Another slower morning today since yesterday was so hectic.
We ate some of the fruit and had some of the instant coffee that we had
purchased the night before. It was 9am before we knew it, and time to go! We
walked down the way to a cute little coffee shop where we got real coffee, and
then headed to the bus stop. Everyone was still hungry for real food, so we
stopped into a convenience store. Pete got a microwavable hamburger (for
breakfast!), and I got a hard boiled egg. We also bought a pastry and some
cheese and crackers. We headed back to the bus and ate what we could before it
got there (no eating on the bus!)
We made it over to the ITX train which is a much faster
train to take you further out. Unfortunately, Emily had failed to realize that
the train she wanted runs only every hour on weekdays (it’s every 15 minutes on
weekends). It was 10:30 and the next train was at 11:17. We got our tickets and
waited.
As we were waiting, a group of kids came up and asked where we were from and if they could take a picture of us. Emily says that seeing a mom, dad and kids altogether is rare...especially American ones! So after they took our picture, we asked if we could do the same! They were a cute group.
Once on the train, it was a quick express ride, so we made
good time getting to our destination. It only took 30 minutes (it would have
taken 1 hour + on the normal train). It was quite crowded with a lot of
students as this is their holiday, and Nami Island is definitely a vacation
spot.
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| Standing room only on the train! |
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| The area around Nami Island...looks a bit like the Dells! |
We caught a cab over to the area where the ferry is. It
reminds me a bit of the Dells. There was a zipline you could take to the island
(which we wanted to do, but the wait time was too long), as well as a bungee
jump, cafes and restaurants. Our first stop, before the ferry was lunch at this
great chicken bbq place.
They bring the hot coals to your table and finish
cooking the chicken right there! She also gave us giant circles of radish (I
think) and garlic, and lettuce, and a bean paste…and you could roll the chicken
up in the radish, or lettuce, or eat it straight. Em grilled some of the
garlic. It all tasted so wonderful.
Then we headed over to the ferry. It was a quick ride over.
Nami island is adorable. It is definitely an artist community. They have a lot
of recycled items that they use in their fountains and decorations. They also
have books everywhere…to read and as decoration. We walked around seeing the sights and
experiencing the island, including the Ostriches which freak out Emily but Pete thought were hilarious!
We took a ride on the sky bikes, which are basically
little bikes on a rail high up off the ground. They were fun and a bit rickety.
We stopped at a café to cool off (it was another hot, hot
day) and got the most amazing treats! Pete got rice ice cream, Emily had pine
nut ice cream, Steve had dark chocolate ice cream, and I had red velvet cake.
Steve had a vanilla latte, Pete had a strawberry latte, and Em and I had
watermelon juice. It was all so good!
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| Sign showing where the first kiss from the movie was. |
We then did a little shopping at one of the artisan shops
(most everything is handmade), and then walked to the end of the island. Em
told us that there was a K-drama shot on Nami Island back in the 90’s that is
still HUGE in China. In the movie, they made little snowmen. The island has
capitalized on that, and now the double snowmen have become a huge symbol of
the island. Emily pointed out a few spots where the Chinese tourists still
gather because of the movie. She says the Koreans don’t even remember the movie
at this point. So funny.
After a lot of walking around (and a lot of sweating), we
headed back to the ferry and back to another café to wait to catch the 4:30
train back to Seoul. After another bus ride, we were back at the apartment
showering and recovering from the day.
We got dressed a bit nicer and headed out for dinner. We
headed back to Insadong where we had been with Andy the week before. That was
the area of cute little older homes that have been converted into stores and
restaurants. We walked around and did a little shopping as well as looking at
the food options. We landed on a cute little place called Hong Long Long Dim
Sum. It was SO good! We had fried shrimp
dumplings, steamed dumplings, truffle mushroom rolls, multi colored baozi, and
for dessert were custard dumplings that looked like frogs! Everything was so
wonderful.
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| My photos in the restaurant look red because of the lamp above us! |
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| How we ordered |
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| Baozi |
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| Frogs for dessert! |
Views around Insadong:
Once full, we headed back out into the night and towards the
bus. We passed the Japanese Embassy where there was a heavy police presence
because of the tensions between Japan and South Korea right now. It’s definitely
real. We made it home and passed out
within minutes. Another tiring day!
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