South Korea Trip Day 10 & 11 - Hwacheon Ice Festival & Bye Bye South Korea

Initially, we wanted to spend more time shopping, but since most shops are selling winter related items that are irrelevant for us, we decided to scout for some thing else to do. We shortlisted café hopping, a visit to Running Man Thematic Experience Center and a day tour to Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival before finally deciding on the latter. 

The day tour package that we took up was from Trazy.com, and consists of the round-trip transportation, an English speaking guide, entrance to ice-fishing zone (inclusive of a fishing rod), 1 freshly caught baked fish to eat and a 10,000 won voucher to be use in the village. After a quick kimpab (Korean sushi roll) breakfast at the nearby 7-11 convenient store, we met up with our tour guide and fellow tour mates before heading to Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival venue, which is about a 2 hours bus ride.

Entrance ticket

We've seen ice fishing on shows, but was not sure what to expect when it is our turn to do so. The tour guide gave us some brief instructions - each person is only allowed to catch 3 fishes at the area dedicated for foreigners, and all fishes caught had to be returned to the booth. We were also told to meet up in about an hour's time to get a cooked trout (type of the fish which we will be fishing).

Fishing rod - no baits required

Fishing holes - there were numerous of them, and our hint to you is to find a hole which is nearer to the center of zone. We were told that the fishing area for foreigners contain more fishes so that we do not go home feeling empty.

1 of the ladies in the group concentrating in her fishing

Caught!

Our harvest

In the end, hubby did not have much luck in catching any trout, and I single-handedly caught all 6 fishes (smirk). Next, its time to taste the trout which were caught in the morning.

Area to return the caught trout

Baking the trout

Cooked trout

The tour guide then issued the voucher which can be used anywhere in the village, gave us some ideas of the available activities before leaving us to enjoy the afternoon.

10,000 won voucher

Ice skating

Sledging on flat ice

Sledging down the slopes

Overall view of the area

There were also activities like bare hand fishing in the cold waters, but we choose to skip this activity, and head to the Ice Illumination Plaza to see ice sculptures.

Ice Sculptures

Around the festival village

We browse through different shops down the road in the village, and decided to spend our voucher at Issac Toast, since we cannot seem to get enough of it.

Issac Toast

After a day of fun, its time to head back to Seoul, and we decided to have our last dinner of this trip at Yoogane in Myeongdong for more galbi.

Yoogane

Address: 3-1 Myeongdong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

Galbi fried rice

We packed our bags, and head to Incheon airport by the airport bus at the bus stop near Hotel New Oriental Myeongdong (the hotel which we are staying at) the next morning for our flight home. It was a great trip, and we look forward to a new adventure at another wonderland soon.

Previously: South Korea Trip Day 8 & 9 - Haircut, Shopping and Everland

South Korea Trip Day 8 & 9 - Haircut, Shopping and Everland

We started our day with breakfast at Migabon, located within walking distance from Hotel New Oriental Myeongdong. For those who are familiar with Korean culture, porridge or congee is a popular choice of breakfast by the Koreans, and Migabon serves a wide variety of awesome porridges that help to warm our stomach in the cold weather.

Migabon
Address: 2-2 Myeongdong 2(I)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

After much contemplation, hubby finally succumb to my persuasion and agrees to have a hair cut done. We entered 1 of the Juno Hair salon in Myeongdong, and were warmly welcomed by the salon staffs. After keeping our belongings in a locker, the hair stylist asks us to choose the desired hair style for hubby using pictures of various Korean celebrities while drinks and snacks are being served. An assistant then help hubby to wash his hair, before the hair stylist began her work to transform hubby into a K-Pop star, while the assistant was kept busy wiping off any hair that falls onto hubby's face. 

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End product - side view

Back view

Top view

I didn't engage their service as I just did it my hair before the trip. Verdict - Great service from the staffs, nice cut (but somehow the hair style seems nowhere near that of our chosen celebrity's hairstyle), but a bit pricey considering Korean standards. 

Next on, we venture into Common Ground, a hip shopping center made up of container boxes, before taking a bus to Gangnam to have lunch at Aori Ramen, a ramen restaurant owned by K-pop singing group Big Bang's Seungri. My friend recommended this ramen restaurant to us for its rich broth and springy noodle (although its owner plays a part too), and we were not disappointed.

Common Ground

Address: 200 Achasan-ro, Jayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Nearest Subway: Konkuk Station, go out via exit 6 and about 250m straight

Aori Ramen

Address: 7 Dosan-daero 57-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

We took bus 4212 near Konkuk Station to this restaurant 

Common Ground

Aori Ramen @ Gangnam

After a satisfying lunch, we took bus 472 to Ewha Woman University (about an hour journey), and then explore the shopping lanes near the University, before making way to Hongdae via subway for more shopping.

Ewha Woman University

Ewha Woman University

Main shopping street near Hongik University

Interesting Lego theme restaurant 

Brick Burger!

After an afternoon of retail therapy, we had yet another dakgalbi meal at Chuncheonjip Dakgalbi Makguksu, which was quite highly recommended in many travel blogs. We didn't understand the hype though, probably due to the fact that we had tasted better ones the day before on our excursion to Nami Island.

Chuncheonjip Dakgalbi Makguksu

Address: 1, Yonsei-ro 5ga-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

Nearest subway: Sinchon Station

Chuncheonjip Dakgalbi Makguksu

Before we call it a day, we went for some yummy mandu (dumplings) at Myeongdong Kyoja.

Myeongdon Kyoja

Address: 29, Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

Day 9 is a day of fantasy as we are visiting Everland. We've pre-booked our admission tickets from Trazy.com after comparing the prices of a few sites, and initially, we wanted to make our way to Everland via public transport. After much thinking, we decided to pick up the shuttle bus service from Trazy.com as well to save us some efforts, since the shuttle bus can pick us up directly from Myeongdong. 

After our breakfast at Macdonalds, we board the shuttle bus, and arrived at Everland in around an hour's time.

Macdonald's breakfast

The famous magical tree near the entrance of Everland

Our first stop is Safari World in order to avoid the crowd that usually appears in the afternoon to have some close up encounter with lions, white tiger and bears. 

Safari World - queuing up for the Tiger Bus

The lion family

White tiger

Bear - cutie pie which did some performance based on the cue of the Tiger Bus driver

I was a little bit disappointed that we didn't see the liger (cross breed of lion and tiger) this time, and I attached an old photo of the liger taken during a previous trip to Everland in 2007.

Liger - note the stripes on the body which is typical of a tiger

1 of the perks of visiting Everland during winter is opening of Snow Buster where one could enjoy the trill of sledging down the snow covered slopes. We had quite some fun here sledging down various slopes of different heights, and then we headed to 1 of the cafes to have our lunch.

Tube lift - no need to climb up the slopes to do the sledge

Our lunch - a pretty decent katsu curry rice

We spent the rest of the afternoon touring the amusement park - watching shows and taking rides before its time to go back to Seoul.

We had our dinner at Andong Jjimdak, a popular restaurant selling jjimdak (braised chicken), a dish which originates from Andong (hence the name). We totally enjoyed the tender chicken and thick gravy that goes so well with rice that we almost ordered more rice to go with the gravy. 

Andong Jjimdak

Address: Myeongdong 2ga, 2-2, Seoul, South Korea

This marks the end of Day 9, paving way for an exciting Day 10 ahead.

Up next: South Korea Trip Day 10 & 11 - Hwacheon Ice Festival & Bye Bye South Korea

Previously: South Korea Trip Day 7 - Nami Island & Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort