Day 10
Namiseon Island > Petite France > Dongdaemun
Remember the famous Korean Hit Drama "Winter Sonata"? It causes the second Korean wave throughout Asia. The series yielded more than US$27 billion when taking into account the profit contributed to tourism.
And we were heading there today! The number of visitors to Namiseon grew 3 times since the series was aired.
There are a few ways travelling to Namiseon Island.
1. Shuttle Bus - Ferry
Bus
departs from either Insadong (Subway: Jonggak Station) or Jamsil Station
(Subway: Jamsil Station). Bus will depart from Seoul at around 9.30am,
and depart from Namiseon Island at 4pm. A round way ticket
including entrance fee costs 23,000 won. Please note that advanced
reservation is required for this option. We went to Nami Island Seoul
Centre at Insadong to reserve the tickets 2 days before our trip to
Namiseon but they were fully booked. Come on! It was a weekday!!! For those
who want to opt for this option, you might want to consider telephone
booking +8227531247 to reserve your tickets early!
2. Subway - Taxi or Gapyeong Tour Bus - Ferry
Take
the subway and alight at Gapyeong Station (Exit 1) of
KyeongChung Line. Subway cost about 2,000 won one way. After alightling
at Gapyeong, you can choose to take either Gapyeong
tour bus (5,000won) or taxi (5,000won) to the ferry wharf. The tour bus includes several stops including Nami Island, Petite France,
Morning Calm and the nearest subway station. You can hop on and off at
every stop using a single ticket.
3. ITX - Taxi or Gapyeong Tour Bus - Ferry
Take
subway to either Seoul or Cheongyanni station and purchase the ticket
for ITX. ITX is a faster and more comfortable way of transporting to
Gapyeong compare to normal subway.
Route of ITX is shown below:
Seoul (Yongsan Station) → Cheongnyangni → Sangbong → Toegyewon → Sareung → Pyeongnaehopyeong → Maseok → Cheongpyeong → Gapyeong → Gangchon → Namchuncheon → Chuncheon
After alighting at Gapyeong, you can choose to take either Gapyeong tour bus or taxi to the ferry wharf.
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We
chose to travel by ITX since we couldn't reserve a place for the
shuttle bus. Seriously need more rest along the journey! Ticket purchase
of ITX can be done using the ticketing machine!
A very comfortable ride to Namiseon Island...
Beautiful view through the windows too!
Finally we were here at the ferry terminal!
The Ferry is scheduled every 30minutes starting from 7:30am. Last Ferry departs from Nami Wharf at 21:45pm.
A short and sweet 5 minutes ferry ride. We were almost there...
Such a beautiful view upon arriving Nami Island. We were blessed with good weather today.
Namiseon
Island was named after General Nami, who led a great victory against
the rebels in the 13th year of the 7th king of Joseon Dynasty. He died
at the age of 26. In 2001, Nami Island was renovated as an art and
cultural park. In 2006, it declared independence as the Naminara
Republic! Many sculptures and exhibits on the island are made from recycled products.
They have their own flag, passport, bank and even CURRENCY & CITIZENSHIP!!
Together with the chilling weather and colorful trees, it makes Nami Island a such lovely place to be.
A teddy bear stucked on the tree. I am not sure how he managed to get himself there...
Popular site of Winter Sonata's main characters' first kiss.
The
island is great for relaxing. You can rent a bike or electric car to
tour the island. We however thought that walking slowly on the forest
path would be the best choice. There were too many people making
it difficult to cycle around.
Since 2001, Nami Island has
become one of culture tourist attractions as the number of Asian
tourists increases due to the success of Korean dramas, Winter Sonata. *power of media*
The
incredibly tall and straight trees are perhaps one of the signature site
on Naminara. The trees were transplanted since 1977 and grew to one of the
most romantic lanes in Korea.
How could I missed taking romantic pictures with Jeff beneath the tall trees?
The famous bronze couple...
It took us about 2 hours to tour Nami Island at a leisure pace.
Yippy! Back to the mainland~
Since we
were taking the Gapyeong Tour Bus, we planned to stop at Petite France
and Morning Calm. However, we only managed to do Petite France. Too exhausted over the past 9 days.
Petite
France is a theme park with colorful buildings designed in European
style. Entrance fee is 8,000 won. The location of Petite France is
secluded. I guessed I won't find my way here if I were not taking the tour
bus.
There were little tourists and many shops were not opened. Maybe it was a weekday?!
The
concept of Petite France encapsulates ‘flowers, stars, and the Little
Prince. Pretty paintings were all around the place.
The
founder of Petite France is a Korean who liked "The Little Prince" so
much. Here, you will be able to see many drawings, museum about this
famous story.
There were also many interesting shops to wander around.
Again,
Petite France is a filming location for famous Korean Dramas "My Love
from the Star" & "Secret Garden". This place would be crowded with
tourists sooner or later...
Photos and signatures of the actors and actresses of the dramas were exhibited there too!
Puppet show. Interesting one!
It
was 3pm after we finished touring Petite France. Hesitating whether to
tour Morning Calm, Jeff said "Let's do some shopping at Dongdaemun".
Dongdaemun
is a true shopping paradise for clothing, from head to toe.
Specializing in wholesale, the market have more than 20 shopping malls!
Dongdaemun is divided into 2 sections, Section 1 (blue) and Section 2
(purple).
Section 1 (Golden triangle) mainly consist of retail shops such as Doosan Tower, Migliore, Hello APM,
which mostly deal with general customers and tourists at retail prices.
These malls operate from 10.30am to 5am the next day! You can do your
shopping all the way till midnight! Doosan is a higher end shopping mall
selling branded and quality goods. If you are looking at something like
"Platinum mall" in Bangkok, Migliore is the place for you. Most of the
goods are inexpensive and most importantly they are "made in Korea"!
Section 2
sell goods both in wholesale and retail, but mainly selling in bulk.
Since most shops deal with wholesalers, there are no dressing rooms.
Refunds and exchanges are not guaranteed.
We were so mesmerized about doing our shopping until we totally forgot about taking photos!
We got our hands full after a few hours of shopping at Dongdaemun. *Sweat*
Let's go home~
Another mamak-stall-ing night with our friendly ajumma at Jongno-3-ga.
