WowKoreaSupporters Fieldtrip : How to Enjoy Summer in Korea
22:15
Ello!
Yet another #wowkoreasupporters monthly fieldtrip out of
Seoul! There are many ways to enjoy
summer in Korea, and of course we cannot miss out is water adventure/activities
and also farming experience. This time
round, we went to Chuncheon 춘천 and Gapyeong 가평!
As I had already mentioned in my previous post, Chuncheon is the capital of Gangwon-do province. The city
is known for their Spicy Stir-fry Chicken (aka Dakgalbi) 닭갈비 and Buckwheat Noodles 막국수. Gapyeong, on the other hand, is located at the edge of
Gyeonggi-do province, it is very close to Chuncheon and hence road trips for
this region tend to involve these two places. Gapyeong is known for their
pretty resorts/private villas, also known as Pension 팬션 in Korean. They are also known for all the water
adventures and activities such as Blop Jump (seen on Running Man), Bungee
Jumping, Banana Boat riding, Wakeboarding, etc. Also, this is the station to
get off at for your trip to yet another famous tourist attraction, Nami Island 남이섬 and also the famous tourist attraction where most dramas and variety shows are shoot – Petite France 쁘띠프랑스.
*UPDATE* This is a video I had made to summarise the 3D2N trip. For details of the itinerary, refer to remaining post :)
Here are the details of
the itinerary:
DAY 1
As usual, all #wowkoreasupporters gathered at the Korea Tourism Organization head office in Seoul, and we had a group photo taken before boarding the bus for Gapyeong!
We arrived first at our lunch location where we had Spicy Stir-fried Chicken (aka Dakgalbi) at the restaurant called Mr. Dakgalbi. Whenever anyone asks me what is my favorite Korean food, this dish will always be on the top of my list!
Personally, I love the fried rice that comes after the
main dish. It’s called 볶음밥 in Korean
and it is said that usually a good-looking male staff would usually make the
rice into a heart-shape for a table of girls. BUT, our lovely manager, Yeni,
did this instead because the staff can’t be bothered hahahas. As mentioned
earlier, buckwheat noodles막국수 is also famous in Chuncheon and
it goes along well with the taste of Dakgalbi.
How to get there?
Contact: 031-582-2739
Addres: 경기도 가평군 가평읍 달전리
106-2
(도로명) 경기도 가평군 가평읍 북한강변로 1044-14 카페리민박
Opening Hours: Daily from 09:00~22:30 (Reservations Required)
Website: http://www.tjdakgalbi.com
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After lunch,
we proceeded to our accommodation for the night, which is also the venue where
we will be having the rest of the activities for the day. Our accommodation is
called Four Seasons (nowhere near Four Seasons Hotel standard though, hahas). The
accommodation wasn’t as great as our last trip to Jecheon and Danyang where we
get to live in a resort. This accommodation was simply a good location because
the water activities are right infront of the accommodation, within walking
steps J
As you walk out from the entrance of the accommodation, it is the area for the water games. But before we embarked on all the water activities, we had a warming up session with a mini sports day amongst the groups at the small field.
First group shot of the day! (LHS: Yun, Ann, William, Burco and I)
Mini sports day resembled that of Running Man whereby a
team is divided into 4 parts of the game. Round one (R1) requires one person to
pick up beans with a chopstick. A total of 5 beans have to be picked (one at a
time) to pass. R2 requires two persons to use their cheeks to hold a can drink
and walk to person in R3. R3 requires two persons to burst a balloon with their
body. Upon doing so, the last person in R4 will have to score a goal through
the basketball net. Simple setup but really fun indeed! I love such novelty
games!
(L-R) Yunghian, Irene, Yen, Mavis & Valentina
First watersport: Big Marble (aka Pangpang)
Proceeded on with the water games, and we were each allowed to play 3 different water sports. However, as everyone gets excited with the games, the KTO manager decided to increase and allow us to take more than 3 each! I took a total of 4 but I guess some girls took 6~7 rides, hahahas. First watersport that I embarked on was called the Big Marble (aka Pangpang) where your butt literally goes pangpang-ing onto the marble shaped float. It was extremely fun, better than I thought!
Banana boat - 10 People
Fly Fish - 2 ppl
Next, I sat on Banana Boat in which a very funny incident happened. It’d probably be not as fun to pen them down in words, but it was a memorable yet hilarious moment that will be etched in my memory, lol. After that, I had a ride on Fly Fish. This was probably the most fun ride ever because I literally flew in the up on this ride and I do not get much water splashed on me. I love the feeling of each time we are flown above the water! Since it was too far for a photo to be taken, you may Google to find pictures on how it looks like when it’s “on air”. Super fun ride, highly recommended!
Playing around at the mini water playground
Melanie, the Tinkerbelle
After all the water sports, we had time to just chill and
play in the mini water playground. We had tons of fun and I was being dunked
into the water a couple of times. Water wasn’t very clean but oh well, I had
fun which overrides the ‘dirty-ness’ of the water for that moment. Melanie, our
dear friend from the Philippines is the most petite size amongst all the
#wowkoreasupporters. Hence, with her lightweight, we officially named her the
Tinkerbelle or Water Floating Girl since she was the only one who could cross
the floatings steps (to and fro) without dropping in the water! Amazing isn’t
she? J
Unglamorous throw into the sky
Then come the highlight of the trip, blopjump!! This appeared on Running Man probably twice, and ever
since the airing of those episodes, I had been yearning to try it out. I was so
excited to know that we get to do it in this month’s fieldtrip! However, it is
very important to note that the jumping from the 2nd level is not as
easy as it seemed. Only guys are allowed to do the jumping since a heavy weight
is required to make the person sitting on the blop to ‘fly’ up in the air.
Group Picture infront of
the Blopjump
How to get there?
Contact: 010-3141-1234 / 011-340-2399 / 033-264-2399 /
033-263-2658
Address: 강원도 춘천시 남산면 방하리 386-10
I would
highly recommend you to get there by car because it would be much simpler and
convenient. If not, you may take the train to Gapyeong Station and take a taxi
and tell the driver “포시즌본관” (pronounced as
po-si-jeun-bon-gwan).
Directions:
Price Information:
There are currently some
promotions going on. The package includes accommodation (the one we
stayed in, just in front of the water activities area), 3 water rides, BBQ
(pork, rice and stew), Breakfast, Mini Water Playground and Blopjump.
The more people, the cheaper it is, as seen in the package pricing below. Rides
available in individual prices shown in below as well.
After that entire adventure
from the water sports and games, we all took a quick shower and rest and
gathered for our BBQ dinner as it
comes in the package. My friends and I thought that we were going to be BBQ-ing
the pork ourselves, turns out that they do the BBQ for us and all we do is to
eat. Plus, its unlimited flow of pork meat! :D
DAY 2
Rise and shine! After a quick and simple breakfast at the accommodation, we moved all our stuff to the bus and proceeded to the next location – Chuncheon! The concept of the 2nd day’s trip was local farming experience. After about an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the farm stay destination.
#teamSG in Batik prints 봄빼바지 (aka ahjumma pants) J
Group 2 Funny Pose Shot
Our first program of the day is Tofu Making. I am not a fan of tofu at all, but I have to
say I did enjoy the process of making tofu and even get to drink the soybean
drink during the process. And guess what? Turns out that I actually ate the
most tofu in my entire life after that! Hahahas.
After making the tofu, we proceeded to pick cherry tomatoes. As the season for
the tomatoes is almost over, there weren’t especially a lot for us to pick from
but still sufficient for each to grab a bag home!
We had lunch and after which we went onto fish trout and water playing at the
valley nearby the farm. The water was cold like freezing water, and we were
told that there are 6 fishes for us to catch in the enclosed area. It took us
longer than the in-charge would have thought but it was a fun yet dizzy trout
as the fishes swam by so swiftly.
Everyone trying to catch the fishes
Managed to snap a shot of the fish swimming in the not-so-clear water
Group shot with the caught fishes
Thereafter, there are some who
loved to get themselves into the refreshing waters of the valley. So we went to
the source of the valley where most people are gathered there. Only a few of
the #wowkoreasupporters and Manager SuMin went into the water.
Went back to the farm stay and
headed to our separate accommodation to take a shower and rest. Accommodation
for day 2 was nowhere great at all but we had no choice since there were not
any other nearby for us to choose from. Nonetheless, we got showered and took a
rest before heading out again for some pizza making, dinner and campfire
night!
Presenting to you.. our Heart-Shaped Pizza
And yes, as you could have
guess, we had dinner next. And we had 보쌈 for
dinner! Once again, free flow of meat!
If
you thought that this was too much food, we had even more. Hahhas. Proceeded
onto a room where we had this activity called rolling paper. It is a
game played and seen in many variety shows as well, where everyone has a piece
of paper with your own name written, and passed around for everyone else to
write messages for you. It can be anonymous or not, depending on your
preference. Personally, I like to write my name after my message to let them
know what I felt about having them around J
Many thanks to all the new friends I'd made through this #wowkoreasupporters :)
Following
next is the closure of our night; we had a campfire, mini fireworks cum
sparkles session, grilled mackerel (the fishes we caught before),
fruits and beer. It was a fun night, we had so much fun and it’s so sad that
once again #wowkoreasupporters 3D2N fieldtrip is coming to an end.
DAY 3
Woke up the next morning and
had our luggage packed. Had a hearty Korean breakfast and proceeded to our last
program at the farm stay – Making of Injeolmi Korean Rice Cake. In order
to have a soft and chewy rice cake, we had to pound the dough several times –
The more times you pound it, the better it is. So we each took turns to pound
the dough and then continued with mixing the dough with injeolmi. This totally
reminds me of Singapore’s local delight, Muah Chee (aka glutinous rice balls)
If you are interested or wondering, this farm stay is called
Wonpyong 원평 and
they are a registered organization in which many schools bring students out on
fieldtrips here. They have various programs according to seasons and genres.
Sample of a 2D1N program that is very close to that of what we had is as
follow:
How to get there?
Contact: 033-243-3431 / 010-2369-3431
Address: 강원 춘천시 사북면 원평리
Directions:
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After departing
from the farm stay, we got to the most popular tourist attraction of Gapyeong –
Petite France. It’s my second trip
there, and there are more people than before thanks to the viral K-Drama “My
Love from the Star” which had a scene filmed here. On top of that, many
celebrities and variety shows had been there too, adding onto the popularity
between both the locals and foreigners.
#wowkoreasupporters group shot!
The concept of
Petite France revolves around ‘flowers, stars, and the Little Prince.’ The
village contains a memorial hHall dedicated to Saint-Exupery, the author of the
celebrated French novel, Le Petit Prince (1943) and as such it is called the
Little Prince theme park. The village can accommodate up to 200 visitors with
34 guest rooms that hold four to ten people each. (Source: VisitKorea)
Collected all 10 stamps around!
With the little prince statue
How to get there?
By subway, get off
at Cheongpyeong Station (Gyeongchun
Line), Exit 2. When you are out of the terminal, you should see some signs for
‘Gapyeong Tourist Shuttle Bus’ as
follow:
It is a hop-on bus
where you pay 5,000krw and you can go around 10 different destinations as suggested
here:
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And… that is not
exactly the end of our trip! We had our lunch at a seafood restaurant in
Cheongpyeong where I saw live abalone moving on the stove. It definitely looks
yummy but what caught me up instead of enjoying my meal was the fact that I was
going to do bungee jumping right after lunch. It was totally an impromptu
suggestion by the managers as they said that they will be sponsoring any of us
who wants to do bungee jumping.
"해물낙지철판" 식당
As much as I had always sworn by all my friends who had done
skydiving, I said I would rather do bungee than to skydive. Now that I was
given a chance to bungee for free, I froze and hesitated. Everyone was
convincing me to do so, and I finally did.
(L-R) Irene, Maynard, Mavis, Valentina and Ann
My first leap off the bungee top!
How to get there?
Contact: 031-585-5525 / 011-298-5542
Address: 경기도 가평군 설악면 회곡리 447-4
(도로명) 경기도 가평군 설악면 유명로 2312 리버랜드모텔
Operating
Hours: 09:00 ~ 19:00
Price:
(Individual)
40,000krw (Couple) 100,000krw
For groups of 20 or above, each individual is 30,000krw
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Thank you for making it to the end of the post once again! I hope this gives anyone of you a good idea on how you can plan your trip around Gapyeong or Chuncheon. Personally, I love this trip more than the previous trip to Jecheon and Danyang simply because I love water adventures and activities. To be honest, they are tons of similar places to do your bungee jumps and water activities beside the two places mentioned above. Most of the places have similar price packages due to the competitiveness of the demand.
Before I conclude the post, I'd also like to thank Korea Tourism Organisation once again for my memorable experience with this trip, checking two to-dos off my bucket list (blop jump + bungee jump)! I had also won 2 gifts from my previous trip, one for the best video made (Gift: Ice Tumbler) and one for the best group (Gift: Tony Moly Sunscreen Spray + Lotion). Thank you so much!
That's all for today's post!
Til then,
irenesiah
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