Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival
This past weekend Jenee and I went on our third Adventure
Korea trip. This time it was to the Taebaek Snow Festival in the Gangwon-do
providence.
As always, we had to leave really early in the morning to
get to the bus. The ride to the festival area was about four-hours though so we
were able to get some napping in on the way.
I understand the helmets now....
Our group stopped by Yongyeon Cave first to explore a bit.
The guide told us we wouldn’t need our jackets and at first we were like
“Whaaat?” because it was freezing outside but to our surprise it was actually
pretty warm down there.
The web of tunnels were interesting and at times a bit
daunting (there were a few areas you pretty much hat to squat-walk to move
around) but ultimately worth a trip to go see….though I don’t necessarily feel
the need to ever go back. Once was good for me!
After we finished at the cave, we had lunch and headed to
the festival. Our accommodations (hotel) was right next to the festival so we
were able to unload our bags first before walking to the event. I was happy to
see that we had traditional-styled rooms again with ongol (heated) floors.
Though I don’t really like sleeping on the floor, every once in a while it’s
nice…and always toasty warm.
Rawr!
We all headed to the festival as a group and stuck together
for a little bit before getting “free time” to do whatever we wanted. There was
a lot of people but quite a few things to see and do.
First of all there was a few different snow sculpture areas
where college students had carved various characters, historical figures,
celebrities, etc. into giant hills of snow. These were pretty amazing,
especially the huge palace gate replica.
There was also a huge igloo that you could walk into and
inside there was a café and ice tables/chairs where you could enjoy some coffee
or hot chocolate. The interior was decorated with lights and paintings which
made it feel really cozy and unique.
Along the path to the sledding area
Jenee and I decided to go sledding after we finished looking
at all the sights. It took us a little bit to figure out where the sledding
place was but once we trudged up this long hill we found it at the top. We had
to pay about $5 for our wrist bands but it was worth it!
This was actually my first time actually sledding. I’ve gone
inner-tubing in the snow and stuff before but never really sledding. I was a
bit terrified at first since I witnessed so many other people crash and biff it
on the slope but it was actually not so scary and super fun. Jenee and I each
took a turn and then we went up together so we could “race” (I won, hehe).
After sledding, we checked out the snow maze.
By then it was about 4PM and we were cold so we got some hot
chocolate and went back to the hotel. On the way, we got to witness some ajummas (middle-aged women) seriously grooving to live trot music. It was pretty epic.
(video from Jenee)
We both rested until around 6PM which is
when we were all supposed to meet up to go to dinner.
(picture from Jenee)
We went into the city and ate and a takkalbi (chicken
stir-fry dish)…it was a bit different from the takkalbi we had before in Seoul
and used mountain vegetables but it was good…and the sikhye (sweet rice drink)
they served afterwards was delicious.
Following dinner, everyone made a convenience store run to
pick up snacks and stuff and then we went back to the hotel. Jenee and I didn’t
stay up very late (we were both exhausted) so we just chilled and ate some
candy while listening to music/surfing the web on our phones (how nice cell
phones are nowadays).
Morning came early once again on Sunday and we had eat
breakfast around 7:15AM so that we could go hiking Taebaeksan. Jenee choose to sit this one out but I really
wanted to go and see the view(s) so I came prepared with my snow boots, spikes,
thermal shirt, jacket and gloves (huzzah)! I looked super awesome (do you hear
that sarcasm) but I was glad I was so prepared because the mountain was covered
in snow which made for my very first experience hiking in that condition.
At first the hike was really hard. It was constant uphill
slopes, made all the more difficult by the slippery snow. But eventually I got
my pace all figured out and while it still strained some rarely-used muscles,
overall I set. For the most part I was by myself but at one point I wasn’t sure
where to go so I waited for the guide and a few of the other Adventure Korea
group members to catch up (I was mostly towards the end of the group since
everyone else hikes like a boss around here) and we stuck together the rest of
the way.
One thing that was really neat was actually hiking with all
the other Koreans. There were a lot of people out enjoying the wintery scenery
and Koreans are so awesome always decked out in their hard-core hiking gear
(complete with hiking sticks) in an array of rainbow colors. Plus, everyone was
so nice.
At one point, I lost the spikes for my left boot and had to
go back to retrieve them. For starters, it wasn’t easy going back (i.e.
downhill) in the snow with only one spike-covered boot. There was an ajusshi
(middle aged man) in front of me who kept asking me (in Korean) if I was okay
or if I needed help and even if I wanted to use his hiking stick. I must have
looked rather pathetic stumbling around and clinging to tree branches.
Then there was the whole problem of locating my spikes. I
didn’t know how far back they were and luckily for me, as I was looking around
all dumbfounded this guy asked me if I was looking for my spikes and then called out to this other ajusshi a
little ways down who had apparently picked them up for me. Aww. I’m so glad
they were found because there is no way I could of made it up the rest of the
way to the top (not to mention down the mountain) without them.
Anyway, I caught back up with my other group members and
after what seemed like forever we made it to the top. The view was fantastic
and the air was so nice. I’ve never considered myself and out-doorsie person
and certainly not a hiker but since coming here it seem like all I do is
out-doorsie things and I love it. Must be something about getting out of the
city or something. There is also something extremely satisfying about making it
to the top of the mountain, let me tell you. I never thought I could do it but
I did it and yeah, it felt awesome.
Going back down the mountain was a whole different
experience that climbing up it. The snow was extremely slippery and I spent
most of the time clinging to the guide-rail-rope thing (when it was available)
and trying not to fall on my bum. My spikes helped but they are made more for
ice than snow so their grip in that deep fluffy stuff was minimal. Some people
just decided fumbling down the mountain wasn’t for them and they attempted to
sled down it. That was always hilarious. Our guide actually found a piece of
this foil-cloth stuff and she tried to sled a bit. Then one of my group members
gave her a bag and they both went sliding a little ways down. It was more messy
than successful, really but the sight was sure funny.
I couldn’t believe it when we finally made it to the bottom.
I really thought we never were going to. Since we were the last ones we also
didn’t have to wait for lunch (haha~) and got to eat some form of bibimbap
(mixed vegetables and rice) before packing up and leaving the hotel.
It was a really tiring trip but worth it. I’m glad we got to
experience some winter festivities and hiking. These next few weeks are going
to be full of some exciting things so I’m really looking forward to the rest of
the month and February.
The Suspect and Plan Man
In other news, we’ve got to see a few more movies recently.
We watched The Suspect staring Gong
Yoo which was an action, revenge film with a similar (but not nearly as
awesome) feel as Ajusshi (The Man From Nowhere). Then we went to go see Plan Man staring Jung Jae Young and Han
Ji Min. This one is a romantic-comedy about a OCD man with a plan for
everything and a carefree sweet girl who fall in love. Both movies were really
good, and Plan Man had us both laughing-out-loud.
On Friday (before our big trip) we went to see Disney’s Frozen. We were a little worried about
it being dubbed but the showing we went to said it was subbed in Korean and
luckily, it was. I loved the movie, it’s another Disney favorite I’ll have to
add to my list.
More movies are coming out soon, too so I guess we’re going
to keep up our routine of going on a weekly basis.
