Wow Korea 1st Trip - Day 1

So I joined this program called WowKorea organized by the Korean Tourism Organization. It's a program where the managers in charge of this program bring us around certain areas of Korea that are not well known at all to foreigners for the sake of promoting the more cultural side of Korea rather than the more popular ones. I mean, if you were planning to go to Incheon, or Seoul, or even Busan, those places are already popular and have people going there even without advertising. Technically, it's more than just travel, it's about marketing.

Basically, this program is about traveling whilst doing missions where we upload photos and advertisements(?) about the places we are at. Sometimes we also have group missions where we have to do certain videos or photos together. At the end of the trip we will submit reviews about the places that we went to, and share our experience visiting places in Korea that are less hyped about.

The first day, I got up at an ungodly hour of 5am, a timing which I have not gotten up at for a really long time. Got ready to leave, and took a 2.5 hour trip to Samsung Station, Seoul. Arrived there and met up with everyone for the first time (some second). Started to mix around and got to know a few people, made some friends, and finally it was time to go. It was about a 2 hour bus ride from Seoul to Wonju where the new Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) was located at and we were to go there to see it and have our opening ceremony.

Tadahh

Receiving the certificate

After which we sat down for more talks with regards to what this program is all about, what is required of us, and what things are necessary for us to do as supporters of these program. We were briefed on the purpose of this program and what we were supposed to be marketing for people from our own countries.

After which everyone stood up to take a vow

 1st group photo!

KTO Building

 Group photo in front of the building

And then after that... trigger happy me.

Vanessa and Bashir (Hanyang)

Some structures near the KTO

After which, we got back on the bus and headed to this famous chicken rib shop that was frequented and visited by certain actors and singers, namely one of the guys from Super Junior. Anyway, when we arrived the food was already cooked and cut up for us, so there was nothing left to do but dig it!

So far it was the most delicious one that I've been to, though people have said that it didn't taste as good as others they've tried. It tasted great for me, since most places that serve this dish serve it really spicy. After having the meat, there was kimchi fried rice too!

The place is called: 한가족춧불닭갈비

and it's located at: 강원 춘천시 벌말길 74-1 한가족숯불닭갈비별관

Naver map: http://goo.gl/80JF46

맛있게 먹었다! (I ate deliciously)

Next up, we got on the bus again for an hour or so till we reached this place called Museum San. It was a really beautiful place, very quaint, quiet and rustic feel to the place. Anyway, since it was art, I couldn't really understand most of it, but it was still quite an enriching experience. They had a few art pieces that actually had me a little mesmerized. Things that looked like a screen was actually just a room that had lightsticks inside to manipulate it to look like a screen from the outside.

The place is called: San Museum

and it is located at: 220-621 강원도 원주시 지정면 오크밸리 2길 260

Website: http://www.museumsan.org/

Outdoor structures

The screen I mentioned earlier

More into the museum..

A machine from the olden days used to make paper

More old artifacts

There was this paper room, where they talked about "flow" and you could use a piece of paper, collect the "water" that was a projection from above, and then let it "flow" onto other pieces of papers. It was really interesting and intriguing...

Went to this area after that, where people could stamp and chop certain designs onto postcards which could then be sent out to others, or even to yourself!

Headed over to another little workshop after the paper galleries where everyone was learning how to make these little pieces of square paper with 2 colors. Apparently that was used for a game in the past. I didn't really take part in that, but just spent the time taking photos of others hard at work!

Team 2 Jump Shot

The next destination we went to was called: Daepo Harbor 

and it's located at: 421-6 대포항횟집 대포동 속초시 강원도

Naver map: http://goo.gl/tYmn1U

It's basically a harbor where people are selling dried seafood, and many restaurants around that offer fresh seafood. I guess coming from Singapore, we don't have to travel really far for seafood, although it isn't really fresh. In Korea, you have to travel to somewhere near the sea for fresh seafood.

We ate at this restaurant where the crabs were humongous! If I were to have this in Singapore, it would cost a whopping hundred or so per crab. King crabs are incredibly rare and usually only eaten during certain seasons. 

The main highlight of the night was this place: Street Food.

It was located at the same place, just at the back street. The entire place was filled with shops selling the same things, fried food and this thing called 오징어순대 where it's fried rice stuffed octopus. It's really delicious! Did I mention that king prawns were also 1,500W each? That's $2 per prawn.

Had a great time eating, and I really enjoyed myself.

After which, we got some sparklers and wanted to play with making the first letters of our names. It's actually the first time for me taking photos like these where I use a slower shutter speed for these light shots. Hahaha think I did pretty okay.

Team 4!

After that, we headed to this place called The K Hotel. It was a pretty simple place, with heated floors, kitchen, toilet and the simple thin mattresses for the floor. We were all pretty tired but we had a marketing lesson or seminar that we had to attend before we could call it a night.

 All of us gathered to listen to our manager

After which, I had the chance to give a little presentation regarding this blog, and how to utilize Google and Blogger. It was a good chance for me to share my experiences with my blog, how I started doing this, why I do this, and how it actually benefits me in the long run. On top of that, all the little bits and pieces that I wished someone could have taught me instead of me figuring it out myself.

After all the presentations, we all gathered for some recreation time where we had a magician. I must say, even though some tricks were pretty predictable, there were some that really blew my mind. He did a really flawless performance, and was really well-versed in entertainment. I am usually a skeptic for magic shows, even though I keep quiet, but this time it really made me think twice. It's not an easy job and I doubt I'd have the commitment to work that hard in learning magic tricks, practicing till perfection and then performing.

     

After that, we were all dead beat so we headed back to our rooms to finish up our missions, took a shower and got ready for bed because we had an early day the next day.

Oh, did I mention we got our own name cards as a Wow Korea Supporter! ^.^

Good night!