Mount Geumo San

This was on cards for many days. Had planned it for many times. It got canceled because overcast weather conditions or lack of enthu. Finally it materialized on 20th May with 5 people on board Subhajit, Santoshi, Harsha, Madhu and me.



Geumo-San Korea’s 490th National Treasure(490 …not a big deal), but for the people staying at Gumi it is a perfect weekend getaway, for which they really don’t have to getaway. There are many things to see such as a waterfall, lake for boating, natural cave, Buddha temple, stoned carved statue etc, there is hiking trail as well.



We left the guest house around 1.30 pm, after getting delayed because of unavoidable circumstances and reached foot of Geumo San parking at 2 pm. The Taxi cost us 11200 won. Next to parking lot there is a lake for boating, we decided to keep it at last. The entry fee to the park is 600 won.

The initial ascent can be done either by foot or cable car. Since we were already late we decided to take cable car. The cost of one way trip was 3500 won per head. One can go till Hae Woon Sa Temple by cable car, beyond that point one has to ascend by hiking.


Hae Woon Sa Temple



According to board put up in front of temple, it was built at the end of Silla Dynasty(9th century). The temple was decorated with Laterns for Buddha’s birthday which will be on May 24th.


Inside the temple there was a 3 feet high gold plated Buddha idol. We sat for a while in front of it for a while, there a Korean lady came and lit a incense stick, we also followed the same.


Daehye Waterfall


Next was Daehye Waterfall, the falls was not so graceful, it was there for namesake. People who have seen virgin waterfalls in 'uttara kannada' will not find it exciting.


Doseon(Toson) Cave


This place somewhat hatke place, the trail to reach this place was amazing. Thanks to the fencing put by the authorities, otherwise it would have been impossible to reach the place. In Toson Cave a Zen priest Toseon had attained enlightenment. The view of Gumi City from the cave was a treat to the eyes.


Standing Statue of Buddha. (Maae Bosal Ipsang)


It was 2.1 km from waterfall. One has to take hiking trail to reach to the place. Our ascent was at very slow since it was Madhu maiden trek, we had take sufficient breaks. Finally we made to the place at 6.15 pm. After having photo and video session we started the descent.

Descent

6.35 pm sufficient light was still there, as it gets dark very late in summers in this part of the world. Before starting the descent timings of cable car came to my mind, that it stops operating at 7.30 pm. Therefore we decided to switch gears and increase our descent speed. Santoshi had a tough time while descending, her shoes were giving up many times. She climbed down almost sitting down at many places. At 7.45 pm we reached cable car dock, so we had continue descent using hiking trail till the foot of Geumo san. It was almost dark and fortunately I was carrying a torch. The night descent was not bad as we expected, by 8.15 pm we reached the foot of Geumo San. There were no taxis available. Therefore we had to call up Keshab and ask madam to send taxi to Geumo San using 'call taxi' facility.

It was the end of memorable trip, we could have covered other places(summit, boating in lake) in case we had left early in the morning.

Have a look at my picasa album for more photos.

Dynamic Busan

Last Sunday me and Subhajit had been to Busan, second largest city in Korea. The city had hosted Asian Games in 2002 and is planning to bid for 2020 Summer Olympics. The initial plan was to leave on Saturday, we had taken sufficient information from Sea Park (whose hometown is Busan), but weather spoiled the plan, it rained for the entire day. What’s the point going to a coastal city when it is raining, so we planned for the next day as weather forecast was Sunny Sunday. In fact it turned out exactly the same. 10 out of 10 to weather station people.

We took Munghawa train at 6.54 am from Gumi station. The train was essentially a passenger train and stopped at each and every station. It reached Busan station at 9.30 am. Right outside station there is City Tour Bus stop. There are two routes for city one Beach route and other one Downtown route. There are scheduled stops in both direction and at each stop bus comes at every 1 hour. The price of ticket was 10000 Won (valid for entire day). We took Haeundae direction( beach direction) bus which departed at 10 am.

UN Memorial Park



At 10.20 am Bus stopped at UN Memorial Park. We were the only two persons to get down from bus. The next bus was at 11.20 am. So we had to spend one hour at the park. The park was nicely maintained, but it is not worth to spend one hour. There memorial for soldiers from different countries who participated in 1950-53 Korean War. I was surprised to see Indian flag in the park. Later I came to know the India participated in the war being part of medical team.

Indians in Battlefield

Haeundae Beach

We boarded 11.20 am bus from UN Park and got down at Haeundae Beach. We tried to keep our feet in water but it was damn cold, so we backtracked and decided to walk on the sand. On the beach there were many kinds of people. Some people were taking sun bath, some high school kids playing with tech toyz. There was even Buddhist prayer session going on the beach.



There is famous Busan Aquarium in Haeundae beach. We skipped it, as we had already been to an aquarium in 63 square, Seoul. FYI, the ticket price was 15000 won.


Oryuk-do Cruise Boat

From Haeundae beach one can take ferry which takes to round trip of Oryuk-do Islets, a group of inihabitant islands. As explained by Sea Park Oryuk-do means 5-6. On cloudy day only 5 islands are visible and on a clear day 6 islands are visible. The boat trip was around 1-hour.


After finishing boat trip we relaxed sitting on the beach by seeing beach volleyball game played some Americans. They seemed like army men with their body build up.


Gwangalli Beach

After sometime we planned to Gwangalli Beach. We planned to take 3.50 pm bus from Haeundae to Busan and then from Busan station to Gwangalli. The bus came to stop 30 minutes late and adding to our misfortune all seats were filled up. We were traveled standing till Busan station. From there were took 5 pm bus and reached Gwangalli at 5.30 pm.

Gwagan Grand Bridge

The main attraction of this beach is Gwagan Grand Bridge. There are many other stuffs also. In tour2korea website it is mentioned that Gwangalli Beach is a popular gathering place for young people in their 20s and 30s. There are many coffee shops on the road besides the beach. People who love seafood wont be disappointed, as there is a fish market at one side of beach, where one can have raw fish.

We waited until it turned dark, as I had a plan of capturing illuminated bridge in my camera. Before leaving the place we met Mr. Gwan An, scientist at a nuclear power plant. He was taking snaps of the bridge in his Nikon D70. We had a brief chat with him, as his conversational English was good.

Shanghai Street

Later we took Subway to Busan Station. For Gumi there was a Munghawa train at 9.35 pm but there were no seats available in it, so we had to book tickets for 10.25 pm Samuael train. So we had 40 minutes to do time pass. I had a look at Busan map to check what's their around the station. A place by name Shanghai Street caught my attention.

Shanghai Street

I expected it to be a general shopping street but it turned out to be something else, can’t be described in words here. If you are intelligent enough you can make out by the photograph!

Finally we came back to Busan station, boarded the train and we were back in Gumi by 12:30 am.

More photos are shared at picasa album.

SpiderMan-3 at MegaLine

If you had read my post about Gumi City, in that I had mentioned that there is a MegaLine multiplex at a walkable distance from Guest House and also we are planning to watch SpiderMan-3 there.


It was a normal lazy Saturday, I got up around 10.30am having sufficient sleep. We didn’t plan anything for the weekend as it was Childrens Day in Korea. On this day parents take their children for excursion, because of this tourist places will be bustling with people and also it would be difficult to get tickets for trains and buses.

In after noon we saw Bheja fry and LRMB in Madam’s computer. In evening when I was surfing tour2korea.com website, I came to know that today there was World’s 1st Hi Wire Championship in Seoul. Missed it, we should have traveled to Seoul this weekend too. Now it’s over no point in pondering over it.

After having dinner me, subhajit and madhu decided go for a small walk and in the process we planned to enquire about show timings of SpiderMan-3 at MegaLine. Madhu turned back on the way, seems he had better business to do.

We continued our walk, went to MegaLine complex where the multiplex is at 7th floor. Time was 9.50 pm, we saw that there is a SpiderMan-3 show immediately at 10 pm. We though if tickets are available why not see the movie now itself. Unlike PVR here there is differential pricing based distance of seat from the screen. Middle row tickets were sold out so we bought tickets 2nd row from the back, it costed 7000 won per head. Before buying tickets we made sure that the movie is in English (no dubbing).

The interiors of movie hall were similar to PVR Classic. Before the movie there were some advertisements, also they showed trailers of two Korean forthcoming movie, one was murder mystery and other one seemed to be a horror movie. After this the actual movie started.

The movie was good with nice special effects and action sequences. Every sequence is like a highlight one won’t be even bored for a moment. Of all the action sequences I like first one between Harry and Spidey(Peter Parker). The storyline has many stuffs such particle physics, chemistry and mutation. There are emotions such as jealousy, misunderstanding in the movie. Also there are many coincidences, which are more common in Bollywood movies.

To conclude this is not a review, just my experience how we went to multiplex for en quiring about show timings and ended up seeing the movie itself. For review please check this link.

KTX journey

Travelling in a superfast train was one of my long cherised dream. During my childhood days once my father narrated me story of a Japanese Movie ‘Bullet Train’. After hearing the story I demanded my parents to take me in a train which is as fast as ‘Bullet Train’. It took lot of effort from my mother and father to convince me that such type of train is still a dream in India. Also I wanted to see the movie. In those days (early 1990s) getting a VHS for a particular that to for not so famous movie like 'Bullet Train' was next to impossible.



One saturday when I was in 7th standard, my eyes were lit up when I saw poster of Bullet Train movie being screened at Puttana theatre. Next day, Sunday I went to theatre with my cousins Vasanth and Hemanth and found out that some Adult movie was being screened at theatre. When I asked in ticket counter, “Bullet train movie yelle”. His reply was “Bullet Train movie bandhitu, yaaru hattavaru iralilla, hotoga bidathu”. Being disappointed, we came back to home .

Later in 2003 I managed to see the movie by borrowing VCD from a library near my home. Movie was good but I was sure actual excitement of traveling in such a train will be different. The dream was yet to be fulfilled. Finally, it was fulfilled on Sunday April-29th 2007, when I took KTX (Korea Train Express) for traveling from Gumi to Seoul.



Actually there is no KTX station at Gumi. We took 6.25 am Samuel train from Gumi by taking combined ticket thru ticket from Gumi station itself. 7.40 am Samuel reached Daejeon. 7.46 am KTX arrived and my long cherished dream of traveling in superfast train was fulfilled. Initial 10 minutes the speed was normal but when the train switched to dedicated tracks it picked up speed. The stuffs outside can hardly be had a glance.



When the train speed reached above 250 kmph it showed the speed on top left corner of LCD screen inside the coach.



The train went through 5-6 tunnels and after some time I realized that we are almost in Seoul. When I first told this to Madhu he thought I was joking. At 8.45 am KTX reached Seoul Station, concluding my first superfast train journey.

Hi Seoul Festival

Staying in Gumi during weekends is somewhat boring, so we had planned on Friday to go to Seoul in weekend for ‘Hi Seoul’ festival. All plan went for a toss when Jason said on Friday evening “As usual we will be working tomorrow”. On Saturday when we were about to leave to office Jason called us and said no need to go office, as root cause of issue is found. He ended the call saying enjoy the weekend.

After this we had lunch watching movie Gangster in Madam’s system. She also saw some part of the movie with excitement as the movie was shot in Korea. She identified one place as Cheong Gye Cheon ( a small stream in Seoul). She also showed the place in Seoul map. With the excitement I almost decided to leave to Seoul immediately. Subhajit said “relax, what will you do for accomdation?”. Then we decided that we can leave very early in morning on Sunday.I did all planning which train take at what time.

Madhu prasanna(Madhu) of IFX agreed to come with us. Many people initially showed interest but looking at our plan, no one agreed to come by giving excuses that in one day no one can cover Seoul(In my opinion even one week in not enought to see Seoul completely).

Morning I got up at 5 am, finished morning ablutions ASAP. Subhajit and Madhu also got ready. While going to catch Taxi Subhajit decided not to continue because of stomach ache. He didn’t want to travel in a bad condition. He asked us to carry on. Me and Madhu had to carry on, all efforts of getting up early in the morning should not go in vain. We rushed to Gumi station, as we had catch 6.25 am train. The Taxi driver took us in a short cut route and we reached in time at 6.20 am. We bought KTX thru tickets(28400 won per head) to Seoul via Daejeon. As soon as we reached the platform the train arrived. If we were late by 2-3 minutes we would have definitely missed the train.

KTX travel(more in a separate post) was a memorable one. We reached Seoul at 8.45 am.
We had a small photography session next to Train engine in Seoul Station.

Seoul Tower


First we decided to go Seoul tower. In the process I explained Madhu how to use Seoul Metro, buy tickets etc. From Seoul Station we took metro to Myeongdan. From Myeongdan station we walked for 10 mins to Namsan Cable Car Dock. We reached there at 9.30 and found out that operating hours were from 10 am to 11 pm. So what to for half an hour? We decided have to snacks which we were carrying, also had coffee for 2000 won at a shop opposite to dock. The smell there was very bad, as they were preparing food of some insect. While moving in front of the shop we had hold our breath.

At 10 am we went for buying tickets. There was a quiet long queue. Price of ticket for cable car was 4500 won one trip and 7000 won round trip. We took the round trip ticket. Seoul tower is atop Mt. Namsan. Near the base of tower, there is a skydeck. One can witness beautiful skyline of Seoul. Later we found that we can to an observatory on the tower by paying 7000 won per head. There is an elevator to go to observatory. 360 degree view from observatory was good. For every 10 degree, on the glass panes, they had mention distance of a famous city from that point. Distance of New Delhi was 4692.78 km. Distances of other places North pole, South Pole were also mentioned.

New Delhi: 4692.78 km

In other level of observatory, there was write-up about landmark place of Seoul Itaewon, Yeouido visible in that direction. I liked this concept and took snaps of many of such write-ups.

smoke signal station

We came back to base of tower, saw something traditional thing happening for ‘Hi Seoul festival’. They were raising smoke in the smoke-station, this was used in olden days to indicate warning signals to inhabitants. Mt. Namsan has in fact historical significance too.

Namdaemun Market

Market Entrance

After coming down we saw some beautiful fountain across the road. We took photos in front of the fountain. Then we saw procession far away happening for ‘Hi Seoul’ festival. In the process looking at procession our feet went into Namdaemun Market. There we enquired about prices about some items, prices were too much. Then we saw famous Namdaemun Gate, took snaps in front of it.

Namdaemun Gate

Later we continued window shopping in the market. Next to one of the shop we found brouchers of all destinations in Seoul. Only some were English, one of the brochure was about Cheong Gye Cheon(place which madam showed us in map previous day). We decided to add the place in to-see list.

But first we had some more important business to do i.e. shopping at Yongsan Market. From nearby station “Heyong” (line-4), we took metro to “Yongsan”. There in I-Park mall, we bought external hard drive. Later, Madhu enquired about camera prices and ended up buying Canon-IXY. After shopping we had some juice and food.

Cheong Gye Cheon

Next place to be covered was Cheong Gye Cheon. We took Metro from ‘Yongsan; to ‘City Hall’ Station. From the station we walked for 5 minutes and found some stage performance happening for ‘Hi Seoul’ festival. Here is a video of one of the stage performances.



Initially we thought we are at some other place but later found out that it was beginning of Cheong Gye Cheon stream. This stream was a laundry site previously, was recently restored as a tourist destination. The walkway next to stream is around 5-6 km. There are 9 spots in the entire stretch and each has some significance. The skyscrapers on both side of the stream make walk more exciting. Time was 5 pm, we walked slowly initially taking as many photographs. Madhu was more enthusiastic clicking shutter with his new camera.

One sequence of 'Tuhi Meri shab' was shot here.

Later we found that we were running out of time, so we changed our gears and hurried through various spots. Reached to spot-8 'Jonchigyogak' at 6.30 pm. This spot was not as beautiful as shown in photo in the brochure, so were bit disappointed as we had slogged for last 1 hour reach this place.

Since we didn’t had much time and also were tired, we took Taxi back to spot-1 of Cheong gye chon. As the road was closed we had to walk a bit to reach Cheonggye Plaza. While walking one building caught our attention, and we captured it in our camera.

Jongno Tower: Architecture Award Gold Prize

Time was 7 pm. It was getting dark. We waited for lights to come on. Finally at 7.30 pm lights were switched on and we captured the moments in our camera.



At 7.45 pm we decided to leave, took metro from City Hall to Seoul Station. 8 pm we reached the station, bought ticket for 8.15 pm train to Gumi. Economy class tickets were not available, so we bought first class tickets, which were 4000 won per head more.

The Samuel train seemed to be more slower after traveling by KTX in morning. At 11.25 pm we reached Gumi. Stood for 15 minutes in queue for Taxi and were back in guest house ending our successful trip.

Have a look at picasa album of this trip.

Before concluding it is important to mention about the food item with which we lived for entire trip. Chinese bun.

Chinese Bun