Where Am I: Nami Island

An update of my trip to Korea back in September 2011. On the 3rd day, I visited this famous island named Namiseom or Nami Island. This spot is always packed with tourists since it’s a shooting location of famous romantic Korean drama back in 2002 – Winter’s Sonata. (Fine.. I was a fan)

Why I could watch this drama at such young age is still a mystery..

But too bad, it wasn’t winter so this place was very different from what I saw in the drama. First, there’s no snow, all the trees were green. Second, it’s so crowded and far away from quiet like what was pictured in the drama. Third, the Bae Yong-jun is made of bronze here. Ok, after the jump will be filled with many pictures and explanations.

How to get there

In short: Take MRT route to Gangpyeon Station. Exit the subway and walk to the bus station at Gangpyeon, buy a bus tix to Gapyeong (Choonchon, Gangwon-do). When arrived at Gapyeong bus station, take a cab to Namiseom resort. At Namiseom resort, buy a ticket to board the ferry, cross the lake on a ferry and step in to the Nami island happily.

@ Gangpyeon bus station: Grab my ticket, grab a snack, grab a bus and grab a seat.

Arrived @ Gapyeong bus station after around 1 hour trip, then grabbed a taxi to head to Nami resort.

Got the tickets to cross to the Nami island / Naminara Republic.

Ticket (or it’s written as Entry Visa there) costs KRW8,000 per head. After getting the ticket, you may board to the ferry, cross the lake and soon you will arrive at Namiseom island.

I’m here at Nami Island

Welcome to Nami island, where the trees are green and the air is fresh. On September, the weather was pretty nice and cool with a chance of rain.

Time to breathe deeply~! The air is so nice here.

The island was packed with tourists, there was also a band performing live and acoustic music. Actually I was about to walk around the island while taking pictures but then I took an arrow in the knee, but my friend gave a much better idea to hire some bikes and go cycling around the island. YAY!

is tiring. However the view was nice and the air was also fresh. After cycling around the island for 1 hour, we returned the bikes and enjoyed the outdoor lunch at the picnic tables.

Steamed dumplings (mandoo) and onion pancake (pajeon) for lunch.

A souvenir store named Imagine Nami store.
The cashier ladies were so friendly here, even the friendliest that I had ever met in Korea.

Spot the Winter’s Sonata iconic snowmen statue.
Then walked around a little bit before exiting the island, back to Seoul.

Ouch!
Cramped legs and sore feet.

Hehe the view is nice here, it would be much more beautiful during winter I guess just like in the drama. It was a great experience to finally be able to visit Nami island but it’s also so tiring. I have run, I have also biked around here, if I had to swim across the lake too, I could title this post as Triathlon in Nami Island. All right, more other posts about the Korea’s trip will be published next time.