Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

Over the hot and rainy summer, many of the Saturdays in Korea activities have been indoors within the city limits of Seoul. For some of us, there was an itch to get back outside and enjoy the great outdoors. In the August edition of the SEOUL Magazine, we found a great idea for a Saturday activity: Canoeing in Chuncheon.

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

View Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기) in a larger map
While looking for new ideas for weekend activities, we stumbled across a company by the name of Mullegil (물레길), which offers one hour canoeing trips on Lake Uiam (의암호). This lake is located next to the city of Chuncheon (춘천) and was formed with building of the Uiam Damn on the North Han River (북한강).

After reading the article and heading over to Mullegil's homepage, we were able to reserve 4 canoes for 30,000 Won apiece. According to the information we obtained, the cost of two and three people using a canoe is 40,000 Won and 45,000 Won respectively. Since we didn't know exactly how many people were going to come on this trip, we just paid the 30,000 Won reservation fee and planned to pay the remainder when we got there. Luckily, when we finally went canoeing, they didn't charge us anything more other than the reservation fee which we had already paid.

While there are multiple ways to get to Chuncheon from Seoul, we opted to take the Seoul Metropolitan Subway since it is both convenient and quite a bit cheaper than the alternatives. Of course, the downside is that it does take a bit longer than the ITX train and the express bus, but the subway is still a reasonable mode of transportation for a day trip to Chuncheon.

As usually, when we head off for activities that are in the general direction of Chuncheon, we met up at Sangbong Station (상봉역) and took the Gyeongchun Line (경춘선). An hour and a half later, we were in Chuncheon. However, along the way we did meet some interesting people, including an elderly gentleman who can speak five languages.

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

Chuncheon is famous for being the birthplace of Dakgalbi (닭갈비), which is an inexpensive spicy stir fry of chicken and vegetables. This dish quickly became popular with soldiers and college students since they tend to be on a tight budget. While we didn't have the stereotypical stir fry of Dakgalbi at our restaurant, we did have some nice spicy grilled chicken.

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

After lunch, we walked back to the Chuncheon Station and caught some taxis down to the Chuncheon Sport Complex, where the Mullegil Canoe Tours is located. The last time we came here was for a High 1 ice hockey game during the winter. At that time, the buses weren't running down to the southern shore where the sports complex was located. During the summer, the buses are running more often (though not as often as buses do in Seoul), so there was a second option to get down sports complex.

When we got down to the sport complex, we had to get out of the taxi and walk the last part since there was a festival taking place there. While we didn't stay and watch too much, we saw that there were a lot of different competitions happening, including many extreme sports.

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

After taking a brief look at the different events, we made it over to the lake shore to start our canoeing trip. Before jumping into a canoe and paddling off, we had a short class on canoeing. Even though it was all in Korean, those of us with limited Korean language abilities were able to understand due to all of the visual aids. We learned how to get into the canoe, how to paddle and where to go during the excursion.

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

Shortly after, we were gearing up with paddles and life jackets and heading towards to the docks to get into our canoes. After a bit of trail and error, we grasped the basic concepts of steering a canoe and were able to head out to the open waters of the lake.

Once on the lake, it was quite an enjoyable experience. The lake was calm and the views of the mountains that lined the lake were amazing. We paddled south for about a mile (1.6km) towards the dam that forms the lake, turned around and headed back towards the docs. The weather was a bit hot, but a slight breeze helped us stay cool. A bit of splashing when we got too close to another boat with people from our group livened up the canoe trip also.

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

From Canoeing in Chuncheon (춘천에서 카누를 타기)

After returning to shore an hour later, we wandered back through the sports complex and looked at a couple of the competitions before starting our journey back home. Luckily, we were able to quickly catch one of the local buses to take us back to Chuncheon Station.

Overall, this trip was a nice change of pace to many of the summer activities that we had recently enjoyed in Saturdays in Korea. We were able to see a different part of Korea and try an activity that most of us were not very familiar with. Down the road, canoeing is definitely on our lists of activities to do again. However, even at the price of 30,000 Won, it does seem a bit expensive for a one hour trip up and down a lake.

The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

After taking off a weekend to allow the director of Saturdays in Korea to move into his new apartment, we met back up last Saturday in Jamsil (잠실). The temperatures have cooled a bit with the recent rain, but we weren't quite ready to enjoy the great outdoors just yet. Instead, we decided to go ice skating in one of Seoul's indoor ice skating rinks.

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

View The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크) in a larger map
For this trip, we met up at the eastern entrance of the commercial district in Jamsil known as Lotte World (롯데월드). Inside this area is one of Asia's largest amusement parks along with a department store, food court and many other shops. At the bottom of all of this in the center is the ice rink that was our destination.

We ended up meeting at the underground entrance of Lotte World which is connected to the western edge of Jamsil Station (잠실역). At this entrance is a facsimile of the Trevi Fountain which was our meeting location. While waiting, we gathered up our 10 Won pieces ($0.0089 USD), the Korean equivalent of a penny, and took turns trying to throw them into the pot next to one of the statues in the fountain. For those of you familiar with Rome and its many sights, this statue with the pot isn't in the original Trevi Fountain.

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

After (almost) everybody arrived, we spent about 30 minutes wandering the maze like halls of the Lotte complex looking for a reasonably priced restaurant that could sit eight of us. Even though we saw at least 5 Lotteria (롯데리아) restaurants - east Asia's and Lotte's answer to McDonald's - we decided to go to a small Japanese restaurant instead. All of the late comers were able to meet us here at the end of our meal.

When lunch was over, we headed downstairs to the ice rink to buy our tickets and get our skate rentals. For this ice rink, the entrance fee and skate rental cost 13,000 Won. We found out that if you pay with a Shinhan Bank (신한은행) card, the price is only 10,300 Won. Luckily, a couple of our group members bank at Shinhan, so we were able to get the discount.

These types of discounts seemed to be offered at many major franchises throughout Korea. For instance, whenever you get the check at an Outback Steakhouse in Korea, the bill is also presented with a giant list of which specialty cards offer what discount and which ones offer points. It can become a bit annoying when settling the bill in a restaurant in Korea when the group ahead of you is going through an entire purse full of specialty cards trying to figure out which one will get them the best discount or the most points.

On the day that we went, we found that the rink is only opened for one hour intervals followed by a 30 minute break. At first, we thought that the Lotte World Ice Rink must have a great union, but then we figured out that the 30 minute breaks were for the Zamboni to resurface the ice rink.

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

For our hour on the ice, we had a most enjoyable time. After a few moments, we all got acclimated to ice skating and spent the rest of the time doing laps around the rink at a decent pace. We found out that inner part of the ice rink was safer since the more experience skaters skated there. The novice - and more crash prone - skaters tended to skate near the wall, which they were quite dependent on for support. All of us were quite awed by the middle aged Korean woman who nonchalantly and effortless weaved in and out of all of the skaters on speed skates.

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

One thing that was a bit of a culture shock to many of the ex-pats was seeing young Korean elementary school aged kids in the center of the rink practicing speed skating. Whereas speed skating isn't the most common sport that western children partake in, that wasn't the part that was odd. The surprising part is to see all of these young children in full body spandex suits wearing top of the line speed skates. While physical sports are great activities for any person of any age, the fact that these parents were spending so much money on their children's sporting equipment is baffling, especially when they will out grow it so quickly.

As our hour of skating wore on, our ankles and calves started to become sore. Along with that, the ice rink was slowly starting to turn into a lake. Only one of our members fell during the skating, but, unfortunately, due to the melted ice, the back of his pants were soaked with water.

We finished off the day with some ice cream at one of the many Lotteria restaurants visible from the ice rink. It was an enjoyable day for us and a good way to avoid the muggy weather. This will probably be a place that we will come back to in the future when the weather isn't agreeable with an outdoor activity.

From The Lotte World Ice Rink (롯데월드 아이스링크)

The Trick Eye Museum (트릭아이미술관)

It's August and the weather still hasn't changed. The average high every day has been about 35°C (95°F) though not excessively humid. Additionally, after three weeks in a row in the Konkuk University (건국대학교) area, we were ready for a change of scenery that still offered indoor activities. Last week, we headed over to Hongdae area (홍대앞) to check out the Trick Eye Museum (트릭아이미술관).

From The Trick Eye Museum (트릭아이미술관)

View The Trick Eye Museum (트릭아이미술관) in a larger map


Originally, our plans for last Saturday included a trip to the outdoor Hongdae Free Market (홍대 프리마켓) just around the corner from the Trick Eye Museum. However, seeing how it was still extremely hot when we met up at 4:30 in the afternoon, we unanimously decided to pass on the Market.

Even though Exit #9 of the Hongik University Station (홍대입구역), which was our meeting place, was in the shade, it was still too hot outside for most people to stand around outside for half an hour. While waiting for everyone to show up, most people got a soda at Burger King and waited inside while cooling off in the air conditioning. Around 5 o'clock, when almost everyone had showed up, we walked over to the Trick Eye Museum, which was only about a five minute walk away.

When we arrived at the museum, we saw that admission was 13,000 Won a person, but only 10,000 Won for a group of twenty or more. After a quick head count, we discovered that we only had 17 people. Luckily, there was three out of town English teachers who were waiting in line also. We invited them to join our 'group' for a few minutes and all of us were able to get into the museum at the discounted price.

Inside the museum, there were a large selection humorous pictures, statues and other pieces of art with which visitors 'interact.' Even though you are not really apart of the art, a picture from your camera gives the faint impression that you are. Most of the art was based off of classical European painting, modern situations and Korean themes. With a group of goofy friends who aren't afraid to strike an embarrassing pose, this museum can be lots of fun.

At the end of the main exhibition halls is a small mirror maze. It was quite an experience for those of us who had never gone through a mirror maze before. It was designed quite well since you could clearly see the entrance and the exit reflected in the mirrors all throughout the maze. Unfortunately, it was a pretty short maze, and we were able to solve pretty quickly.

Overall, even with the discount, 10,000 Won seemed a bit pricey for the hour we spent there. It was a nice change of pace from our other activities, and it did provide a nice escape from the hot weather. Despite this, it is quite doubtful that we would go back anytime in the foreseeable future.

Wii Olympics (위 올림픽)

Last week, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London started. Seeing that virtually all of us in the Saturdays in Korea group don't have the time nor the money to travel to England for this event, we needed an alternative to experiencing the Olympics in person. Though it lacked the true excitement of the Games, we did have fun in our Wii Olympics.

From Wii Olympics (위 올림픽)

View Wii Olympics (위 올림픽) in a larger map


The beginning of the 2012 Olympics wasn't the only reason why we chose to have a Wii Olympics. Since this time of the year in Korea is the hot season, the average high recently seems to be about 33°C (91°F). Additionally, high humidity is not unheard of this time of year. So to escape the heat, we looked for an indoor activity.

On this trip, we went back to the Konkuk University (건국대학교) area again. (Don't worry, we are not coming back here next week.) Located on the east side of Seoul, this district isn't affluent as Gangnam (강남) nor Jongno (종료). Because of this, we have found that prices here are more affordable compared to other parts of the capital.

While not so much in American, there is a market in Korea for those people who are not hardcore gamers and want to play video game consoles with their friends once in awhile. Places called "Multi Rooms" (멀티방) offer a private room with the console of your choice along with powerful speakers and a big screen TV. For a modest price, you can rent this room by the hour. For five of us, we ended up paying 6,000 Won a person for two hours total.

The first few moments of our time at the Multi Room was spent navigating the start up menu of their entertainment system. After button pushing and a couple of questions to the staff, we were finally in business. The selections of games here was quite extensive, and we ended up choosing Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Beijing 2008 Edition. This game contained lots of Olympic events that were adapted to the Wii Console. Additionally, many of us grew up with Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, so the characters in the game were a plus for us.

Overall, the larger variety of games that we played didn't really require any skills needed in the real event. For the most part, we were waving the controls and pushing buttons in a certain pattern at the right time. Part the time we didn't really understand what we were suppose to do for the event and ended up just laughing while the video game characters thoroughly defeated us. Despite the limited input needed, it was more active than sitting down on a couch and only pushing buttons with your thumbs. We ended up enjoying the tennis and table tennis events the most since the body movements required were closet to the body movements needed in real life.

One bit of culture shock to the American participants was the fact the head villain in the Super Mario Bros. World, Bowser, is actually named Koo-puh (쿠퍼) in Korea.

In the end, the small group of us had a great time. Even though none of us had any real experience with the Wii Console, we enjoyed the goofy and lighthearted digital Olympic Events. If we can't get tickets to the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (인천), Wii Asian Games is definitely an option.

Canasta (카나스타)

While the rainy season in Korea is starting to die down, the Dog Days of Summer are here. To stay cool, we headed back to the Konkuk University (건국대학교) area to find a board game cafe to play Canasta in.

From Canasta (카나스타)

View Canasta (카나스타) in a larger map


Last Saturday, the temperature in Seoul was a sweltering 33°C (91°F). Since the annual hot spell in Korea comes right after the rainy season, this heat is mixed with a very humid atmosphere. Because of this combination, Sauna Season might be another apt name for this weather pattern. To Koreans, this time of the year is called Sam-bok-deo-wi (삼복더위).

Members of Saturdays in Korea suggested going to one of the public pools in Korea to help escape the heat. Last Saturday, the pool at the Han River Park next to Ttukseom Resort Station (뚝섬유원지역) was overrun with hundreds (if not thousands) of little kids and their respective parental units. While cooling off in the water does sound like a good idea, the ambiance would probably have been ruined by a cacophony of high pitch screaming.

For this Saturday, we ended up going to a board game cafe (보드게임카페) by the name of Lime (라임). Starting at 4,500 Won, you can buy a (non-alcoholic) beverage and enjoy three hours at the cafe. In addition, there is a large selection of board and card games. This place is a good deal since other board game cafes are known to charge both by the drink and by the hour.

The original plan was to share a piece of American college culture and have a Poker Night (but during the daytime) that didn't involve gambling. After being advised by a number of Koreans, it was discovered that poker, even without the gambling component, has a severely negative perception due to the tumultuous history of gambling in Korea. Also, for the most part, gambling in Korea is illegal.

To avoid any trouble with the Korean Law, and to avoid getting dirty looks from any passersby, we decided to forgo poker. Instead, we ended up playing Canasta at the board game cafe. To be on the safe side, we posted the following sign on the tables we played at:

From Canasta (카나스타)

Roughly translated, the sign says, "This card game, Canasta, is a traditional card game from Uruguay. We are not gambling. Therefore, do not contact the police." Our Korean members found the signs humorous but unnecessary. It seems that since we weren't using poker chips, there really wasn't a problem.

Since this was a new game for most people, it took a little while to get the game rolling. After about 30 minutes of play, everyone seemed to have a handle on the game. While no pair of players were able to get to the 5,000 points to win at either of the tables, we did have a couple of groups that were in the lead after three hours.

All in all, we were able to experience something new while staying cool indoors out of the hot weather. Maybe next time we will try the game of Go-Stop (고스톱), but it will probably take much, much longer for people, especially for the non-native Koreans, to learn the complicated rules.

Bowling (볼링)

Since the rainy season in Korea hasn't abated, we ended up scheduling another indoor activity for this previous weekend. Bowling seemed like a good idea especially since we heard about a 'Happy Hour' at a bowling alley in the eastern part of Seoul. It turned out to be quite a popular choice, for about eighteen people from our group showed up for this activity.




View Bowling (볼링) in a larger map
In the eastern part of Seoul on the north side of the Han River is Konkuk University (건국대학교). On the southwest corner of the campus is a subway station named after the university, Konkuk University Station (건대입구역). To the northwest of the station is a commercial district that, like all commercial districts outside of a major university, caters to the local student population.

Just like any area next to a college, at 10:30am in the morning on Saturday, one can find a handful of young people stumbling back home after a long night of 'fun'. Despite the plethora of restaurants, drinking establishments and singing rooms usually found in a commercial district in Korea, there are a few other places outside of Konkuk University to have fun without all of the alcohol. For us, we went to the Hanareum Bowling Alley (한아름 볼링장)

From Bowling (볼링)

Every Saturday morning, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, Hanareum Bowling Alley offers one game of bowling for 2,200 Won. However, just as principals of economics state, a decrease of price will bring about an increase in demand. When we arrived at 11:00am, it ended up being about a 2 hour wait to get a lane.

Luckily, all around this area are many different types of restaurants. After walking around for about five minutes, we were able to find restaurant nearby to have lunch. This place served a bowl of Naengmyeon (냉면) - cold buckwheat noodles - and small serving of bulgogi (불고기) - Korean barbecued beef - for 5,500 Won. The food was quite good for the price we paid.

From Bowling (볼링)

From Bowling (볼링)

When we got back to the bowling alley, only one of our three lanes that we had reserved was open. While one group got started, the rest of us went off and played pool and ping pong, both of which were located in the same building as the bowling alley.

From Bowling (볼링)

After a little while, a couple of lanes opened up and the rest of us were able to start bowling. Since we started late, our group of twelve on two lanes were able to play one game before the Happy Hour price was over. After 2:00pm, the price of game went up to 4,200 Won.

One thing to note, most of the customers at the bowling alley were Koreans in their late 30s. Most of the people seemed to people who were on bowling teams and taking advantage of the cheap prices to practice. Even after we left at the end of the Happy Hour, many of them stayed on to play some more.

One thing that was still a bit of a culture shock to the ex-pats in our group that day was the amount equipment that all of the serious bowlers had. The majority of these people were all wearing the exact same type of large, plastic bowling wrist braces. In addition to that, it seemed that everyone had a carry-on suitcase filled with three bowling balls. None of this equipment seemed cheap at all.

This habit of buying a lot of (what one can guess) expensive sporting equipment is not isolated to the bowling community. The people in Korea who bike, ski or hike are also known to buy top of the line gear for their hobby. Despite anyone's objections to the amount of money people tend spend when buying sports equipment, it is good to see people getting out on the weekend and enjoying some physical activities.

Hanareum Bowling Alley would definitely be a good place for Saturdays in Korea to go to again in the future, especially if it is a rainy day. The next time though, we're going to arrive earlier to make sure that we get a bowling lane before the place fills up.

Table Tennis Tournament (탁구대회)

While last Saturday wasn't the worst day to be outside in a Korean summer, it can get much worse. Usually during this time of the year, Korea is plagued by the monsoon season (장마철) that brings lots of rain, heat and humidity to the peninsula. Because of this adverse weather pattern, a lot of our summer activities have been planned for inside. Last Saturday, we ended up heading over to the Songpa District (송파구) to have a table tennis tournament.




View Table Tennis Tournament (탁구대회) in a larger map
We were able to find a nice Tennis Table Center (탁구장) called the Songpa Table Tennis Club (송파영탁구클럽) in the Songpa District, just a short walk west from both Seokchon Station (석촌역) and Songpa Station (송파역). The actual place to play table tennis was located in the basement of one of the many four storied buildings along the road.

Before entering the table tennis center, a few of us who were wearing sandals had to buy a cheap pair of socks at one of the small stores along the street. At this place, people must wear appropriate shoes in order to play on the wooden floors. For those who don't have the correct shoes, there were plenty of shoes that one could borrow for free. My rule of thumb for any pair of communal shoes: always have on a clean pair of socks before putting on the shoes.

When we first got to the establishment, there were only a few middle-aged regulars playing table tennis. It seems that at this time in Korean history, it is mostly the older folks who are out and about doing physical activities and exercise. I'm sure that once the Olympic Generation (those Koreans born in or around the 1988 Seoul Olympics) start hitting their 30s, they too will become more physically active.

For our group of 11 people, we were able to rent three ping pong tables for 10,000 Won an hour. After a bit over 2 hours of playing table tennis, it cost each person about 5,000 Won. Not bad considering what it costs to go to the movies or to go to a bar with your friends.

After a warm up, we organized everybody into two groups. For each group, a miniature round-robin tournament was held. The top two people from each group went on to the semifinals to determine the winner overall. On the opposite end of the spectrum, one person from each group played for the "ultimate underdog" position.

When the finals were concluded, we asked a gentleman who seemed to be a regular to play the champion of our group. We didn't want the winner from our group to get a big head, so a bit of humility was in store for him. After three lightning quick games, our champion was left perplexed, trying to figure out how he could have countered the large amount of spin that the veteran table tennis player was able to put on the ball.

Overall, we had a great time, worked up a bit of sweat and burned some calories. Even though there was a "tournament", the greatest part of the day was just hanging out with friends and having a good time.


P.S.
Some of you may have noticed that my style of writing for the blog has changed. My original goal for this blog was to write a bit of a travel guide for ex-pats living in Korea. Instead, I've switched to more of a journal style of writing. With my very full work schedule this summer, trying to teach and write a travel guide blog every week was a bit overwhelming. While I did enjoy the challenge, I found that at this time a travel guide wasn't my favorite style of writing and the overall process just didn't feel right.

For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, I would love to hear your feedback on the direction that the blog is taking. If anyone does need more details on how to run one of the trips that we have done here in Saturdays in Korea, I am more than happy to share. Please contact me at anytime.