South Korea Winter
While reading The Korean Times on the flight from Shanghai to Seoul. I chanced upon an article about the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival. Since I had a free-and-easy day, I took a photo of the details, and did more research when I arrived in Seoul.After a few day-trips out of Seoul before, I was rather apprehensive with travel beyond Seoul because of the language barrier and of the challenge to asking for directions/questions. Anyway, I wanted to experience ice-fishing.
Sancheoneo Ice Festival 2018
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Getting There
I took the subway to YongSan Station, and then to ChunCheon Station via the KTX. When I got out of ChunCheon Station, there was no signage about the Ice Festival, Fortunately, there was a tourist office outside the station. The staff told me to look out for the HwaCheon Coach along the road. I could not find any bus-stop or a signage pole. I went back to the Tourist Office, and she informed me that there was no signage, and that I needed to look out for 'that type of coach' that she showed me earlier. I got out of the office, and saw 'that type of coach' stopping at the bus-stop across the road. I missed the coach (=> a 30 minutes wait for the next one).I prepared 5000won cash and the travel card to pay for the fare(4600won). The bus came. When I mentioned Hwacheon, and showed the cash and the card to the driver, he started talking loudly(in Korean). I flashed the card at the device, no response. He continued talking, and then 4600won was displayed on the machine, and I flashed my card again. The front passengers laughed. sigh...
The bus was stuffy and warm and I noticed that the driver was just wearing a shirt with a vest. After about 50minutes, the bus arrived at Hwacheon bus terminal.
Arriving in HwaCheon
Other than the Ice Festival poster on the Bus Terminal Wall, there was no signage/direction outside the terminal. I walked along the main road, and then I saw the direction-poster.
After walking for about 10 minutes, I reached the frozen river. It was an amazing sight with so many people doing ice-fishing on a weekday morning. There was a sense of festivities. Holes had been drilled into the frozen river, and the anglers were sitting, bending over, standing while waiting for their catch. There were also other activities besides ice-fishing. The participants seem engrossed and focused in their pursuit.
Ice-Fishing
After walking around the festival ground, I bought the entrance ticket to the foreigners' section. I took one of the many discarded fishing rods in the waste-bin. The reasons for the act: environmentally friendly, saving money, saving the hassle of buying a rod?Although the temperature was sub-zero, it was rather sunny. Thus, it did not feel that chilly when walking around the festival grounds. However, it was cold when one was not on the move. I gave up after 10 minutes. If had caught a fish, it could have been cooked for me at a fee.
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| Sancheoneo Ice Festival Ice Fishing |
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| Fish Grilling Service |
Military Recruitment Office
There was a military recruitment office, soldiers playing ice soccer and gathering outside the train station. The soldiers seemed well-built and sporty (Was it the influence the drama 'Descendent of the Sun' had on me?)
Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza
The venue of the indoor ice carvings was across the main road in an indoor plaza. The various ice carvings were very well sculpted. The plaza was divided into a few sections: the Olympics displays, |
| Ice Sculpture Plaza |
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| Sancheoneo Ice Festival Ice Sculptures |
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| Hwacheon Ice Sculptures |
After the visit, I proceeded to the bus terminal. The bus left for Seoul/ChunCheon Station at 2:20pm. It was a dilemma to decide between a direct bus to Seoul, or taking the KTX (via a bus ride to the train station). Both would take me about 3 hours. The bus ride to the train station is about 50minutes, then a waiting time of about 45minutes and then train ride takes 1:15minutes (why couldn't the bus and train schedules be more in sync?). I decided on the KTX option nevertheless.
I was back at Seoul Station in the evening.
It was a good trip.
Note: At the YongSan station, it is possible to connect to the subway train from the train platform. It is preferable to exit the station, and tap the subway card to go to the required platform. This will avoid not being able to get out at the subway destination.
Bukchon Morning Walk
Insadong, without its crowds in the morning is one part of my favorite walk. From Insadong near the Anguk station, there is a path that leads to Bukchon, another part of my favorite walk. |
| Insadong |
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| Bukchon Morning |
Going off from Seoul
Instead of walking to the bus stop to check the timing every time I depart from Seoul, I can refer to the information whenever I want to now:
I did not manage to buy CDs in MyeongDong. I did manage to buy back some food I'd been craving; instead of buying the spicy pickled octopus in Kwangjiang Market, I bought a smaller quantity in Lotte market at twice the price. My short flight from Shanghai to Seoul was 1hr20mins and 1hr50mins for the return trip owing to some air-stream dynamics. Do I need more reasons to visit Seoul again?
Let me plan a spring visit to Seoul again, maybe in spring? Also, I took another photo of a possible interesting place to visit from a travel article in the 'The Korean Times' newspaper on my flight from Seoul to Shanghai. The article is about 'Sunrise of Jeongdongjin' :). I hope there are more signages for tourists there...
Other South Korea blog:
Seoul 2017
Seoul 2016