Weekend Trip to Cheonan/Asan - Part 2

Got up the next day, headed out for some brunch and took a walk around the traditional market nearby. It was really bustling since it was a Sunday and there were many people around. Got some food and thereafter decided to head towards the Hyunchungsa (현충사), the shrine, or birth place of Admiral Yi Sun Shin (이순신). 

It was pretty cheap, roughly around 6,500won to get here from Onyangoncheon Station. There were a lot of people when I arrived. Apparently people don't just come here for the shrine, but they come here because there's a huge pavilion right outside with a lot of parking space and also shops all around so people come here to hang out with their families, fly kites and even play foot ball. The place is free entry and no food nor drinks are allowed so take note before heading in

Hyunchungsa (현충사)

126, Hyeonchungsa-gil, Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea

They close between 17:00 to 18:00 (seasonal) so please check before heading down

Aside from the memorial hall, you get to see his home, the shrine that is dedicated to him and just a beautiful plot of nature all so well preserved. It's a great place to take a walk with the family and just breathe in the fresh air (considering the air in Seoul is pretty bad this time of year). It was the beginning of Spring and flowers were blooming everywhere. Just in front of his house, there was a really beautiful cherry blossom tree in all its glory. 

Next to his house, there was a little shack for archery. My first thought upon seeing it was that we had to pay to have some archery fun, however it turned out that it was totally free. Lined up, had a little archery fun, got some snacks thereafter and then got back on the taxi to the next location: Yeonginsan!

Yeonginsan or Yeongin mountain, is a great place with a beautiful view (in late spring probably), and many activities for the family. It's the usual for most Koreans who love hiking and mountain climbing. It's not really mountain climbing as the paths were easy and there were stairs and handrails for you to hold as you head up. The air was really good up there and it was peaceful and serene.

Now, the attractive thing about this place (at least to younger people like me) is that they had these two activities called the Forest Adventure (포레스트 에드벤처) and Sky Adventure (스카이 에드벤처). Forest Adventure is essentially like some form of an adventure course that is suspended on wires and you'll be clipped onto a safety wire as you manoeuvre through the course. Sky Adventure, is, in other words, a flying fox or a zipwire. You get clipped on and you zipline through the entire forest from the museum to the camping spot. Not to mention it's cheap! (10,000 for the zipline and 7,000 for the adventure). However, the sad thing was that this year, they were only operating from June onwards T.T so I was unable to do it.

Headed back down, got on a cab and went back to Oncheononyang Station where we got some dinner before getting on the KTX back toward Seoul. There was a nice little Japanese restaurant near the market where we walked past in the early afternoon so we decided to head there for dinner. 

Went to get a little something for the road and for friends: Cheonan/Asan's representative snack, the Korean walnut snack (호두과자) which seems to be really famous here as people come here to purchase this. Got a recommendation from the owner of the Japanese restaurant, saying that this shop had been here for a long time. 

Bought two boxes, headed on the KTX, and then was homebound for Seoul. It wasn't a really good idea to have been taking the KTX from this station back to Seoul since it was only 40 minutes, however there was no other choice as the other trains were fully booked. I was only able to book these tickets since we didn't know what time we were to leave. 

All in all, it was really fun Cheonan/Asan. It's a trip down memory lane, and a great time nevertheless. Till next time~