Snow Tubing!

If you've been following my adventures in South Korea for the past year, you may remember that I have been a member of the 3rd K-Performance Supporters for the Korea Tourism Organization. I've been able to see some great shows and attend some awesome events. It was time to officially wrap up the program for the year, so the KTO bussed us all to the High 1 Resort for an overnight trip of snow tubing and sightseeing.

After a relaxing, three-hour bus ride, we reached Gangwon Province, which is on the north-eastern part of South Korea and is where the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held. We stopped off for a quick lunch of soup and sides - look at the awesome boil going on in my hot stone bowl of bulgogi soup!

After that, it was time to check into the High 1 - it is a huge complex of hotels, convention spaces, golf courses, a casino, a water park, and, of course, skiing amenities! We stayed in the High 1 Hotel, which gave us a GREAT view of the surrounding mountains.

After checking in, we bundled up for an afternoon of tubing and skiing.

I decided to pull out my special hat for the occasion:

The Ski House had a bunch of fun areas to see, in addition to the ski slopes and gondolas. I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of the fun, snow sculptures.

Our first event was a Snow Tube Race Festival for foreigners. We were all given race numbers to wear, shown some safety tips for using the large snow tubes (basically, hold on tight!), and then separated into heats for racing.

While we were having fun trying to reach a stuffed animal at the end of the slope, there was a cameraman taping everything for the KTO. Here is the result - look for me in the furry, blue hat! 

This is Hi-Hou, the High 1 Resort's dog mascot, that we had to capture to win. He was so cute, I ended up bringing home a small stuffed animal for my son.

After the tubing race was finished (and I, sadly, was not victorious), everyone had the opportunity to go skiing on the slopes or take a 1-hour ski lesson. Since I have a bad knee (and just trying to put on the rented boots was pain-inducing), I opted to explore the area a bit more, enjoy a churro, and take a few more pictures instead. 

Back of the Ski House

Gondolas

Ski lessons

Ski lift and slope bottom

That evening, we were treated to a culinary feast in the ballroom, where we were entertained by the cast of Sachoom, could win prizes in a ticket raffle, and medals were given to those who won the Tubing Race.

We then also had the closing ceremony and awards for the 3rd K-Perfromance Supporters. For each event we attended throughout the year, we were awarded points for our our participation and the length of our reviews. The top 15 point earners were honored with certificates and prizes. Four of us tied for first place. What a great group of people from all over the world!

Three of the top four (me, Alex, and Dani) with the KTO Director.

Day 2 started with a large, buffet breakfast before check-out

There were the usual suspects you'd find in a Western breakfast - eggs, cereal, pastries, fruits - and there were also Eastern elements - salad, kimchi, rice dishes.

We loaded our gear onto the busses one more time and headed to Kujulri Station for some fun.

The entire region used to be full of mining facilities, but when the mines closed, things were converted to resorts, such as the High 1. Another thing that was converted was the railroad in Jeongseon from Kujulri to Auraji Stations, which is now a rail biking tourist attraction.

Here was our trusty 4-passenger conveyance for the 7.5 km, one-hour tour. You could probably finish the ride faster, but it depends upon the speed and crazy antics of those in the bikes ahead of you.

The tour leaves the station at specific times and affords a great view of the surrounding area.

The quirky item at Kujulri Station is the set of train cars that have been converted to look like giant grasshoppers...having a fun time, it seems. They are actually small cafés.

We got ready to peddle...

...stopped for a photo op...

...and then headed along the track. We passed through bunch of tunnels - very cool (and cold!)

There were some staged items along the way - like this wolf.

I also noticed a number of traditional burial mounds near a number of the farms. There were many, which I later took pictures of from the bus on the way home. Each farm or house had a simple mound, sometimes unmarked or sometimes with ornate monuments, up on a hillside or in a removed location for the burial of their ancestors.

Burial sites seen along the bus ride home:

As we came around the bend at the end of the bike ride, we saw this interesting bridge:

And then we arrived at Auraji Station, and another set of fun train cars - this time, they were carp.

Want to spend a few minutes virtually riding the rails with me? 

A fellow K-Supporter, Zach, recorded the entire trip from the front of seat of our rail bike - you can experience the trip (in fast forward) HERE.

Our last stop was lunch nearby and we ate while seated on the floor.

We had a great assortment of side dishes, with some regional delicacies. The large black platter on the left was an excellent tasting deodeok, a root vegetable that reminded us of carrot.

Thus ended an epic trip and year with the KTO! It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of this group and I hope you all enjoyed reading about my experiences with them.

Touring Incheon, South Korea

What better to do on a commitment-free weekend than go on a trip to another city in Korea? Well, that's what we decided to do about two weeks ago (yes, I am behind in blogging!). When we arrived at the USO office for a trip to Incheon, we found we were the only one's on this particular tour (Wait, not everyone wants to walk around outside all day in January?) and so we were loaded into a passenger van with our tour guide for the day.

When you hear "Incheon" most people immediately think of the Incheon Airport, as that is the main reason for most to go west of Seoul. The airport is actually slightly removed from downtown Incheon, however, and all the fun things to see and do there. The van ride took about one hour, even with a bit of traffic on the expressway, and we soon found ourselves in the main tourist area of Jung-gu.

Our first stop was the Incheon Port Modern Architecture Museum, on the street of themed museums, for some background on the area. Incheon is the 2nd largest port in South Korea (Busan is the largest), it has a large amount of reclaimed and rebuilt land near the shore, and it has a complex military history. We picked up some handy maps, a complete guidebook in English about the many attractions in town (titled Nuri Street), and headed back outside to explore.

A model of the port, with the man-made lock system.

Next up was a museum about the railroad, early postal service, first naval academy, and banking, all housed in the former 1st Bank of Japan office building.

We happened upon a temporary paper flower exhibit next door, 

with work by 김 은 옥 (Kim Eun Ok).

These paper flowers were on hats and other accessories used in some spiritual ceremonies.

I found the next picture curious, so I asked our tour guide to translate the captions for us. What she described sounded very much like spirit possession and a voo-doo ceremony. It was interesting to see how uncomfortable this made our guide, who felt it was very scary.

Due to its location on the west coast, Incheon was populated by a large number of Chinese immigrants, which resulted in a large Chinatown neighborhood. We turned the corner and found ourselves at the base of the Boundary Stairs - the left side was where the Chinese settlement ended and the right side was where the Japanese settlement began. If you look closely, you’ll see that both the pillars and lanterns are of two different styles as they lead up to a statue of Confucius.

At the top of the stairs we were greeted by some great golden dragons and then turned left to walk down the Samgukji Wall Painting Street. 

The wall features scenes and characters from the Romance of Three Kingdoms, a Chinese novel with fables and lessons on how to behave during the Han Dynasty. 

There were also some fun places to take some selfies and family portraits along the way. Michael looks like a floating head in this one:

At the end of the street, we entered into the unmistakably adorned Chinatown - red lanterns, golden dragons, and ornate architecture. There is a great example of a traditional Chinese row house, vendors, restaurants, three giant gates (pai-lou), a cultural center, and much more.

A traditional Chinese row house:

One of the many “firsts” for Incheon (there is a entire wall dedicated to them on the History and Culture street) is the fact that the first Korean-style black bean noodles, called Jjajangmyeon, were made here. So of course we had to go to the Jjajangmyeon Museum and then have some for lunch! 

Did you know that there are three different lengths of chop sticks? And that Korean chopsticks are slightly longer than Japanese ones? Of course they are - you know you need to be able to reach all of those tasty side dishes!

Early delivery boxes:

Only seafood dishes should be served on this plate:

Our tour guide, Jeanie, talking about all of the types of instant noodles.

We wandered through Chinatown for a bit and bought some pastries.

I had to take some more pictures of dragons - there were a lot of them.

And then it was time for Jjajangmyeon!

And this rather interesting decor choice...

Filled up on noodles, and ready for more walking, we headed up the hill towards the 3rd Pai-lou and Jayu park. I stopped to take lots of pictures along the way.

Stairs!!  This is set #1.

There were some interesting tile murals on either side of the stairs:

Our guide said that this is the gate as you exit Chinatown, welcoming you back to Korea - thus the ornate colors.

The park is guarded by the animals of the zodiac.

There is a large monument meant to commemorate the relationship between South Korea and the USA.

Also known as Freedom Park, this area affords a great view of the port and is home to the statue of General MacArthur, in honor of the role he played in turning the tide during the Korean War, as well as a few other memorial pieces. 

Here's a view of Wolmi Island (more to come on that in a minute).

General MacArthur's statue:

We headed down out of the park (more stairs) and went past the wall of "Firsts" - first train in Korea, first port, first jjajamyeon, first postal system, first foreigner hotel...there were many more.

Just outside the Jung-gu office building, there was this random, interesting lantern display of snowmen and musical bugs.

Since we hadn’t had enough walking for the day (okay, I had, but little did I know the fun was just about to begin!), we got back in the van for a quick trip to Wolmido Island. Called Wolmi for short, this is popular tourist attraction throughout the year, with a hiking park, observatory, gardens, a food experience center, a sports stadium, and even a theme park. 

Our guide let us out at the East Gate, near a traditional family house.  We found some fun picture places and tried our hands at the traditional Korean games. 

I love, love, LOVE this next action shot - he's kicking the equivalent of a hacky sack.

 Say"Kimchi!"

Then Jeannie led us to a “hiking trail” up the mountain towards the Wolmi Observatory. I say “hiking trail” as it was really just stairs - lot and lots of stairs - 475 stairs, to be exact. I know this, as they have signs posted telling you how many stairs there are and how many calories you’ve burned every 20 steps or so. This is actually pretty awesome, and the view and scenery were great, but if you have a bad knee like I do, you MAY want to find a different way to go!

Wolmi Mt...the 2nd set of stairs for the day...  

How many stairs...oh, just 119 - that's doable...and look at the calories you'll burn!

Look - here's your calorie burning tally so far - way to go!

Wait, what? 356 more stairs!? Ugh! 

........................ugh.

We made it!! (Okay, I made it!) Photo op with the Asian Game mascots!

Wait - ack, more stairs!

The Asian Para Games mascots:

The view at the top was great!

 Here is a shot of Chinatown and Freedom Park (trees on right).

The port and modern day lock system:

Wolmi's theme park, My-Land:

Thoroughly spent and with legs shaking (all three of us!), we got back into the van for a 20 minute ride to our last sightseeing stop - The Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing Operation. 

It’s an impressive complex built by the Incheon citizens to commemorate the decisive military landing that took place on September 15, 1950 under MacArthur’s leadership. 

There is an indoor museum, movie theaters, outdoor displays of military vehicles, and the hilltop Tower of Liberty Protection and flame.  Right about here, my phone battery died and my picture taking was over - until I grabbed Rob's phone and started using his.  :)

The flags of the countries that aided South Korea during the Korean War:

A moment of levity in a somber scene:

The indoor exhibit was very interesting - lots of facts, pictures, memorabilia, and interactive screens.

At the top of the monument's hill is a sculpture called The Tower of Liberty Protection, with an eternal flame at its base.

We had a great, full, tiring day with something for everyone - if you happen to go, just wear comfortable shoes and bring extra batteries for your camera or phone!