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

Born in the tropics, we have lots of fun experiencing the cold weather throughout the trip, and of course, we do not want to miss the chance to ski since it is winter time. Additionally, I also wanted to visit the beautiful Nami Island, make popular in year 2002 by a Korea drama Winter Sonata. While planning our itinerary, we chance across a day tour package offered by Trazy, which comprises of a visit to Nami Island and a 3 hours skiing experience at Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort at a reasonable price. Hence, we signed up for the package, and embark on the tour on this Day 7 of our trip.

Breakfast was toast from Issac Toast, and since it was still early (around 7.30pm), there was no queue and we got our toast pretty fast, in contrast to Day 3, where we spent at least an hour waiting for our toast. With our breakfast on the go, we met our tour guide at exit 2 of Myeongdong station, and once everyone else in the tour has arrived, we boarded the bus and about an hour later, we reached the ferry terminal to take the ferry to Nami Island.

According to our tour guide, Nami Island is a self-declared "independent island" which requires a visa (ferry ticket) and has its own currency. He provided some suggested route which we could take, and then asked us to assemble again at the ferry terminal before 1pm after our lunch.

Nami Island
Address: 1 Namisum-gil, Namsan-myeon, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Ferry terminal - scenic views that captivates our attention

Visa (Ferry ticket)

Off we go to Nami Island

From Nami Wharf, we walked through the Pine Tree Lane, passing by the Cheollipo Magnolia Garden, to the Ginkgo Tree Lane and then Metasequoia Lane, taking numerous photos with the enchanting trees. As highlighted by the tour guide, we also venture into the picturesque riverside path before heading back to the Pine Tree Lane to take the ferry back to mainland for lunch.

Even though there were some restaurant on Nami Island, we decided to have our lunch at the main island in order not to miss the meet up timing. Since we were in Chuncheon area, we decided to have dakgalbi for lunch at Chuncheon Dakgalbi situated by the ferry terminal.

Dakgalbi for lunch 

Chuncheon Dakgalbi

Leaving Nami Island behind us, we head towards Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort for some excitement. Since we were novice, we chose to ski and not to snowboard which we read that was more difficult. Our guides then help us to gear up, and taught us some basic skills before leaving us to ski by ourselves. Hubby has great fun skiing down the beginner slope, while I slip down the slope instead. Even though I did not manage to do a proper ski, it was a great experience altogether.

Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort

Address: 688 Bukhangangbyeon-gil, Namsan-myeon, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort

Results of rolling down the slopes

Making a snow angel

Another snow angel

After a fun filled day, we choose to drop off from the tour bus at Hongik University Station, as our dinner plan is at 401 Restaurant, a BBQ joint open by Korean celebrities Kim Jong Kook and Haha of popular variety show "Running Man" fame. Yes, I'm a "Running Man" fan, so how can I miss a visit to this restaurant while in South Korea. Even though there is a branch in Myeongdong, we decided to visit the main outlet in Hongdae since the chance that we will meet some celebrities there is higher. Even though we didn't see any eventually, we filled our tummy with delicious barbeque meat with special dips before heading back to Myeongdong to rest for the day.

401 Restaurant

Address: 23 Jandari-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul

Board filled with signatories of many celebrities 

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

Previously: South Korea Trip Day 6 - Siloam Spa, Nanta Show, N Seoul Tower

South Korea Trip Day 6 - Siloam Sauna, Nanta Show & N Seoul Tower

After a few days of clocking (much) more than 10,000 steps per day, its time to pamper ourselves and pay a visit to the spa. We took the metro to Seoul Station after our breakfast at Paris Baguette, and found our way to Siloam Sauna, which is situated opposite Lotte Mart.

Our breakfast at Paris Baguette - a popular bakery in South Korea

Siloam Sauna

While Dragon Hill Spa is the more popular jjimjilbang (Korean bath house) choice for tourists, we decided to patronize Siloam Sauna instead at the recommendation of a friend, who told us that the facilities between the 2 jjimjilbang are similar, but Siloam Sauna is less crowded, hence more exclusive.

Siloam Sauna 

49 Jungnim-ro, Jungnim-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Nearest Metro: Seoul (Siloam Sauna is just opposite Lotte Mart's main entrance) 

After paying the admission ticket, we were given a set of clothing, then lead (separately) to the male & female changing room, where we exchanged our shoes for 2 small towels and a key to a locker where we could put our belonging. There are all together 6 floors to explore, and I've told my husband that we should meet in 1 hours time at the meeting lounge in 2F so that we could spend some "me" time at B1 where the bath houses are (the bath houses are separated into male and female bath house). After keeping all my belongings and clothes in the locker, I entered the bath house (undress with only 1 small towel) and showered at the designated area, before soaking myself in the various pools. All the pools are supposed to be therapeutic - for example, the charcoal pool helps to remove impurities and improve blood circulations while the wormwood pool helps to avoid mensuration pain. Such introductions are written on the walls of each pool and there are also instructions on how long you should spend at each pool, and the temperature of the pool.

I also tried the scrub service, where an ahjumma (aunty) uses the scrub towel to scrub off dirts from every corner of my body, and ended off by covering me with soap and sending me off to the shower area to clean myself. The after effect was great - I felt "clean and shiny" after the scrub. Do note that this additional service is not included in the admission fee; the ahjumma will take down the number of your locker, and you will pay when you collect your shoes during you check out.

After the shower, I went to the dressing room to get dressed, and met my husband at the meeting lounge in 2F. We sat on the massage chair for a while before going for lunch at the restaurant located inside Siloam Sauna. 

The menu - a variety of Korean food to choose from

We ordered a samgyetang (Korean ginseng chicken soup), mandu (dumplings) and sauna eggs (eggs cooked in the hot sauna) . The samgyetang was rich in taste and the chicken was tender, while the mandu was filled with meat as well. 

Samgyetang

Mandu

Sauna Egg

After an enjoyable meal, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying out the various sauna rooms in 4F. Similar to the pools in B1, different sauna rooms offer different medicinal benefits, and we tried out all the different rooms before choosing a room which we are comfortable with to rest.

We have pre-booked our tickets for the 5pm Nanta show from Changi Recommends, so we made our way to UNESCO Building in Myeongdong after a relaxing afternoon in Siloam Spa. 

Nanta Theatre (Myeongdong)

UNESCO Building, 3rd floor

Nearest Metro Station - Euljiro 1-ga Station

Alternatively, you can also take Line 4, get off at Myeongdong Station, and walk there (which was what we did)

The show is about 4 cooks trying to cook for a banquet, and a bossy manager who is trying to ensure that everything is on plan. We had a good laugh throughout the show and thoroughly enjoyed this fusion of comedy, Korean tradition dance and music and live cooking show.

Dinner was at Myeongdong Tonkatsu for the breaded pork cutlet before we head to N Seoul Tower.

Myeongdong Tonkatsu

Address: 59-13 Myeongdong 1 (il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

There are different ways to get to N Seoul Tower, and for us, since we were still full from dinner but not gamed for an uphill climb, we walked to Namsan Orumi, and took the slanted elevator to Namsan cable car station, where we took the cable car up to N Seoul Tower.

N Seoul Tower in a distant

Cable Car ticket - bought on the spot

1 of the most popular activity in N Seoul Tower is to place a love lock with your partner, symbolizing eternal love, so of course we did what everyone did - bought a lock and found an ideal place to seal our love.

Night view from Namsan

More and more locks

We pre-booked our tickets to go up N Seoul Tower from Changi Recommends, so we escaped the cold wind and headed to the top of the tower to enjoy the night view of the city before calling it off for the day.

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

Previously: South Korea Trip Day 5 - First sunrise and back to Seoul