WOW Korea Gyeonggi Trip

Gyeonggi Province is the featured location for the 4th Wow Korea Supporters Program Field Trip. For this trip's itinerary, we traveled across four cities namely Pocheon, Cheolwon, Yeoncheon and Paju. I got to experience a lot of firsts in this trip that I never thought I could actually do. 

Our first itinerary was in Pocheon where our task was to make our own home-brewed wine. As they say, when in Korea, do what the Koreans do-DRINK! If you love to drink, you are in the right country. Drinking is undeniably an integral part of Korean Social culture. In fact, Koreans observe different drinking etiquette. The most important of which is to turn your head to the side when drinking in front of an elder person. It is a big no-no to directly face your elder when you're about to drink from your glass.

At Pocheon, we visited a traditional liquor museum operated by Baesangmyeonjuga. They taught us how to make soju from scratch. After the wine-making class, we had a wine-tasting session where we got to try various kinds of alcohol including my favorite-wine-flavored ice cream!

After indulging ourselves in the wine factory, we treated ourselves to shabu-shabu for lunch. Shabu-shabu is a delectable meal the main ingredient of which is mushrooms! The mushrooms are even too pretty to be eaten, but nevertheless we ate them to our hearts content. The best thing about this dish is that it's really good for your health. It has everything from meat to vegetables to mandu. The best place in Geyonggi to enjoy this healthy meal is at Cheongsanbyeolmi located in Galwori, Sinbukmyeon, Pocheon. 

Fun Fact: Shabu-Shabu is actually derived from the sound made when stirring the ingredients in the pot. 

Then we headed to Herb Island where tourists can use fresh natural herbs to make various products such as cosmetics, soaps, and candles. I've got to admit, this is one of the most beautiful places I've seen here in Korea. But don’t be misled though, because Herb Island is not an actual island, it’s more of a theme park.  This is actually the place I enjoyed most for this trip so I vow to surely come back to this park.

Our group mission for this trip is to make our own scented soaps! The process was quite easy and the experience was really fun. The soap I made is rabbit-shaped as a tribute to Bugs Bunny. J

https://goo.gl/TOKzJB

After that is the gondola ride which reminded me of the Venetian Canal. 

I would highly recommend Herb Island as the perfect romantic dating place for couples. It's not surprising that many Korean dramas also chose this place as a filming location. The scenery was even better at night when the entire place lights up with colorful lights. 

Now comes the most exciting part of the journey-water rafting! This is the first time I've tried this extreme sport and I'm glad I was able to cross it off my bucket list. We braved the strong currents for two hours and battled the waves. This is one thrilling experience you shouldn't miss when you go to Cheolwon. The view as you cross the river was simply breath-taking. The rock formation was impressive and this is definitely one perfect summer spot to try some extreme sports including cliff-diving. 

Check this link out to see our rafting adventure. Video credit goes to fellow Wow Korea Supporter Jonathan Lee.

Our Water-Rafting Experience

To make up for our tiring rafting experience, we had a BBQ party for dinner. What better way to regain our energy than samgyeopsal, chicken and sausages. After dinner is the bus party where we transformed the bus into a noraebang-noraebus!!! It was indeed a fun, crazy night as everyone belted and danced into their favorite KPOP tunes.  

There was once a tight-rope walker with a beautiful wife. However, as common with most Korean folklores, theirs was a tragic ending. A local administrator apparently fell in love with the wife so he asked one of his men to cut the rope while the tightrope walker was performing an exhibition. Talk about evil, right? Thus, Jaein Falls was named after the poor man, Jaein means clown.

This is the ruins of the Cheolwon Labor Party Office. This structure served an important role during the 6.25 Korean War. This place was the headquarters of the North Korean Labor party. It is said that people who rallied against communism were tortured and slaughtered here.

Now, this is just the remnants of that tragic war.

I’m not actually a fan of cold noodles because for me, a noodle dish is best enjoyed hot but Chogyetang changed my preference as soon as I tasted it. The crisp vegetables combined with shredded chicken surprisingly complemented the coolness of the ice. With the current weather here in Daegu, rising up to 40°, I wouldn’t mind eating Chogyetang everyday.

For our second to the last mission, our task was to introduce two museums and one coffee shop in the Hyeri Art Viilage. We chose the Good Memories Museum and Fairy Tale Books Museum.

This is us goofing off in the Good Memories Museum where flashbacks from your childhood will definitely hit you as you go back in time of your favorite cartoons such as Voltes V, Astroboy, and Daimos. There are also more recent ones such as characters from Star Wars, Spiderman and even Chuckie!!!

Well, as they say, age is just a number. We will never be too old for fairytales. Those magical stories are a reminder that for every princess, there’s surely gonna be a happy ending with her dashing prince charming. Fairytales make us believe in the magic of love ever after. But of course, sometimes you have to kiss many frogs in order to find your prince charming.

The last stop for this trip is the Paju Premium Outlet. 

Look at how much savings I got at the Paju Premium Outlet! Got this t-shirt for only 11,600 from its original price of 29,000. smile emoticon So for those shop-a-holics out there, Paju is your best bet if you are looking for huge discounts.