Korea: The last Day in Korea - Nami Island

We left our hotel early in the morning and headed to Namiseom island.

My wife enjoys Korean drama TV series and this is where the famous "Winter Sonata" had been used to film this series.




I am not much of a fan of TV drama series. I had never heard of either, the movie or the set but I went anyways because I love the country and the people.










It took about 20 minutes from our hotel to the train station to Nami by subway.












Without Dai our tour guide, we would never figure this out.










The train station looks just like any commercial building without the sign. It's small and have so many window bill boards in Korean. The signage indicates nothing in particular. It said: Speed Mate with a little image that looked more like a boat than a train engine head.









There were not too many passengers here this early hours. We found out later that this was one of the many stations through the journey.












The train picked up and dropped off many more passenger along the way.












The ground was very much covered with snow and ice. The weather was still bitterly cold. But the train was very new and modern and of course with free super fast WiFi.








All the young passengers seemed to be busy and focused on their smart phones or tablets, either reading, web surfing, or text messaging. Nobody bothered anybody, and no conversation was taken place.










All the older passengers seemed to have at least one or two toddlers with them. It seemed they had to supervise their grand children while the parents were at work.











Every stations that the train stopped, there were some toy and children stuffs vendors pushing their small carts on board.









They attracted the children with all the toys and stuffs, therefore, the children were nagging the grand parents to buy for them.












It's a tug of wars between the vendors, the kids and the grand parents. And soon, they would hop off to the next station, then jumped onto others after.

I killed my time by observing this, and it left me totally flabbergasted.

After about an hour and thirty minutes, I could see a big town on the horizon. We decided to come off to explore this area a little, since we carried T-Money Card (a form of prepaid public transportation), we can hop on and hop off where we wish along the way.







All we need to do is coming back here on time for the next train which is about 40 minutes later. We figured we had at least 30 minutes to check it out, not too much time neither too little.











There are a lot more Christians in Korea than I had anticipated. I could count quite many churches along the way, every few miles or so.











During the winter, Korean farmers grow their vegetables inside. I found a large number of indoor farms because the ground outside was covered almost completely with ice.










All the rivers and streams we passed by were almost frozen.












We finally got to Gapyeong Stations around 11 o'clock. We could get to Nami boat dock by bus or by taxi. With taxi, we didn't have to wait.








There were 2 ferries to take passengers back and forth. These ferries are very large and flat to accommodate a few hundreds at a time. Passengers could stay inside or outside on the rails of the ferries, but the wind chill cut thru the heaviest clothing so most decided to stay inside.









It took about 20 minutes to get across the lagoon, and Nami here we came.













The island itself is not too big with a lot of movie sets but we got here at the wrong time.








The ground was muddy and wet. Snow and ice were melting away made it so dirty to mill about.



















The trees and flowers were in hibernated states, and everything else had been covered by solid ice.

The only animals were found in large number were the squirrels. They were so bold that you could pretty much hand-feed them.





The only thing that saved this trip was the Koren Multiple Ethnic Musical Instrument Museum on the island. We spent a good couple hours here.

Overall, winter is not the right time to visit this tiny island. And if you are not a fan of Korean Drama TV series, then there isn't much for you to see here.













It might be considered a waste of time to some because it takes at least half a day travel back and forth.






 There is a food court in the center of the island that offers different type of foods but it's a bit pricy due to the extra cost of transportation.


















We got back to the city in the afternoon. We had only tonight for the final visit of the night market.


We found an unknown underground market between train stations near Seoul. Vendor built stalls along the corridors between stations. They sold everything from children clothes to trendy fashion winter coats.













There were pastry shops and coffee shops mixed in. A few fruit stands here and there as well as small table tops filled with sweet candies and cookies.






All in all, you would certainly stumble onto a market of all sizes while walking around in Seoul.















We didn't buy much but we did had a real good time window shopping here.










We decided to visit the other end of Namdaemun Market this evening. This market is so huge we couldn't finish a complete round last time. To night, we would spend the entire evening here.









This side of the market is so lively with rows and rows of shops on both sides of the narrow streets. There are so many things sold here that we couldn't keep up with.










Food vendors on push cart were everywhere. Most of the food they sold here were light snacks. I noticed that the snacks here looked very similar to Chinese's, and they did taste like Chinese food as well.










We found a vendor that sold Chinese snacks here. The snacks taste a hundred percent like Chinese donuts that being offered in any Chinese restaurants in the U.S.










Soon right after sunset, more and more push carts arrived, and came with them, a large crowd.









There were so many people in heavy winter clothing walking in groups of 2-3 or more. I wonder how this place looks during the summer time when the weather is more pleasant.










We walked and walked for hours on end, and never visited the same street twice to tell you how huge this market is.












We got back to our hotel around 11pm. We didn't realize that we had spent almost 7 hours walking around in this Namdaemun Market.












We paid and said goodbye to our tour guide. We were strangers to begin the trip, but now after spending a whole week together everyday.






We bonded a friendship that was hard to say farewell from. But every good things had got to have an end.



















We had to pack up and leave early tomorrow morning for Incheon airport which is about an hour of train riding from here.














Looking back, it was a long trip away from home.We had left home 42 days ago. It's time to get home. I've missed my own bed already.


 

Korea: 5th Day in Seoul

Today, we would spend most if not all day at these biggest markets in Seoul, Dongdaemun Market, Namdaemun Market, and Gwangjang Market.









We didn't want to buy anything, but just wanted to know and see how the Korean markets were like in this country.











I had to admit the markets in Seoul Korea all are so huge. Each had taken up a large area of a couple hundred acres. They are very organize and clean.









There are no hustling nor rowdy nor rambunctious. All the shops are spacy and prices are posted clearly and thoroughly.












Businesses seem to compete in high spirit ans fair. They all look great for both sellers and shoppers.








 

At Dongdaemun there must be thousands of up-to-date Korean fashion shops. This market is a shopping heaven for Asian and European tourists, but they don't attract American tourists much at all because we have different fashion and trend. 






 


This market open from late evening until early morning. So it doesn’t matter if your schedule is packed, just go to the clothes market late at night and start your shopping spree. 










Like all other markets in the area, there are tons of really good street food and the Korean drama style tent bars. 








 




These bars are very unique. They look like a small kitchen built inside a heavy plastic tent. 







 



Some are big enough to house a few tables and chairs, and some small enough only to accommodate a few standing customers. 








 



The tents serve more than a few purposes, to have some privacy, to keep out the cold and wind, and to create a kitchen coziness.








 



We don't need to speak or understand Korean to order foods or snacks there because what you see is what you get. 






 

You can stand around to view the cooking process. Some chefs make it a real fun cooking show. And all of those are free. You only pay for what you want to try or taste.










 



We had visited Namdaemun Market yesterday, but didn't spend enough time there, so we tried to squeeze in a couple hours more today if we had extra time.






 


The Gwangjang Market is the oldest. It's also Seoul’s first market and continues to thrive as a popular tourist destination today. 








 



The second floor of the market provides all different types of silk, satin, and linen bed-sheet stores, which are the largest and most famous in Seoul. 






 



Many of the stores in the area even have their own factories supplying fabrics to the other markets, and even to some department stores locally. 






 
 












Even though the goods are not brand-name products, the wide selection of high quality goods at inexpensive prices makes it an enjoyable shopping experience. 



 
We found many American brand shops in all of these markets. The most common again is Starbucks coffee and KFC. 











All other retailers like Forever21, The North Face, H&M and Gap are also founded in all 3 markets.

 

 

















 


After eating lunch in a small restaurant which served many small portion plates similar to Chinese dim-sum, we headed out again. 








 

After a long and heated debate, my wife won. We skipped Noryangjin Fish Market. Seafood is not her favorite, and what we were going to do in that huge fish market. 









 Dai brought us to a smaller fish market and beside fish, they do sell meat in here as well. I never had a chance to jog down the name of this market. It's smaller then Noryangjin, but is still super large in any standard.

 

 












 





We literally spend almost an entire day to get a glimpse into the life of how local Koreans live, to watch the locals and tourists shopping, bargaining, and to really enjoy eating and snacking Korean food in general.  



 


 















We walked and walked without directions and in the end, I guess we must have traveled more than 10 miles on foot for the day.

 

 












 





We stayed until 5 in the evening before heading to Hongik University Streets because our Han River Boat Tour was cancelled due to the harsh weather.




 


This place is close to Hongyik University and more vibrant compared to other shopping districts.











This area is definitely for the youngsters since there were quite a lot of young people shopping and hanging out here.











The streets are lined with stores selling phone cases and accessories, selfie equipment, hats, sun glasses, clothes, socks and shoes. Things are not expensive.











The streets are wide enough so even though there are plenty of people, it is a nice stroll.









 

There are lots of places to eat as well, from sit down restaurant food to dessert to ice cream to snacks.











Here we found the very first Taco Bells in many Asian countries we had visited. Tacos, and Mexican foods are not very popular in Asia.







We gave it a try out of curiosity, just to see if the foods are any different to the ones in the U.S.  And to our surprise, they were exactly the same, down to the packets of sauces.











Here we also found a Vietnamese Pho restaurant, but we had had enough of Pho in Vietnam already.








 Hongyik University in Seoul.




There are many street performers dotting the street as well. We spend about 4 hours at this place before going back to our hotel.

We'd have a long travel day tomorrow.