeong was around 2 to 2.5 hours.

- Petite France is a middle-of-nowhere lodging-cum-theme-park that was built based on the novel "Le Petit Prince" (The Little Prince,) written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Petite France was really "petite," and can be finished within one hour or less, just for sightseeing (no eating or show-watching.) The buildings were done to look European, and some antique galleries and museums were there, such as the hall dedicated to Saint-Exupery's life and works. Some shows like French puppet shows were also scheduled during the day, but we opted not to watch since we were chasing time for Nami Island.

Fat cats!!

Large clown.

Plates!!

With the Little Prince.

The novel in Hindi.

In Malayalam.

In Bengali/Banga.

European-style houses.

- We rode on the hop-in-hop-off Gapyeong circle bus line to the Nami Island port. The ticket per person is worth 5000won, around 5 USD, and payments had to be paid to the driver. The bus stops are located right outside Petite France, and people should be aware of the route of the bus they're waiting for. One stop of the street goes clockwise, and the stop across the street goes counterclockwise. The bus route is clearly written at the bus stops so it shouldn't be a problem.

- The bus reached the Nami port at around noon, so we had lunch at one of the numerous restaurants surrounding the parking lot that specialized in dalkgalbi. Dalkgalbi is grilled chili chicken with veggies, and a specialty of Chuncheon.

- The Nami Island ferry station has an "immigration" ticket counter to purchase an "entry visa" to the island. Namiseom (Nami Island) declared its independence in 2006, and has its own anthem, flag, currency, script, and passport; this is why it is also called Naminara (Nami Republic.) It is an imaginary republic, or a pseudo one. The island pays homage to General Nami, a great leader who was falsely accused of treason, assassinated, but was later found innocent a king or two later; his honor was given back to his family, and although his body was never found, the tourism organization created a memorial in his name. However, the popularity of the island sky-rocketed after the Korean drama "Winter Sonata" used the island for filming; this allowed the pine-lined street (Winter Sonata's poster backdrop) to be the main attraction of the island, as well as several other memorable locations like where the protagonists had their (symbolic) first kiss - the first kiss was when the male protagonist's small snowman approached and kissed the the female protagonist's small snowman.

"Nam I Seom."

Lookie!! The Philippine flag!!

Have you guys met my brother??

General Nami's tomb.

The famous Winter-Sonata pine-lined street.

Ostriches!!

Snowmen kiss.

NOW KISS.

"Namaste!!"

Frienddddddddddd.

A special exhibition on music and aesthetics.

Trolling the protagonists.

Another artsy shot

- We rode the Gapyeong bus to Gapyeong Station, and rode the train back to Seoul. Since we had the night off, we went to Dongdaemun to have dinner and shop. Dongdaemun is a historical shopping area that still serves the same purpose today; it is one of the areas in Seoul where shopping happens 24 hours. The area has a mix of both branded and stall-type shopping.

Dongdaemun.

- My family explored more of Seoul the day after, and started with my dad's favorite shopping place, Itaewon; he couldn't believe that it has changed a lot since 1990. (I told you dad but you didn't want to believe me. Sigh.) Itaewon is now known as a foreigner's district, since many foreigners frequent the place, so much so that many foreign cuisines and shops are found there, as well as the Seoul Masjid (Seoul Mosque.) Still, a mix of branded and stall-stype shopping can be done there. My favorite part of that morning was that I was able to shop a little something for myself (fans for the Korean fan dance called buchaechum, a nongak hat (sangmo), and a Joseon court official hat,) and we were able to have lunch at a Russian restaurant owned by Korean-Russians. It was my first time to have Russian food - I still can't believe I already had my first bowl of borscht (red-beet soup.)

Itaewon arch.

Moscow Transit's menu in the form of a faux newspaper.

References to India never stop following me. Heehee.

My first borscht.

- After lunch, we went back to the hotel to drop everything we (cough, they) shopped for, and went to Namsangol Hanok near Chungmuro Station to see more traditional houses. Unlike the Korean Folk Village, the houses in Namsangol Hanok are not replicas, but were real houses transferred to the village and restored. The houses are smaller, and shows mainly middle-class family houses; the Korean Folk Village shows a wider range of houses from governor-level houses to middle-class and lower-class houses.

Momma as a palace lady.

Ice sculptures at Namsangol.

NSeoul Tower from afar.

- We later rode the shuttle to NSeoul Tower to see the observatory and the Teddy Bear Museum. To my shock, I learned that the Teddy Bear Museum was shut down at the end of November, and is now being turned into a trick art museum. My heart broke into a million little pieces.

Lovers' wall.

Waiting for someone.

Imaginary.

Seoul at sundown.

It's pink now; it was blue in October. Haha.

- We had dinner and spent the rest of the night at Myeongdong, located 10-15 minutes away from the cable car station of the N Seoul Tower. I haven't seen Myeongdong since 2011, and it hasn't really changed too much; it was still crowded with itchy-handed shoppers. We weren't able to visit the Myeongdong Cathedral, but again, my family enjoyed shopping for some items in Myeongdong. We went to a local coffee shop before going back to the hotel.

Busy Myeongdong.

N Seoul from Myeongdong.

- Our last day was dedicated to shopping at my home in Seoul, Insadong. Going to Insadong is like a pilgrimage for me. I've had my best memories in Seoul in that small street full of art galleries, souvenir and cultural shops, restaurants, tea houses, the artsy Ssamziegil mall, and other interesting finds. Of course, it was also the best place to shop for souvenirs. I dropped by at Insa Hostel to visit my friend Pei, who, to my surprise already quit (I was the one surprised.) However, her boss, Mr. Kim Taegil, remembered me. Too bad we didn't stay in the hostel this time. I liked the hostel - good location, good people, good price, and so I gave it a good review at Trip Advisor (I highly recommended it.)

MY HOME!!!!

Momma showin' her buh-lingg.

Poop-shaped nut-filled pancake.

- We rested at the hotel until our driver fetched us for the airport. After 3.5 hours of flying and non-stop watching of interesting in-flight documentaries on topics relevant to my interests and studies, we arrived home 15 minutes before midnight. We were just in time for the new year!!