Today was the day we supposed to go for snowboarding. M kept waking up few times in wee hours, she felt sick and threw up the dinner. Probably too much kimchi made her Malaysian stomach rumbling. Looking at her condition I know there's no way we will be able to go for snowboard today so I asked the reception to cancel our booking for shuttle bus to Jisan Forest Resort.
So I waited until M calm down, fed (or rather forced) her cereal for breakfast and we discussed what we can do instead. We decided to go to Nami Island. We figured it will be easy journey since we will not do anything strenuous.
We took the train until Gapyeong Station. To reach the station from Itaewon, we have to change train at Sangbong Station. We saw this unique stairs leading up to the platform that has gone viral few years back. The stairs will start lit and play sounds like a piano if someone steps on it. That made the stairs more enjoyable than the escalator.
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| Piano stairs or escalator? The stairs, of course! |
There were lots of people, especially elderly Korean heading towards Gapyeong. Some of them dressed up in hiking gears. Around Namiseom (or Nami Island) there are lots of hiking trails to explore. Maybe next time I'll prepare for hiking as well whenever I get to come here again.
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| In the train towards Gapyeong |
We arrived at Gapyeong after almost an hour! (*gasp*). It was surprisingly long train ride, I didn't check beforehand and mentally prepared. We arrived at the station then headed to the bus stop for the shuttle bus. We paid 5500 won for the ticket and kept it properly. It is a whole day ticket which can be use multiple times for the shuttle bus ride.
After arriving at Nami Ferry terminal we hurriedly queued up to buy "visa" for Nami Island which essentially was entrance ticket that costs 10,000 won per person.
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| Heading towards the ticket entrance |
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| Zipwire at the entrance.... maybe next time when it's NOT winter |
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| Queueing for Namiseom visa |
By the time we arrived at the dock, we just missed the ferry. So we had to wait little bit more in the freaking cold weather (T_T). Thank God there was a big stove at the waiting area. Just looks at the frozen river below, you'll know how cold it was.
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| Frozen Bukhangang (Bukhan River) |
Arrived at Namiseom! Look at this peculiar welcoming stone statue ↓
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| Welcoming you to Namiseom |
Namiseom for this season might not be as nice as when it's fall or when it's fully covered with snow. But still it was fun and interesting to take pictures and stroll around the island. There was ice sculpture tiny castles and ice slides, snowman statues representing various countries (there was Malaysia!), ostrich farm and lines and lines of beautifully planted trees along the walking path of course!
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| Ice sculpture |
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| Snowman representing multiple countries |
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| Yum yum, red bean steamed bread. It was aweeeesome trust me! |
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| Frozen lake, looked at the duck happily walking on the ice! |
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| Walking path |
M started to feel really cold. She was only wearing a thin jacket which was a really bad choice since the weather was getting colder everytime the winds blow. Luckily we saw Nami Library Baplex for us to take shelter from the cold. There was a big children's library decorated with flying books. It looks fun!
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| Children's library in the gallery |
It was almost time to pray, so we went up to the musolla upstairs. I was surprised the management even provides really nice musolla to pray, there was even halal restaurant downstairs! The praying room was big, clean and comfortable. Honestly, this was even better than some of the praying room in malls at Malaysia. I can see why there were so many Muslims visiting this Island. No need to pray outside in the cold, yay!
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| Nice musolla facilities |
Afterwards we went downstairs to Asia Cuisine Restaurant for lunch. I opted for the spicy chicken meal. It was masisseoyo(delicious)!
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| My spicy chicken meal. |
There were lots of memorabilia from the super famous drama Winter Sonata. This drama is one of the drama that started the Korean frenzy in Malaysia. I remembered when I was still in middle school and watched the drama religiously every week. I loved Choi Ji Woo because she's so naturally pretty!
There were so many people at Joon Sang and Yoo Jin statues that I don't bother to take picture with it.
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| Winter Sonata memories |
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| The bicycle that Joon Sang and Yoo Jin used to go to school |
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| Joon Sang and Yoo Jin statues |
We did not spend too much time after lunch in the island. We took the ferry back to the mainland afterwards. Took the shuttle bus to Petite France. The entrance ticket was 6,000 won per person. We went inside and I was excited to take pictures but M started to lose her mood because she felt too cold, plus she still felt sick from our dinner the night before. So we headed to the top floor of one of the museum hoping to find room with heater but there was none. Finally we found a very nice warm room in the antique shop.
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| View of Petite France from one of the museum top floor |
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| The antique shop |
Since M was barely able to walk anymore because of the cold, we spent like less than half an hour at Petite France then took the bus back to Gapyeong Station.
I think it was at Sangbong Station when we met a Malaysian family. M saw this shop selling second hand winter jacket, and since she was freezing in her thin jacket, she bought one at 5000 won. The Malaysian family was in the shop, taking break and heat from the shop heater. There were 6 of them, a middle aged parents with 4 childrens including a baby. We told them we plan to eat at Gosami nearby Sinchon Station. Since their hostel was also around Sinchon, they told us they would like to join us. So off we went to find the shop. When we arrived, it was 9:40pm and they told us they already in the midst of closing! We practically begged the shop manager to let us in because I felt guilty making the family walked all the way and they looked so tired and hungry. The manager told us he can't let us in because his staff needs to go home. He suggested another shop which has same menu with them instead. I don't know how to read the name but it was just around the corner.
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| The shop manager showing me where to eat instead. |
We sit in the shop and started to order. The only problem, big problem is, these guys do not really understand English. The waiter was a young college student which knows little bit of English and Japanese. So I was tried my best to explain my order to him. At first we ordered 2 set of fish for us, and 6 set for the family, but we changed our mind and ordered 2 set for the family and 1 set for us.
It turned out the order came with 2 set and 6 set PLUS the 2+1 set. It was too much food for us. The guy did not understand when I said I want to cancel the order. (T_T)
The ahjumma working at the restaurant was mad at us when we did not want the extra fish, she practically banging the dish on our table. Wow, she was pretty rough but it's not really anyone's fault I guess because we did not understand each other really well. Me and M decided to pay for the extra meal without them knowing it because we did not want to burden the family.
The meal was good, but it left bit of bitter taste in my mouth because of the ahjumma's attitude. The waiter guy apologized to me profusely, even the manager was mad at him because of the order's problem. I was kinda touched that when his shifts end and he changed to his regular clothes, he came to me and said he will try his best to improve his Japanese and English and I wished him all the best.
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| The big meal in Sinchon |
It was a looong day for sure. I learned my lesson to ALWAYS check the closing hours for restaurant or any place I want to go. Never thought they will close so fast. Rest now for another day tomorrow.
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