Nami Island Part 1

Autumn Sonata

~

We woke up late, and since Seoul is an hour earlier than Kuala Lumpur, it made us even late and behind schedule. We supposed to catch the earliest train to Nami Island but we had to spend some time to pack our bags, to be transferred to the other room. Since we were not coming back to the hotel, we left our bags at the reception and they will help us to transfer those bags once the room is ready.
We then headed to the nearest subway, with two cups of free Americano coffee in hands. It was five minutes walked to Jongno 5(o)ga Station – Line 1, and it was a very cold day, about 10 degrees. We walked down the stairs and looked for a ticket vending machine. We chose English and look for Cheongnangyi Station – Line 1, but we failed to locate it.

Tips : Korea Subway Metro has 9 main lines and 5 dedicated lines, with more than thousand stops (exaggerate) and interchanges, in alphabetical order. Good luck!

We got lost for about 5 minutes tried to figure out how to select the station name on that touch screen monitor. Next to us, three subway officers were in the middle of collecting money from the machine and saw us, helplessly. One of the guys then helped and guided us on how to use the machine.

Tips : Try to look for any subway officers whenever you feel lost with your sad kitty face. They normally wandering around, monitoring the area, and willing to help you with minimal English. Don’t worry, you can also play charade with them as the last option.

“Ooooooo…choose subway mappppp…ok, ok…” We looked at each other. We finally found the station name and thanked him. It was 1,000won=RM3 for one way and 500won for deposit.
“Then what? Left or right?” I asked. We had no idea which side to go.

Tips : Exactly like LRT in Kuala Lumpur, you have to know which way you are going. Check out the next station name after the current station TOWARDS the station that you want to go, and follow the direction. Don’t be stupid, ask someone.

We went down and caught a train. It was roughly 3 minutes interval and the train was super cozy, huge, and long! LRT kat KL memang kalah abis lah! They even had a coach for bicycles, you know! And if there are available seats for pregnant women, disabled, and old folks, you’ll see NO ONE sitting there. Very civilized.
We arrived at the station and touched the card out. We then looked for a nearby ticket refund vending machine and slotted in the card. ‘Ting’, voila, a 500won coin fell down. Nizeeee! To take a train to Nami Island, we had to find for Exit 4.
Tips : Every subway station has more than 2 exits up to 6 exits. You have to know which exit to go out to get nearer to the visited place. Yes, you can cross the road if you are wrong, but not all roads are easy to cross to.

Down by the train station (not subway, it’s a normal train), we queued to purchase another ticket to Gapyeong Station – Gyeongchunseong Line, and it cost us 4000won=RM12 for one way.

“Can you stand for one and half hour?” Asked the ticket operator to two girls in front of us.

I looked at hubby’s eyes with a gibbon face! “Standing???”

Yes, standing all the way to Gapyeong Station. The reason why? There was no seat available until 12.00PM in the afternoon, and it was only 10.00AM in the morning. Since we didn’t want to wait any longer, we gambled and bought the tickets. We doubt, how bad it can be…the seats mustn’t that fully occupied…come onnnn!
We were wrong.

THERE WERE TONS OF KINDY KIDS GOING FOR “LAWATAN SAMBIL BELAJAR” SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE and they occupied all the coaches! Hahaha! They were so tiny and cute in winter jackets. Awwww…
Anyway, we got seated right after they went down the train. So half and hour journey wasn’t that tiring sitting on someone’s seat. We stopped at Gapyeong Station and walked passed the train rails. Waaaa, so kam cheong you know. We quickly ran over it (no gates or whatsoever like ‘kampung’ style la) and queued for a taxi in front of the station.
Tips : These cabs are easy to identify, so grab one as quick as you can. Just say “Namiseoum”, they will straight away understand. Coz why? They know that whoever stops at this station will DEFINITELY going to the ferry wharf to Nami Island.

We paid around 4,000won=RM12 and reached the ferry wharf. The cab dropped us in the middle of a very massive parking lot and we had to walk towards the ticket counter.

“WOW! WHAT’S THAT?!” We looked upon one high walk-up tower with two connecting high tension cables, all the way from one side to another.
“Just launched this morning la! See got chairs, stage, and all…waaaaa…” said hubby.

It is called Zip-wire, which I found similar to the flying fox WITH seat. And how much it cost? 40,000won=RM120!!! WTF! You know how much the ferry cost? 8,000won=RM24 for 10 minutes crossover to Nami Island! Was't that ridiculous?! Ok…I agreed, the thrill maybe triple bliss la I guess…and I was an inch away to spend money on that ride as well…but too expensive lah! Cannot, cannot!
Tips : Those who enjoy adventurous zipping, not high-phobia, super generous and have lots of money to spend, and never care to die in foreign land, you may want to try this. Climb the tower (yes, walk-up) 200meters high, hang your ass on the wire, and fly down to the island of books.

We queued up (actually we cut the line coz too many group tours in front of us) and boarded into the ferry. The two-story ferry was kind of cute with black semi sphere shaped, and flags alongside the walk-away. It was separated into covered and uncovered area as well. We initially sat inside the covered area but somehow went out to the open area to enjoy the haze. (Hmmm…global warming.) About 5-10 minutes ride, we reached the other side, which was the land of popular Korean drama, Winter Sonata.