Wow Korea 4th Trip [Day 2]

The next day, we woke up early, had a little breakfast and hit the pool! It was quite a huge swimming pool, and I believe, my first time swimming in a pool in Korea excluding water theme parks and beaches. It was pretty fun, seeing as there were no slides but just company of the guys. Had some games while swimming and some jumps. I have to say I really enjoyed myself this trip.

After we washed up, we went to check out the labor party office in Cheolwon. Before the Korean War, this location was notorious for being the headquarters of the North Korean Labor Party. It was right next to a military camp and the air around the area was pretty intense. Apparently it wasn't just a headquarters, but it was also used as a place for torture and inhumane slaughter of anti-communists.

We were just there for a short time to have a look and to take a group photo before moving on to the next location on our itinerary: Jaein Falls. The name of this place, Jaein (clown) was given to it due to a local folklore about a tightrope performer who had a beautiful wife. His act was sabotaged by an administrator who had feelings for his wife. Apparently if you look down from the observatory above, you would feel a little dizzy.

We walked down a huge fleet of stairs to get a closer look at the waterfall and to do a little shoot. We had a group mission to do a group jumpshot but we were all so afraid of hurting our legs on the stones and rocks that we just chose to do a manly shot instead. I'll let all the photos do the storytelling!

Our new manager, Hyunji!

After all the playing and photo taking in the waterfall, we made our way back up the mountain of stairs, and headed on to our next location for the day: LUNCH! The Chogyetang (초계탕), or Cold Chicken Soup, which is a traditional health food where lean chicken is served in a chilled chicken broth seasoned with vinegar and mustard. The taste was pretty interesting and it was so foreign to me. I could imagine having noodles with icy cold broth... but chicken? It tasted really nice though!

After a sumptuous lunch, we headed over to the final city of the day, Paju. Over here we visited the famous Heyri Art Village, a cultural village which displays a lot of artistic talent from artists of various cultural fields. This place has many different museums, each with their own themes. There are many cafes, even a churros bar that looks so hipster. We went to the game museum, where it had many different games, consoles and things that was like a blast to the past.

On top of that, we also reminisced about our childhood while we played old games such as sonic, street fighter, mario etc.. After which, we also visited the Erotica Museum.. The photos were really explicit and not at all conservative like how Korea is usually perceived. Since my blog is kinda PG-13, I'm just gonna leave those photos out. After touring the place, we all stopped by a cafe for some drinks before heading back to the bus.

The final stop for the day was the Premium Outlets Mall in Paju. This place is where all the famous fashion brands, local and foreign, meet in one huge mall, coupled with lots of sales, restaurants and tourist information centers. If you want to shop till you drop, this is definitely the place to be. I wasn't really planning on blowing my monthly allowance since I didn't have a need for anything so I didn't get myself too hyped up about shopping.

Walking around really tempted me pretty badly though.. There were Levis Jeans going at 20,000W per pair... Nike shoes going at 40~70% off. Mind you, since it was a premium outlet, they had stocks upon stocks of it. That means you're getting the discount even though it isn't the last pair nor the last size. Talk about value for money.

After that, we got back on the bus for another 2 hours back toward Seoul. When we arrived there was a huge storm and the rain was extremely heavy. Got off and ran toward the train station drenched. Overall, it was an extremely fun trip, one that I could not have imagined possible without Wow Korea. I do hope that through my experiences, you would be able to see a much more vibrant and diverse part of Korea and that you might also be interested to try it out.

Special thanks to Futur for this.....

Till next time!