Mr & Missy in Korea Day 2 (17 May 2013)

I met Mister at Sinchon Subway at 7:30am since we planned to go to Nami Island and the Garden of the Morning Calm. Such an early start! So I just had a simple breakfast of Korean strawberries and yogurt. Strawberries were pretty sweet and not too sour!

We wanted to reached Gapyeong Station (on Gyeongchun Line) by 9am to catch 9:10am Gapyeong Circle Tour Bus to Nami Ferry Wharf. Unlucky for us, the trains were packed with Koreans who love to go hiking on a Spring day.  Apparently, people take the same train to mountains and Nami island. We didn't get a seat for our 90 min journey!

When the train stopped at Gapyeong Station, it was 9:08am and our bus would depart at 9:10am! So we ran out of the train, ran down on the escalators and crossed the road outside the Gapyeong Station. But guess what, there were so many people queue-ing for the 9:10 bus and the bus was already so full. Although the bus hasn't departed yet, we couldn't get on the bus and had to wait for the next one which will depart at 10:10am!

 Gapyeong Circle Tour Bus Schedule

We just had to pay 5,000 Won bus far and can board the bus at any stop for the whole day!

Gapyeong Station

Gapyeong Station - There is a tourist information center behind the taxi queue.

People who didn't want to wait for the bus were queue-ing for taxi but taxi queue was pretty long too. And there was very few taxis.

At the Gapyeong Circle Tour Bus Stop

There was no shelter at the bus stop and we waited in the sun for one whole hour for the 10:10am bus! Luckily, it was still spring so the heat wasn't so bad.  We weren't drenched in our sweat (something that would have happened in Singapore if we have to stand in the sun for 1 hour without shelter) . We didn't dare to leave our spot at the queue either since there was a constant flow of people joining the queue! Not everyone in the queue could get onto the 10:10am bus!

Finally we reached at the  Gapyeong Ferry Wharf around 10:20am.  

We have to take ferry to reach Nami island.   Return ferry tickets + Nami island entrance fees is 8,000 Won per person.

View from the Nami Ferry

After a very short ferry ride (5-10 min at most), we reached Nami Island and were greeted with lively music! The music was kind of like Latin or South American?  The group was really entertaining!

Mister enjoyed the performance so much that he bought these little percussion instruments from the performers!

Map of Nami Island

From Nami Wharf, we decided to walk in a clockwise direction. 

Other than walking, several people rented bicycles to tour around the island.  We chose to walk to instead since the island is not that big and I can't cycle very well on rough roads.

It is such a relaxing feeling to walk along the river bank under the shade provided by the huge trees.  Spring breeze and lack of big crowd are a big bonus! Of course, being able to enjoy such a peaceful feeling with your loved one is the best thing though.

This is the bench where Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo (from Korean Drama Winter Sonata) made their snowman together! Therefore, this is an obligatory photo spot for tourists haha :D

I am always excited to see red and yellow leaves!

With the retro choo choo train by UNICEF 

Cherry Tree Lane

 In front of a very pretty Korean traditional cafe

Another filming spot of Winter Sonata 

 Remember how Bae Yong Joon held Choi Ji Woo's hand as she walked on the fallen tree? :D

 These are the bikes used by Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo in the Winter Sonata Drama.

Another live performance 

They were singing Maroon 5's songs! 

Lunch finally!

We decided to go to the Drama Cafe which sells Korean Lunch Boxes.

 Our lunch boxes and Kimchi Pancake - In the past, Korean children bring metal lunch boxes to school.  Without microwave ovens,  these boxes are kept on top of classroom heaters so that they will remain warm till lunch time. 

Since these metal lunch boxes were hot, the cafe gave us a pair of gloves to shake the lunch boxes before eating.  There were fried egg, sausages, meat and kimchi in the 5,000 Won lunch box. Yummzz!

 A toy train with lunch boxes as cabins

As we continued to walk along the central Korean pine tree lane, we discovered a book festival being held for kids.

And we got little souvenirs to bring back from the book festival.

With the First Kiss Bridge in the background

HUGE guitar in the Song Museum 

 Time to say goodbye to Nami Island

Since we wanted to take 3:15 pm Gapyeong Circle Tour Bus to the Garden of the Morning Calm, we left Nami island around 2:40pm.  It was really hot by then and we decided to get Korea's famous Melon ice-cream at the Gapyeong ferry Wharf before walking to the Gapyeong Circle Tour Bus stop.

At the Gapyeong Wharf

Such an interesting way to grow flowers!

We reached Gapyeong Circle Tour Bus stop around 3:05pm and there were already a few people waiting for the bus stop.  Due to the public holiday, so many people were visiting Gapyeong and there was a bad bad traffic jam. So our 3:15 pm bus finally came only at 4:15 pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We would have reached Garden of the Morning Calm only at 5:30 pm if there is no traffic.  But the garden closes by sunset between 6 pm and 6:30 pm so we had to give it a miss! ARGHHH I have been looking forward to enjoying beautiful spring blooms of Korea. So so disappointed.  

We just took the bus to Cheongpyeong Subway station and headed to Hongdae for dinner.  

We were bored during the long train ride back to Hongdae ;p

At the display of art projects by students from Hongik

To go to the Kongbul Restaurant in Hongdae, come out from exit 8 of Hongik University Subway Station.

 You will pass by Aritaum outlet on your left. Just walk straight for a few more seconds and Kongbul restarurant is on your left.

In front of Kongbul restaurant

You can see people queue-ing already! But we only waited for 15min! phew

 Kongbul's menu

We ordered Set B 18,000 Won.

This is a mix of meat, rice cake and beansprouts.

Cheese and udon noodles were also added.

When there is very little meat and beansprouts left, the waiter added rice and seaweeds to make fried rice for us. So delicious!

After a hearty meal, we walked around Hongdae and listened to live music.  Hongdae has so many street performers.

A pretty cafe we found in Hongdae

In front of Hello Kitty Cafe

I reached back to my guesthouse around 1030 pm and packed for one night stay in Jeonju. Overall, we were really happy with Nami Island.  It was such a beautiful place with a relaxing feel.  It would be better if we could have gone to the Garden of the Morning Calm but oh well.  

Adios!

xoxo

Miss N

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Korea Trip Itinerary 

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2013/06/third-trip-to-my-favorite-city-seoul.html

Korea Day 1

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2013/06/mr-missy-in-korea-day-1-16-may-2013.html

Previous Trip to Nami Island

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2013/04/a-journey-to-k-land-day-2-3-feb-2013.html