WowKoreaSupporters Fieldtrip to Jecheon/Danyang: Top Healing Places in Korea
15:39Ello everybody again!
So, today I am going to share with you my latest field trip that I had with the #wowkoreasupporters team just two weeks ago! Alongside with the support from Korea Tourism Organization, we were sponsored to a 3D2N field trip to a Jecheon/Danyang, located in Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. Jecheon is voted by the Koreans to be the top healing city in Korea this year. A healing place is generally known as a place where you can seek peace and tranquility; away from bustling and crowded city life.
If you are too lazy to read this entire (long) blogpost, you may watch this YouTube video that I had made for our group's UCC Mission:
If not, let's begin! :)
All #wowkoreasupporters gathered at the Korea Tourism Organization head office in Seoul, and we had a group photo taken before boarding the bus for Jecheon!
How to get there?
Contact: 010-7585-3109
Addres: 충청북도 제천시 청풍면 대류리 413
충청북도 제천시 청풍면 비봉길 2
Opening Hours: Daily from 08:00~21:00 (Close on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month)
Website: http://blog.naver.com/applehouse00
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After lunch, we proceeded to our first highlight of the day - Monorail in Cheongpungho Lake. Initially, I thought we had to manually operate the monorail but thank goodness, it wasn't. Hahaha.
The ride maybe quite scary for some people, because it is very steep on certain parts of the route up. Other than my back being a little aching from those steep slopes up (because the chairs are hard), it was a tranquil ride to be among all the greenery and fresh air.
In lieu of hiking up the steep mountain, we had approx 20min ride up to the peak of Bibongsan, which oversees the great view of Cheongpungho Lake. Unfortunately, it was kinda foggy on the day we went up, nonetheless we still had a magnificent bird eye view.
First group photo, but missing one of our members :'(
First Group Mission: Jump Shot in front of the beam of poles
And Jecheon-si is also known for adventures such as Paragliding, White Water Rafting, Bungee Jumping, etc. We were very likely as we witnessed two locals, who happened to be filming with MBC on their Paragliding experience.
Bird Eye View of Cheongpungho Lake
Lady in Preparation for her Paragliding Experience
Posing with the magnificent view behind me!
(I was on the steep slope, which honestly was kinda scary hahaha)
How to get there?
Contact: 043-653-3325 / 642-3326
Address: 충청북도 제천시 청풍면 도곡리 114
Website for Reservation: http://www.cpairpark.co.kr/reserve_mono/reserve_info.html?sm=4_1
If you are going by public transport, you may refer to the website here which they had kindly stated the bus timings from Express Bus Terminal (Seoul) to Jecheon City Terminal. Upon arriving at Jecheon City Terminal, you have to take a local area bus to get to the Monorail site. I would highly recommend for you to rent a car to get around instead :)
Pricing for Monorail:
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After all that thrill from the Monorail and photo takings from the peak of Bibongsan, we proceeded to our next highlight of the day - Medicinal Herb Village. As part of the healing experience, we made two items here - Natural Soap made out of Herbs and Handkerchief Design with Natural Indie Dye.
Classroom where we did our Natural Herbal Soap & Handkerchief Design
The ingredients that we used for our Herbal Soap
There were six main herbs that we could choose from. I'm not sure about the exact effects or benefits for each of them but here are they as follow:
- 황금
- 황토: Good for Skin
- 황기: Anti-Inflammation
- 당귀: Good for Skin; Brightening and Anti-Wrinkles
- 어성초: Anti-Acne
- 감초: Antibiotics
I wasn't too sure of the first two, but I know for sure I added more of the anti-acne one because I am prone to acne breakouts, hahaha. We were also given 글리씨린 and Honey which is for moisturising effects :)
As we had mixed everything and pour into the mould, we left it aside to solidify and proceeded to dying our handkerchief!
Each our unique methods of designing our handkerchief
Soaked in the indie dye for a few minutes
Rinsing
Tadaa, our creations!
Derya's Little Sheep Soap :D
Because Derya's little sheep mould is too cute to resist, I forgot to take a photo of my own soap lol. Nonetheless, this is how it turned out! I was pretty amazed hahha.
We ended off the day at the Medicinal Herb Village with the dinner,
보쌈 for dinner!
Activities that you could experience in the Medicinal Herb Village
List of adventures that you could experience at Jecheon!
How to get there?
Contact: 043-651-3336
Addres: 충청북도 제천시 수산면 하천리 150
Website: http://www.yakcholife.com/
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So these pretty much concluded Day 1 at Jecheon, we proceeded to our accommodation location - Danyang Resort. Danyang is the next city, probably about 30min drive away from Jecheon.
Lovely overview from our resort room
Before we lights out for the night, we had some ice breaking games as a form of bonding session with our group mates. And right before that, there was a mini prize awarding ceremony for #wowkoreasupporters who had done well for the monthly and weekly missions. Surprisingly, I was one of the 2 supporters who had been selected for the June's best monthly mission! I totally didn't expect that, because everyone were doing a great job! As a form of encouragement, awardees were given a set of this SSEAL ESCARGOT 24K GOLD ALL-In-One Treatment Set from THEFACESHOP. I was told that this set is worth 60,000krw at least. Thank you so much THEFACESHOP for sponsoring this!
Well definitely, this is a very prestige item which is also a little bit "too good" for my skin now. From my understanding, snail-based or products that contain 24k gold are more suited for mature skin. For that, I had decided to give this gift set to my Godfather and his wife for their usage :) Being a filial daughter here, am I? Hahahs.
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DAY 2
Rise and shine! And we started off another brand new day with a hearty Korean-style breakfast at the resort itself. Thereafter, we proceeded on to the first highlight of the day - Ferry Ride around Chungjuho Lake.
Before going down to the jetty to board the ferry
Mega Selfie with the #wowkoreasupporters
Group 2 Fighting! :)
How to get there?
Contact: 043-850-5114
Addres: 충청북도 충주시 종민동 11
Website: https://www.cj100.net
Price of ferry ride per person: 14,000krw
If you are going by public transport, you may board the bus from Express Bus Terminal (Seoul) or Dong Seoul Bus Terminal to Chungju Bus Terminal. Upon arriving at Chungju Bus Terminal, you have to take a local bus #301 to get to the ferry jetty (or dock if you call it that way). If you are coming from Danyang, the buses run frequently to Chungju and it takes about 1.5hours to get there.
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After the ferry ride, we went for our long-awaited lunch. Danyang is known for their speciality - Garlic. And for that, we had a sumptuous lunch (마늘쌈정) at a restaurant known as Doljip Restaurant 돌집식당.
Love love loved this garlic and sweet potato (yellow) combi
It was sucha great lunch, probably the best meal that I enjoyed in the entire trip! After lunch, we went on to the next scenic view of Danyang - Dodamsambong Peaks. There is a story behind this, as how folktales and legends always spread down the generations.
Husband Rock in the middle, Wife rock on the LHS and Mistress Rock on the RHS.
"There are three rock islets standing in the middle of the Nam Han River: In the midst of the currents, one rock, called Husband Rock, looks like a figure of an imposing general, and north and south of it are the smaller rocks which are called Wife Rock and Mistress Rock, respectively. The jealous Wife Rock is seated with her back toward the Husband Rock who has his mistress to get a son, whereas the Mistress Rock of a pregnant woman shape looks up at the Husband Rock."
How to get there?
Contact: 043-420-3544
Addres: 충청북도 단양군 매포읍 삼봉로 644-13
Website: english.dy21.net
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Before we proceeded to the next scenic site, we found this beautiful heart shaped statue that could also capture the lovely Dodamsambong Peaks at the back. I think only our group came down to take this photo, and I really didn't regret it!
Love this photo so much!
Managed to get a couple to snap this quick group shot for us ^^
Two hundred meters upstream from Dodamsambong Peaks is a large rainbow-shaped stone gate on the left side of the river. This is also another scenic view of Danyang known as the Stone Gate (aka Seongmun). As each of the eight scenic beauties of Danyang comes with a legend or folktale, Stone Gate has its own too. It was said by some people that fairies and hermits, enjoyed singing and dancing, frequent this Stone Gate.
To get up to the Stone Gate, we have to climb a short hill and our mission as a group was to take a funny photo with the Stone Gate as the background.
Well.. technically only me and the girl beside me made funny faces :o
After the Stone Gate, we moved on to the next highlight of the day - Ondal Filming Site. For those of you who had studied Korean Language using the Yonsei Korean Book, you are probably familiar with the story of Princess Pyeonggang and Ondal. Running Man had also made a parody of the story through one of their episodes, loved it! You can watch that episode here. Alternatively, if you can understand Korean, here is a short and cute video made for Korean kids. (Click on the picture)
Greeted by this cute little statues when we arrived
Melanie, from the Philippines! She is sucha lovely girl
One of the halls was displayed with pictures and artefacts used in the filming. Cheonchutaehu (천추태후), Taewangsasingi (태왕사신기), Kingdom of the Wind (바람의나라), Iljimae (일지매), and Yeongaesomun (연개소문) are movies that were filmed here.
Locals trying on the traditional costume, the boy is so cute!
You could rent the costumes for just 2,000krw and take unlimited number of photos :)
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Here comes the most unexpected and dreaded part of the field trip - hiking. Totally didn't expect there would be hiking because I did ask the manager beforehand if we were ever hiking in this trip and he said no. Well, to his surprise too, the tour guide made us hiked up the mountain called Ondalsanseong, aka Ondal Fortress. The ironic part is that the tour guide did not hike with us, she merely instructed us to go up to the peak and find the answers to her questions. Ohwell, I take it as a form of exercise. (Trying to be optimistic.. haha) The hike up the mountain was not easy at all, especially when I was wearing flats and not running shoes at least. Then again, I shall not lament because we were greeted with a beautiful and magnificent view up there.
Tri, from the Vietnam! Love this photo too!
Credits to Derya for taking this amazing photo!
After the tiring hike up the mountain in the hottest and humid weather, we came down and rushed for the last sight seeing of the day - Ondal Cave.
Me in the Ondal Cave!
Well, I have to say I love caves so much. I think caves are so amazing because they change according to weather. In Summer, caves are like air-conditioners; it was so cooling and refreshing to be in the cave after that long hiking. And I was in Czech Repbulic years ago, and I had been to a Cave restaurant which was naturally so warm because it was Winter season. If I could choose a natural habitat, I'd probably go for the Caves. Hahah
How to get there?
Contact: 043-420-3544
Addres: 충청북도 단양군 영춘면 하리 147
충청북도 단양군 영춘면 온달로 23 온달전시관
Opening Hours: Daily | Summer 09:00~18:00 , Winter 09:00~17:30
Price of Ondal Tourist Site (includes Open Film Set, Ondal Cave, Ondalgwan Museum & Theme Park)
Adults: 5,000krw
Middle/High School Students: 3,500krw
Elemetary School Students: 2,500krw
Seniors (aged over 65): 1,500krw
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Dinner place, right outside the Ondal Filming Site!
Dinner Group Photo!
D-2 Dinner: Grilled Deodeok!
And yea, this concluded the second day, which is also my last night with this field trip! As I had to attend a Singaporean Luncheon the following day in Seoul, I had to leave right in the morning. Hence, I did not manage to join the rest for D-3 activities. The rest of the #wowkoreasupporters had made a trip to another scenic view of Danyang - Sainam Rock. The photos that I received from them were absolutely breathtaking!
DAY 3
Group 2 without me :'(
Beautiful photo of the Sainam rocks
Congratulations for making it to the end of the post once again! See you all in the next post!
Till then,
irenesiah
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