Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Mt Sorak National Park And Nami Island

After a good night rest and hearty breakfast our itinerary of the day would be heading towards Mount Sorak National Park to witness it beauty through granite peaks, lush green valleys, dense forest, snowy scene and etc. And due to the good weather we also have the chance to ascend to the summit by cable car and get a magnificent view of the park at the top of the mountain. After lunch we proceed to the 2nd attractions; Nami Island where some scenes from Winter Sonata are being filmed there.

Sokcho city view from the Hotel Dining Gallery at level 15 where you could at a glimpse of the city and the wide ocean and sandy beach.

Seoraksan is the highest mountainntain in the Taebaek mountain range in the Gangwon province in eastern South Korea which is located in the Mount Sorak National Park near the city of Sokcho. After the Hallasan volcano on Jeju Island and Jirisan in the south, Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in South Korea.


The nature reserve protects an area of 163.6 square kilometers and contains many notable high peaks measuring over 1,200 meters above sea level including the highest peak of Soraksan.

Perhaps the most visited part of the mountain is the main entrance valley to the National Park. The valley runs west to east with many beautiful sites and a paved road leading up to the park's entrance that is well worth for a visit.

Although it is already early winter during our visit but you still could spot some maple trees in their Autumn look too.

After a freezing trip up to the mountain top trial walk and a short visit at the main temple at the far end of the valley, we stop over at a restaurant about 20 minutes drive away from the National Park to have our lunch. So we guess this hotpot come just in time to warm our cold body temperature from all the walks at the mountain top and cold valley.

Other than mixed veggie soup hotpot we also have a bowl of "Bibimabap (Korean Stone Pot Rice)" each and some side dishes for lunch.

After lunch we took a short nap in the bus before arriving at Nami Island Wharf station. The island is situated 63km from Seoul in the middle of Han River which has a shape that look like a leaf floating on top of Cheongpyeong Lake. Entry to the island can be done via through the ferry which is at every 30 minutes  interval after the 1st ferry at 07:30 from Gapyeong Wharf.

There are also some trees that are tall enough to touch the sky, big grass gardens where deers, ostriches, rabbits, squirrels and etc live together providing a place where man and nature can coexist. In the Island you could also find Food Court, Bike Center, Sports Clubs, Cafe, Cottages, Hotels and etc.

Does this place look familiar to you? For those who have watched the Korea Drama "Winter Sonata" airing in 2002 would definitely remember the leading actor and actress, Bae Yong Joon (裴勇俊) and Choi Ji Woo (崔智友). This two rows of trees in the photo above is known as "Metasequoia Lane" where most visitors would stop-by during their Nami Island visit to take photos because it is one of the filming location of Winter Sonata.

Another view of the Nami Island near the "Nami Wharf Train Station" that is along the stretch of Central White Pine Tree Lane. Around the Train Station you could also see the Tomb of General Nami.

Dinner for the day is Ddeokbokki (Stir-fried Rice Cake) and assorted sides. It is pretty interesting to have the combination of cooked rice, rice cake strips mixture and cabbage in a hotpot. Eating this during cold winter night and enjoying the snowflakes view through the side windows is definitely something memorable for us.

After dinner, our tour guide lead us into the shopping craze at "Dongdaemun Shopping Complex" where multi-floored labyrinth of clothes, manicurists, accessories, coffee bars, shoes, toys and etc can be found selling right up till the mall closed in late night.

SNACK PREVIEW:

And for the last part of our Korea Trip I would share with you some of the photos from our visit to the Majestic Gyeongbok Palace, experience in Kimchi making and visit of Lotte World Theme Park (filming site of Korean drama "Stairway to Heaven") and etc.

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Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Phoenix Park Ski Resort

After a fun day at the Everland Outdoor Theme Park(read more HERE), we finally gets to stay in the skiing resort which is one of the highlight for this tour. As we went during the earlier months of Winter, we still can't really sees the whole skiing mountain being covered with thick snow. But despite of the disadvantages, everyone still had a great time catching up with some skiing lesson snowballs fight.

For morning Breakfast we had some simple Western and Korea dishes in Buffet syle together with assorted bread, toast, fresh juice and coffee/tea.

After breakfast, everyone changed into skiing outfit and getting ready to embrace ourselves with beautiful morning view from the "Scenic Gondola Ride" up the snowy mountain.

Breathtaking sights of the downhill view from the top of the snowy mountain. This is also the starting point for those Alpine skiers too.

A group of skiers getting ready for action. At that moment we wished that we could be half as good as them to handle all the turns and jumps.

Our first encounter with the real snowflakes at the top of the snowy mountain.

Although Rey is too young for the actual skiing fun but he did have lots of fun with the sled-riding. And he even complaint that the half day skiing itinerary is too short for him.

Uncle and cousins are training hard to balance their skiing set after the demo session by our tour guide. Guess skiing is not an easy sport after all as we saw a lot of young kids of age below 6 starts learning at such young age with their full gears on.

Lunch was at a small cottage about 8 minutes bus ride away from the skiing park. From the photo you could roughly see that we had some "Assorted Mushroom Hotpot" with shaved meat and the usual accompany sides.

While the rest of the tour mates were enjoying themselves at the "Blue Canyon Water Theme Park", we explored around the small shopping area with a few others and enjoying our afternoon tea-break with Yogurt ice-cream and Starbucks coffee to warm ourselves on the cold weather.

After a relax afternoon at the jacuzzi for the Adults and fun filled excitement at the various pools for the kids. Everyone is so tired and doze off during the an hour plus of bus journey to our dinner destination and hotel.

Dinner: We had "Octopus & Lean Pork" hotplate.

SNACK PREVIEW:

Nami Island, the filming location of popular drama series "Winter Sonata". And we finally experience the downpour of snowflakes and the freezing cold weather of -10 degree in cold winter evening.

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Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Everland Theme Park

Upon returned from Jeju Island we spent almost half a day at this Korea famous outdoor theme park known as "Everland". This park equipped with many different kinds of rides and attractions that are suitable for all ages. In it there is also a safari park in Zoo-Topia area where tourists would get a close up view of the wild animals.

Finally gets to see something familiar and decent for breakfast at one of the cafe known as "Azale" at Jeju, Grand Hotel where we stays during our Jeju stop over.

After breakfast we proceed to our flight back from Jeju International Airport to Gimpo Airport in Seoul.

About an hour bus ride, we transfer the theme park shuttle bus service from the foot of the mountain to the entrance of the Everland theme park. (about 5 - 8 minutes ride)

Everland is opened in 1976 and it is about 1,200,000yd2. It is ranked as the 4th theme park in the world by offering 5 Main Festivals and exciting entertainments all year around.

The T.Express shown in the photos at the back end is the first wooden roller coaster built in 2006 and the largest of any kind in South Korea. The T Express is the 6th longest wooden coaster in the world at 5,838 feet long. It is also the steepest, with the first drop inclined at 77 degrees.
Height requirement: between 130 cm and 195 cm.
Location: European Adventure

Indulge yourself in a bus-ride with close up look with the wild animals in the Safari World tour where you can see rare white Tiger, Black Bear, Elephants and etc.
Location: Zoo-Topia

For kids, Animal Wonder Stage will be a great place for fantastic stage performances featuring Everland's very own animal stars.
Location: Zoo-Topia

There are a lot of small food stalls around the theme park selling all kinds of quick and easy snacks for you to grab along while enjoy your rides. Or you could also explore the food village located at European Adventure. Here we have some popcorn chicken meal from Burger Cafe.
Location: European Adventure

Everland's gorgeous parades at the Carnival Square.
Location: European Adventure

Enjoying our festive train ride around the Four Season Garden.

The Ferris wheel in Magic Land provides a spectacular view of the whole park.
Location: Magic Land

Oriental Restaurant that caters buffet with more than 40 mouthwatering dishes. Look stunning with all the Christmas lighting.
Location: Global Fair

Amazing Christmas lighting at Global Fair area. Since we reached there almost 12pm and we have only around 4.5 hours in the park or so to play those rides. But since we are not those adventure people, most of the rides we did not complete except exploring around the park and accompany my kid for some kid's friendly rides and shows.

For more photos of our adventage in the Everland Theme Park, do click on the link HERE to re-direct to Cuisine Paradise Facebook Fan Page album @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48950&id=116774448333449&ref=mf

Dinner time: Korea BBQ Pork with lettuce wrap and kimchi and etc.

SNACK PREVIEW:

This is the main reason we choose to explore Korea in winter. Stay tune for more updates on the skiing post soon.....

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Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Jeju Part II

Continue from Part I (link HERE) of our "Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Jeju" (link HERE), we will explored another 4 places in this post such as the Horse Riding, Teddy Bear Museum, Glass Castle and Nanta Show.

After lunch we take a break before embarking a short journey to the horse riding site. And along the way, the tour guide shares with us some history of this Jeju Island and the life-style of the natives. "Haenyo" or female divers of Jeju Island are born, grow up and die near the sea. Their lives revolve around the water where they harvest abalone, conch and etc marine products.

Jeju Island is inextricably linked to its stone culture. It starts and ends with stone. Jeju people are born in stone houses surrounded by stone fences.

They work in fields fenced in by stacked stones. When they die their bodies are returned to the rocky earth, buried under a mound surrounded by stone. (at the back of the hill you can see the some square made with rocks, those are the native graveyard)

Horse riding session which cost around US$20.00 per ride according to the tour guide. This is one of the most thrilling activities that Rey looking forward and enjoy.

Assorted Colourful Seashell that we spot at the ranch area.

Another set of beautiful rocks.

The Jeju Teddy Bear Museum officially opened on 24 April 2001. In this dreamland, you can find everything you want to know about Teddy Bears and inside this museum it contains two galleries which divided into three sections, the History Hall, the Art Hall and the Project Exhibition Hall. Inside the museum there is a gift shop, cafe and outdoor teddy's forest too.

Average human size wedding bear near the entrance of the museum before the display galleries.

Prince Charles And Princess Diana's wedding.

This Louis Vuitton Teddy Bear fetched a world record price of over $190,000 (about S$293,500 sing dollars) at a fund-raising charity auction in Monaco. And this most expensive Louis Vuitton Teddy Bear can only be seen at the Teddy Bear Museum in Jeju, South Korea.

Cute bears wearing traditional Korea outfit during festive celebration.

Giant Teddy Bear near the gift shop gallery area for visitor to take photos. It is so huge that for my height of 5Ft 8(1.72m), I am only half way near it's arm area.

Beautiful Sunset along the way while heading towards the Glass Museum after our Teddy Museum tour.

The Glass Castle is one of Jeju’s newest tourist attractions. It contains six themed areas with around 250 works on display, and a walking course around the attraction that follows a predetermined route. A mirror maze, tunnel of jewels and eternal ring are highlights.

In the outdoor theme park there are glass fish made from recycled soju (Korean liquor) bottles, thousands of many-sized convex mirrors, a mirror lake consisting of white rocks, a glass pyramid with spectacular colorful night lighting, a large glass coffee set floating on the lake and many colored flower beds made of glasses and a glass bridge that make out this outdoor theme park.

Dining furniture that are made of colourful glass in the middle of the park.

Dinner for the day, black pork fillet slices, saba fish, scramble egg, spicy kimchi and accompany sides.

One of the top things and must-see attractions in Korea, NANTA is a great entertainment for everyone! You do not need to understand Korean to enjoy the show just follow the plot.

The story line begins with washing vegetable, carrying meat loafs, starting the fire, the cooks in the NANTA kitchen are about to begin their busy daily routine, when their surly manager arrives with his nephew. The staff must now teach the young man to cook. As he's about to leave the kitchen, the manager informs the staff that he has just added a wedding reception to their schedule. Though stunned by this unexpected and last-minute order, the cooks set about preparing their best recipes. With time running out and a neophyte in the kitchen, they face a daunting challenge.

For more photos of our Jeju Island Discovery, you can click HERE to view from Cuisine Paradise Facebook Album or direct link at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48238&id=116774448333449&ref=mf

SNACK PREVIEW:

For the next post we will be sharing with you one of the South Korea famous theme park known as "EverLand" and our up-close experience with the animal wild.

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