KOREAN DRAMA TOUR FOR BACKPACKERS- DESTINATION 1: PETITE FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 19, 2013)

     Chuseok is Korea's thanksgiving. Every year, locals rush to their hometown to take advantage of the 5-day vacation while foreigners either stay in their pad or pack their bags and travel somewhere they haven't been to.

     This year, my husband and I planned to backpack to Petite France and Nami Island. We searched for the easiest route and hopped on the bus to the subway station. We boarded Korail Line 1, got off at Yongsan Station, and purchased Intercity Train Express (ITX) tickets to Cheongpyeon, following directions in the internet telling Cheongpyeon is the nearest station to Petite France. When we got on the ITX, we realized we should have bought tickets ahead of time beacause of the volume of passengers during holidays. We didn't get a seat, so we ended up sitting on the floor. I didn't really mind since the train is very clean and it looked new, anyway. We arrived at 3:50pm at Cheongypeon Station, just as indicated on the ticket. (Tip: Exit on the right if you wish to take a cab. Exit on the left if you wish to take the bus.) We waited for both, but 30 minutes passed and no bus nor cab came by to pick up the passengers. An Ahjumma on queue said they've been there for an hour, so instead of wasting precious time, we boarded the next train to Gapyeong Station which is only two stops away.
     Gapyeong Station seems busier compared to Cheongpyeon Station which looks too far from the city. We got a cab right away which took us to Petite France. The lady cab driver did a lot of overtakes and swerving and had us infront of the theme park in 30 minutes. Whew! We paid her 30,000 KRW for that, anyways. Cab meter read 23,000 KRW but my husband wanted to give the lady a tip. He said it's safer to take a cab than a bus if you're not familiar with the place. One purpose of this blog is to, of course, be of help to future travelers. So another tip... take the Gapyeong Shuttle Bus which stops at every tourist destination in Gapyeong. This is

Shuttle Bus Tickets

cheaper and more convenient. Pay 5,000 KRW to the driver and this is already good for the whole day. Just remember to keep your ticket and show it to the driver every time you board a bus. Bus route and schedule is posted inside the bus and in the Gapyeong and Cheongpyeong Bus Terminals. Unfortunately, most of them are written in Hangul. So try to learn a little Hangul or maybe ask the bus driver who speaks a little English.
     It was already 4:30pm when we reached the park so we took pictures at the entrance right away and paid 16,000 KRW for our entrance pass.

     Petite France became popular after the filming of Secret Garden and Beethoven Virus and photo shoot of Personal Taste (Gain's Taste) Dramas. As the name suggests, it looks like a small version of a French Village, overlooking the Cheongpyeong lake, where everyone can enjoy French culture in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi-Do.
     The Orgel house near the entrance, houses a collection of musical boxes from Europe and the St. Exupery Memorial Hall, the only Memorial Hall of St. exupery in Korea which has a license from the St. Exupery Foundation, is filled with various works and characters from Le Petite Prince.
     We were led by a narrow zigzag stairway down the fountain plaza surrounded by a gift shop, gallery and a restaurant. The upper floor of the building has accommodation facilities if you wish to stay in the park for the night.
     Adults seemed to travel back in their fairy tale and storybook days with the huge storybook page and Le Petite Prince wall art. I am, of course, one of those who waited on queue to have a pic with the little prince. I have to try real hard, though, to fit to that little chair. Lots of wall art caught the eyes of the guests. The observatory even has wall paintings on every wall.
     Try to check every building and let them surprise you. If you're into dolls, there's a house of French dolls with a miniature french village at the center. Antique lovers, on the other hand, may enjoy the antique gallery which is like a flea market where visitors can see and actually buy items that they want. If you're curious about French puppets, the Guignol Theather conducts puppet plays which stars, of course, the puppets from France and other parts of Europe.
     Since I got my photo-op with the Little Prince, My husband didn't pass on the opportunity to pose like Hyun Bin. So, try to check that out too if you're a Secret Garden fan like us.

      If you're lucky, you'll get to see a show in the amphitheater. Or, maybe, just sit for a while and relax if you got tired walking around, which I doubt since the park is so small that you'll get to see every corner of it in just 30 minutes.
     Staying overnight in the village or the nearest Hotel just outside Petite France seemed boring for us so we went onto our next adventure. We looked for a ride to the nearest city so we could grab a humongous bowl of soup and get some rest.
     We noticed everyone waiting for the bus has tickets. This is how we discovered the shuttle bus that goes around Gapyeong. The bus stops at Namiseom, so we already have an idea where to get off the following day for our Winter Sonata Tour. We noticed a lot of pension houses along the way but the bus doesn't stop there, so it may be better to stay somewhere near Namiseom. There are some hotels around the area but we doubt that there are still available rooms because of the holiday so, we opted to get off at Gapyeong Bus Terminal. I spotted a Motel across the terminal which is quite o.k. (or maybe we're just too bushed and starving). It's proximity to the bus terminal made us choose to stay there to avoid the hassle of walking too long to get a ride in the morning.
     Getting something for dinner was surprisingly challenging at that

Yeong Cheon Haejangkuk

time. Only the convenience stores, hofs, coffee shops, Dunkin' Donuts and Pelicana Chicken were open. Even  Lotteria was closed for Chuseok. The Haejangkuk shop along Gahwa Road was the only Korean restaurant that's open.   We didn't have a choice but to have beef haejangkuk since it's the only one available in their menu that night. Their small serving of Haejangkuk with few slices of beef and some bean sprout is a little disappointing. The serving size and the lack of flavor didn't satisfy us. It doesn't really taste like haejangkuk at all. It's too far from the one we usually have in Pyeongtaek (The ahjussi at the shop is kind, though...and speaks a little English). So came Dunkin' Donuts and Pelicana Chicken to our rescue for midnight snack.

     We ended the day by planning tomorrows trip and reminiscing with our photos, so here they are...

Fountain Plaza

St. Exupery Memorial Hall

Giant Storybook

Wall art

Guignol Theater

Secret Garden filming location

A glimpse of Cheongpyeon Lake

Petite France Amphitheater

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BUDGET (for two):
Subway ticket to Yongsan                   -   5,300 KRW
ITX ticket to Cheongpyeon                 -   6,800 KRW
Gapyeong Shuttle Bus                         -  10,000 KRW
Petite France Entrance Pass                -  16,000 KRW
Haejangkuk (dinner for two)               -  22,000 KRW 
1 box Pelicana Chicken with               -  16,000 KRW
    1 bottle of soda
Donuts                                                 -   9,000 KRW
Motel fee                                             -  33,000 KRW
TOTAL                                                 118, 100 KRW

*   Another mistake is that we didn't check the nearest bus terminal in our area. Taking the bus will save you the trouble of train transfers and you might also save around 30 minutes to 1 hour  of travel time since these buses have lesser stops compared to the regular G Buses and travel through the express way.
     There are buses bound for Chuncheon which stops at Gapyeong and Cheongpyeon bus terminals. Here's a list of bus terminals with bus routes going to Chuncheon (always double check as you get to the terminal):

Incheon Airport
Bucheon
Suwon
Ansan
Pyeongtaek
Anseong
Dong Seoul
Jamsil
Uijeongbu

GOT NOWHERE TO GO? THERE'S ALWAYS THE SALON!

     Summer has just ended and it's the perfect time to go back to South Korea. The weather's just perfect at 23° C when the plane touched the ground arond 9:40 pm at Incheon International Airport. I had to run again to catch the bus to Pyeongtaek-Si because of my 2-hour delayed flight from Manila. The last bus leaves at 10pm, so I ran as fast as I could.

     I can't wait 'til morning to see the greens of Jinsari, go for my usual morning walk and grab a box of pizza from my favorite pizza parlor.

     We didn't plan for any trip this weekend since Chuseok (Thanksgiving) is in 3 days, so we just went to the nearest hair salon where my husband go for a haircut.

     The attendants are very nice and efficient. The salon is  simple and quite smaller than the popular salons but they offer the same technology as the bigger ones in the city.

     I asked for a perm and the attendant explained that the conventional cold wave technique won't work on my previously rebonded (straightened) hair. What they can do is cut off the ends and do a different technique.

     Since my husband is more vain than I am, he asked the attendant to give my hair a medium brown hue since my hair color already faded and my dark roots are already showing. The hair coloring procedure lasted for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. I admired Miss Kim's (my salon attendant) diligence for preparing my air into paper-thin sections for coloring and for checking my hair from time to time.

     After rinsing and blow-drying, she straightened the top part of my hair to get rid of some frizz. A cream was applied  and a shower cap and heating cap was left on my head for 30 minutes. Again, she shampooed and rinsed my hair.

     Perming was the last part of the treatment. My hair was,

digital perm

again, sectioned and small curlers were placed on them. Then each of the curlers were plugged into the machine. My husband laughed and told me I got the digital perm I've always dreamed of. I realized that the machine is like a curling iron. After like 30 minutes, the machine was turned off and the curlers were removed after cooling off. A straightening iron was then used for the top part of my hair. The curls looked big and a bit funny but after another shampooing and

blow-drying, the result came out amazing. The senior salon

essence for locking in moisture

attendant advised me to put some essence to keep my hair from drying. We chose mise en scene brand which is very popular here in Korea and is every easy to find in every grocery store.

     The whole process took 4 hours but seeing the result is very much worth sitting that long. Now I have camera-ready hair! My husband paid 200,000 KRW for his haircut, my haircut,  hair color and digital perm.

My husband's new do

   

Lovin' my curls

PYEONGTAEK MARKET

     I alternately go to three grocery stores around Jinsari when ever I want to pass time but I never saw a public market around even once, so I made this weird request to my husband. I asked him to take me to the market where he usually buys all sorts of fresh meat that are hard to find in the groceries near our place.

     The market is only a 15-minute bus ride from Jinsari. We got off in front of the Pyeongtaek Station. After a short walk from AK Plaza, a mall at Pyeongtaek Station, we reached the public market. Cheap finds like sneakers, jeggings and jeans for around 7,000 to 10,000 lined the first alley we went to. Every alley offers different commodities as expected. We passed by an alley of cooked food, then to an alley of street foods like topokki. If Korean side dishes has grown a spot on your taste buds but doesn't have an idea how to prepare them, there's an area which sells side dishes that are ready-to-eat. Name every kind of kimchi you know and you'll get it from there.

     The market is small but is so clean even the seafood area. They sell fresh and dried fishes . I didn't recognize a single species in there even the fresh ones. Seeing the mountains of dried fish was like seeing the daings in Taboan Market in Cebu City, Philippines.

     We didn't buy a single thing in the market but my curiosity was satisfied now that I know how to get there and how it looks like.

Clean Pyeongtaek Market at night

Ready-to-eat Korean side dishes

Dried fish and seaweeds

Mountains of dried fish

SUWON HWASEONG FORTRESS IN WINTER

   
     The gates and walls I saw on our way back from Everland Resort to Suwon made me want to go back and take a closer look. So after three weeks, I was successful in dragging my husband to Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.

     This area was surrounded by 5.7 kilometers of stone walls and has four gates, the Janganmun (north gate), Hwaseomun (western gate), Changnyongmun (eastern gate) and the Paldalmun (southern gate) and has towers used for different purposes. The fortress was influenced by both Eastern and Western architecture.  It was built before the end of 18th century when King Jeongjo tried to move the capital from Seoul to Suwon to get away from the ugly memories of his father, Prince Sado's death caused by his grandfather King Yeongjo. The Crown Prince was locked in a rice chest for eight days until he died. King Jeongjo moved his father's tomb to Suwon and built these walls to protect it. Now, it's in the list of UNESCO's world heritage sites.

Dongbuk Gangnu

     We didn't have a tiny hint that this is going to be another mountain hike but it's worth all the leg muscle cramps we got. We started trekking from the Janganmun and the first pavilion we saw is the Dongbuk Gangnu in the northeast of the fortress on a slightly elevated terrain which was used for resting.
     That was just the beginning of a long, tiring hike up the mountain. We followed the wall, taking 2-minute breaks each time we're out of breath and finally reached the highest part (or so we thought). There's another pavilion, a tower, some benches and a nice view of Suwon.

      Not far is the Seoammun(Western Secret Gate), which provided secret access to the fortress, and the Filial Piety Bell. The bell was hung by the people of Suwon for visitors to ring to wish them well. Guests should ring it thrice- first as a symbol of gratitude to his parents and to wish them good health, second ring for his family's health and harmony and third for the realization of his dreams. We didn't get to strike the bell that day because the ticket booth was closed and a minimal fee needs to be paid to do this.

Seoammun

Filial Piety Bell

     A few more walks took us to the Unesco marker and a small gate. Inside is a pit stop if you need to go or get some ramyun 

UNESCO stone marker

(noodles). Then to another gate which leads to the Southwestern Pavilion or Seonamgangnu that served as a resting place for the soldiers and doubled as a watch tower because of its strategically high location. There's this small area just before the gate. I apologize for forgetting 

what it was and for not taking pictures since it didn't trigger my

gate going to the convenience store

interest because of it's not-so-tidy grounds but it has some sort of a marker with Hangul scriptures. If you want to check it out, it's a bit hidden behind some trees on the left before the gate to the southwestern pavilion.

gate and muddy trail to Seonamgangnu

     We dared to take a different route back and went down a muddy trail. We were led to another road and a shrine but it's closed and no one else was checking it out that time. After the shrine is a view of the Hwaseong  Haenggung on the right side of the road.
     Hwaseong  Haenggung is a temporary shelter where the king
used to rest or retire from a war. This is the biggest among the temporary palaces built in South Korea. The king stayed here at the time of Wonghaeng (his long journey) and this is where his mother's 60th birthday was celebrated. 

Hwaseong Haenggung

     The last stop we made was at the bronze statue of King Jeongjo. He is one of the prominent kings of Joseon Dynasty. The statue is huge and very detailed but what caught my attention were his shoes! I don't know, maybe it's a girl thing. Behind the statue is an amazing gallery of the ancient life of South Koreans etched on the granite walls as you walk towards the exit.

King Jeongjo's Statue

gallery behind the statue

     Suwon Hwaseong Fortress is one of the foreign tourists' favorite cultural tourist spots. We haven't explored the whole fortress yet because of our limited travel time and I still have a lot of other reasons to go back, so I'm sure we'll visit it again on my next visit this fall.

 HOW TO GET THERE
Subway Line 1, Suwon station (exit 2)
take bus #2, 7, 7-2, 8 or 13 to Jongno 4-geori

OPERATING HOURS
Summer- 9am to 6pm
Winter  - 9am to 5pm

Osan Military Base

     Osan Military Base, also known as K-55, is located on the northern part of Songtan, Pyeongtaek City. Contrary to its location, the name Osan was chosen since it is hard to pronounce and remember the names of nearby areas. 
     Across the base is the popular Shopping road or Arcade Street. This is one of the places in Pyeongtaek-si where you can find people from different parts of the world all at once. Many who just want to relax come here especially during weekends. 

     If you're planning to go hardcore bar-hopping on a Saturday night, Arcade Street in front of Osan Military Base is a good choice. The entire strip, including the small alleys, is a chain of bars and clubs. Some even offer live music. But Blue Opera caught my attention with their big and maybe we can call it artistic (though scary) facade.

     If you're not much of a drinker and just plain love shopping, you'll enjoy every nook of the area with both Korean and U.S. boutiques. Many stores have American brands, mostly sporty goods, that are hard to find in Korean Malls. Not all would offer a good deal though, so try to search in the internet first for prices if you have things in mind that you plan to buy and want to compare. Cosmetics shops offer a better deal in Pyeongtaek-ro area than in K-55 so you may also want to check that out. It's just four stations away from Songtan, anyway.

     High quality Korean goods from collectible dolls in Hanbok to elegant bed covers are also here. Children's toys, pillows, pajamas and anything you need in your apartment is here.

     Being away from home makes anyone miss their local food and coming to K-55 may give you a chance to enjoy something native to your palate. Food that you've been craving since you stepped foot on South Korea may be here! If you're sick of sundaekuk and kimchi or grabbing burger from a Korean burger chain or the usual ice pop from the supermarket, McDonald's and Baskin' Robbins are here. I even found a Filipino restaurant which has halo-halo and leche flan in their menu! Too bad it's closed when we went there. Before hitting McDonald's, I just had to beg for some streetfood. It's been a year since my boyfriend, now my husband, bought me something from the street. The spicy chicken on stick perked me up.

     A few turns around alleys will take you to a market where you can find the usual goods you need in your kitchen. There are also small houses for rent at a low cost nearby, where a lot of foreigners reside.

     We were advised by an ahjumma to get a cab to and fro K-55 from Songtan Station but, again, we preferred to walk and enjoy the conversation and the unfamiliar roads. It's approximately a 15-minute walk if you're up for it like we do. 

Here's how to get to Arcade Street :

1. From Songtan Station Line 1, walk to your right after you exit the station. Walk down the stairs from the bridge and turn right on the next street. This is the Tanhyeon 1-ro. You'll see a parking lot to your right. 
2. Walk straight ahead until you see a flyover or an elevated road perpendicular to Tanhyeon 1-ro. 
3. Cross the street and walk under the elevated road. If you're familiar with Quiapo, Manila, it's as if you're walking under the Quezon Bridge with all the fruit and streetfood vendors minus the native handicrafts. 
4. Keep walking until the end of the road and turn right. You should be in Sinjang-ro now. 
5. Follow the slight curve of the road to the left and you'll see the gate of Osan Military Base. If you see it from this angle (check the first photo), you're probably standing at the corner of Sinjang and Arcade Streets.

Osan Military Base

Arcade Street/ Shopping Road

Yummy Korean street food

McDonald's Angus Burger

In an alley of bars and restaurants

Souvenirs

Blue Opera Bar