16 days in Seoul was definitely not meant for spending every single day in the city centre, hence we decided to take a train out from the city for a day trip to Gangwon-do in search of the Gangchon Rail Bikes as featured in Running Man! We started our journey from Seoul Station to Wangsimni Station (or alternatively you can head to Hoegi Station) to transfer to the Gyeong Chun line, which is headed to Gangwon-do!
It took us HALF A DAY to get there, or maybe because we were all super tired and slept till 9 and only crawled out of the apartment by 10-ish. We only reached the Rail Park after a super confusing journey at 12 noon. Please do take note of what type of train you are taking as there are two types of trains running along the Gyeong Chun Line. One is the ITX, which requires you to "upgrade" your ticket at the machines located along the station platform, the other is the normal train, which brings you straight up to Gimyujeong Station, but takes super long. We went there completely clueless and was almost fined for ''not buying an ITX ticket'' as we boarded the ITX by accident. If the train conductor is not as nice as the one we met, you will be fined thrice the ticket price! So do watch out guys!
Gangchon Rail Park has a couple of starting points for the rail bikes. However the most easily accessed one is at Gimyujeong Station as the Rail Park is just at the right side of the station's Exit 1 (around 2-3 minutes walk). 2 seater bikes are 25, 000 won while 4 seater bikes are 35, 000 won. We took the 4 seater bike as we had 3 people. (duh)
The scenery at Gangwon-do is AMAZING. Gangwon-do is actually the mountainous region near Seoul and famous mountains like Seorak-san is nearby, and also, my Dong Wook oppa is also filming at Pyeongchang, which is also in Gangwon-do! If given a chance, the next time I return to Korea I'll retreat back to the mountains in Gangwon-do. Hehe, I've already spotted some holiday resort spots while on the train to Gangchon.
We were supposed to peddle all the way from Gim Yu Jeong Station to Gangchon Station. The entire journey takes about 1 to 1.5 hours and you can eat while you cycle (even though that is a really bad idea as you would want to capture the beautiful mountains and streams around you with your camera). I would suggest having a cup of iced tea with you instead as the weather was really hot when we went and we still had to peddle hard.
There was a rest stop for food, drinks and toilet break! I swear Korean Ahjummas are hardcore. The ahjummas in front of us went so slowly we couldn't even go faster, while the ahjummas behind us were going so fast they were going to bang into our bikes any moment. The whole time we kept having to keep a lookout behind, while peddling the bike, while snapping photos. Goodness...... We were kinda sad to finish the ride, but quite glad to escape the horrible ahjummas.
Took an hour's plus train ride back to Dongdaemun and wanted to look for Butumak Galbi for some good grilled meat but............... the restaurant closed down! So we ended up having Budaejjigae (Army Stew), Tenjjangjjigae (something like miso soup) and japchae. It was so cheap and good but the portion was way too much for 3 girls who don't eat much haha.
Currently I have decided to take a break from my Korea travels and upload some of my Europe trip photos from last year. So.... stay tuned~
Stay hipsterrrific,
Ming Rui
