Winter Trip with Family - Sancheoneo Ice Festival, Hwacheon

Assalamualaikum. 안녕.

Previous post (here).

Huwaaa! Time flies so fast. It's already our 5th day in South Korea!! Rasa macam baru jak sampai. Gitulah ayat orang yang mau cuti berpanjangan & ndak payah risau pasal kerja. Macam duit akan jatuh dari langit, kan. Sedih.

Anyway, as usual every morning ever since we arrived Seoul, memang yang lain akan tanya aku sejuk or tidak haritu. Kiranya tambahan role aku trip haritu adalah sebagai 'peramal cuaca'. Apart from being the guide, tukang masak, tukang kira budget & list goes on. And aku akan dengan sukacita inform diorang pasal weather forecast of the day. 

Because we will be going somewhere up north; I predicted that it's going to be colder than Seoul. Hwacheon is the first to get the winter's breeze, and also the first county to froze in South Korea. So logik lah kan kalau dalam mindset aku area tu akan sejuk gila gaban.

Last year I went to Pyeongchang Trout Festival in Jinbu, it snowed heavily on our way to the event venue. And blizzard lagi masa di sana. Pasal tu aku dengan yakin suruh diorang pakai extra layers. Aku siap pakai 2 helai sweaters & down jacket. Tu belum campur long john. Stoking pun aku pulun pakai sampai 2 helai. And so did the rest of my family. Mengikut jak guide ndak bertauliah diorang ni.

Kami gerak awal pagi tu sebab ndak mau sampai lambat. Hwacheon is approximately 4 hours away from Seoul. Kalau bertolak lambat, haruslah akan sampai lewat. Haruslah ndak cukup masa untuk explore sepuas hati. Ndak mau lah setakat touch & go jak di sana nanti kan.

22 January 2015

Hwacheon, Gangwon

We took the subway to Gangbyeon Station. Crossed the street to Dong Seoul Bus Station. Sebab sudah tau destinasi, I straightaway headed to the counter & bought the intercity bus ticket to Hwacheon (화천). The bus frequency from Seoul to Hwacheon is every 30-40 minutes. Earliest bus departs at 705am & last bus departs at 735pm. 

# Our bus tickets. We got the 0835hr bus. Adek & Girl both entitled for discounts sebab masih students. As for us adults, we paid 13,900 Won (one way). 

And drama started after an hour on the road. Sebab winter so Ahjussi driver switched on the heater. Angah, Adek, Bunda & Ezza yang perasan kulit badak complained panas! panas! non stop. And masa tu aku tengok semua sudah berlong john cuma. Jadi lagi dramatis haru bila diorang ndak dapat tidur sebab budak² yang duduk belakang bas bising gila. Ntah apa jak lah cerita diorang, memang tiada kenal full stop. Rimas sebab panas + ngantuk tapi ndak dapat tidur = grumpy them!

Another 2 hours before we arrive, Adek sudah keluh kesah & repeatedly tanya aku. Jauh lagi kah. Sudah sampai kah? At first aku gagah lagi melayan tapi bila every 5 minutes dia buka soalan yang sama, aku pun apalagi! Buat² lah tidur. Semua jadi annoying sebab rimas keadaan panas dalam bas. But surprisingly, Aunty who sat in front of me langsung tiada bunyi. Selalunya dia lah yang paling anti-panas. I guess kali ni dia super steady sebab asyik layan view awesome along the road. Or maybe sebab seat kami tepi tingkap so ndak lah rasa bahang sangat. Tingkap pun berkabus. Ala sejuk dingin gitu. 

# Different view from what I saw last autumn. Subhanallah.

And after nearly 4 hours on board the bus, akhirnya kami sampai Hwacheon Intercity Bus Terminal. Alhamdulillah. Turun dari bas, semua cari kerusi. Aik macam ndak kepuasan duduk dalam bas nampak. Pastu aku pun 'set bearing'. First thing first, kena beli tiket bas balik pi Seoul.

Suddenly ada Oppa ni tegur aku & bagitau cara mau balik Seoul. Taulah muka aku tengah serabut proses info dalam otak. Actually memang tau pun dari Hwacheon either boleh naik direct intercity bus (macam yang kami naik dari Seoul tu) or turun di Chuncheon Train Station. Considering pagi tu kami naik bas, so balik nanti aku mau bawa diorang naik train pula. At least heater dalam train ndak macam dalam bas; gitu dalam fikiran aku. Jadinya dapatlah elak geng kulit badak dari rimas & panas.

# Hwacheon street
Kalau malam ni lagi lawa, those fishes will be lighted. Terus jadi lampu jalan. 

# Street sign
Walkertapaki jak dari bus terminal to the festival site. 

# Landmark for the festival venue

# One of the two ziplining
Sepatutnya Ezza & aku naik benda ni all the way to the main venue. Yang lain will meet us there. Tapi masa aku pi kaunter untuk beli tiket tu, Ahjussi bagitau close for 'lunch' (bagi signal makan). Pasrah!

# Hwacheon River which was frozen for acres!
Yang ni memang spot untuk trout fishing.

It was weekday so orang ndak berapa ramai. Kalau pi weekends, confirm trout fishing area tu penuh. Masa kami di sini, cuma 3 jak yang buka. 

# Big tents provided for visitors.
Ada khemah yang jual tiket, fishing equipment, foods & also macam khemah di atas. 

Ada gerai juga. Mostly jual ikan bakar. And winter snacks i.e hotteok. Tapi sebab dia jual sekali ngan tteokbokki & satay bulgogi aku terpaksa lupakan hasrat untuk beli hotteok. Telan liur jak dulu, nanti cari di Seol. 

# Buah berangan!
Last year pulun makan benda alah ni juga, so kali ni pun gitu juga. Isi perut selain buns & bread yang kami beli dari bakery on the way pi fishing site ni.

# Ice sculptures.

# Eolgomiseong Cave where the Ice Tunnel is located.

# Ice tunnel

Banyak aktiviti lain boleh buat sini apart from trout fishing. Such as snowmobile rides, ice sledding & sleighing, ice race car driving, ziplining, skating & mini ice hockey.

# Frozen river

# Eolgomiseong slide (blue slide on the right)
We didn't ride the slide because the cousins were more intrigued to ride the Bob-sleigh bicycle.

Unlike the winter festival in Pyeongchang, where I just have to buy the ticket once. Pastu sangkut tiket di jaket to be seen by the staffs. Senang. But at Hwacheon, I have to pay admission entry for each activity. Nasib baik lah counter ticket dekat. Else, memang confirm aku jadi spectator jak. 

# The bob-sleigh bike.
Cuma ada tayar di belakang.

# Paid 10,000 Won for 1 bike (2-seater). Girl got hers for free. Huntunglah jadi budak sekolah ndak cukup tinggi.

# Creative sleigh competition
Some of the sleighs invented by the participants. Too bad there are just for display, maybe di hari pertandingan baru boleh try test.

We played the bike for 30 minutes. Totally good exercise for the lazy me! Lama ndak cycling ni, rasa macam mau tercabut jak paha aku. Sudahlah jalan licin. Pastu gerakan tangan yang pegang handle kena sync dengan gerakan ur partner juga. Aku memang banyak kali kena marah sama si Ezza sebab aku cakap turn right, but I turned the handle to the left side. Kalau sugar rush memang macam tu, jadi bingai melantun². Pasrah jaklah wahai kajen!

# Musang eyeing on the sheep.

Well macam biasa, kalau sudah cycling...haruslah energy depletion. So masa untuk recharge tenaga. Aunty & Angah memang lepak dalam tent jak, diorang malas main game bagai. Jadi pemerhati katanya.

# Lunchbox we brought from home.
Sebab memang sudah aku kestau susah mau cari makanan di Hwacheon. Vegetarian restaurant pun tiada.

# My favourite section!
Bayar di kaunter, pilih ur choice of drink. Then isi hot water. Self service but pretty convenient. 

Lepas recharge diri, kami explore lagi area yang lain. Tapi ndak larat jalan pi area yang tangkap trout by hand. It was further up the frozen river. 

Games lain pun kami ndak main. Adek wanted to join the ice hockey but masa tu game belum start. Dia pun malas mau tunggu. Aku pula ingatkan lepas makan mau pi main ziplining tu. Tapi sekali tengok queue yang panjang, terus terbantut impian. Walhal bukan panjang mana pun queue tu. Apalah kejadian semua pun malas, ndak mau tunggu lebih masa sikit. Last year aku semangkit gila semua games aku main regardless the queue.

Ended up kami just pusing² before making our way out from the festival venue.

# The ice sledding counter.

# Ice sledding.
Didn't try this sebab baru lepas makan, so haruslah sendi semua kureng berkerjasama untuk dilipat.

Upon arriving memang nampak ramai askar. Ingatkan their day off because there is a military base in Hwacheon due to its location. Its northern border is parallel to the DMZ. Simply saying, it's actually located less than 20 kilometers away from North Korea. Puas lah juga cuci mata tengok askar handsome! Slurp!

# Variety act at the festival.
Seriously suara Ahjumma ni best gila. Part dia tarik bahagian chorus, memang pergh! Suara maintain, langsung ndak pecah. Siap menari ok!

# Walking out from the festival. 

Sebenarnya sangat berharap akan ada snowfall masa ni. Ndak lah berharap snow lebat macam last year but at least dapatlah rasa macamana kalau seleji di Northern area ni. Barulah feeling pi winter festival kan. Weather memang a bit gloomy ever since we arrived tapi tulah awan pula banyak. Walhal area Hwacheon ni memang ada seleji turun almost everyday. Memang tiada rezeki untuk ber-seleji haritu. 

# Wall art; aku suka!

# Selalu respect orang yang kreatif & pandai melukis.

Dari festival site, kami walkertapaki lagi pi another venue yang ada dalam map Hwacheon Festival. Sebab temperature pun suam² kuku; bak kata diorang! Jadinya jalan kaki berapa kilometer sekalipun tiada yang komplen penat.

# Festival map. Found aplenty here.

If ada yang tanya mana lagi best between Hwacheon & Pyeongchang. I will happily answer I like the latter better! I don't know about others, but ni based on my personal experience. Ice sledging dia ndak mencabar, snowmobile cars tutup. Maybe sebab kami pi weekday, orang ndak ramai. So feeling ber-festival dengan crowd berhimpitan adalah tiada. Sobs tiba² penyakit salahkan crowd lah kan.

So ke mana hala tuju lepas dari Ice Festival? Tu nanti aku update next entry. Panjang betul sudah entry ni aku rasa. Annyeong!

eryantierdabdulkarim