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Start
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Soyang River
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Cheongpyeongsa
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Flower Garden
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Ethiopia
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Pension
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Park
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Uiamho
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Kim Yu-jeong Station
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Jade Garden
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Finish
So close yet far city, Gangwon-do. Gangwon-do seems so far that I would leave for vacations that reminds you of blue East Sea and climbing on Mount Seorak.
Intercity Train eXpress-Cheongchun at Cheongnyangni Station
There's a direct bus that directly transports you to Chuncheon from Ilsan but we can't miss the train when it comes to Gangwon-do. Plus, there's ITX-Cheongchun, a magnetic levitation and an express train that is fastest train next to KTX, so we headed to Cheongnyangni Station, the flag station of ITX, because it was closer.
We wandered around and finally got to platform stairs. Then “what is this..?" I took the subway thousand times but I never saw that one. People must've gotten out of platform using a transportation card here because Gyeongchun Line is used by ITX-Cheongchun train and regular subway.
It's not regular subway ticket gate and I was a bit frustrated 'cause it seemed complicated but as indicated on the signboard, I touched my card on 'Exit(하차용)' so now let's go to the platform~!!
There are two ways to get to Chuncheon by taking the Gyeongchun Line train other than bus. First one, regular train is available at reasonable price but it stops at 20 stations until you get to Chuncheon Station from Sangbong Station and it takes one hour and twenty minutes in total.
On the other hand, ITX-Cheongchun stops at 4 to 5 stations including Cheongryang-ri, Gapyeong and Chuncheon, and it takes one hour and ten minutes so it would be good for people who would enjoy long time at the tour site than in the train. So we decided on ITX as well.
Of course this ITX-Chuncheon is not only fast but also provides lounge, toilet and food cart. And the fact that it also has two-level car caught our attention. Normally, number 4 and 5 cars of all 8 are the two-level cars and the number of them is different in times.
When I got to the entrance to ITX train, I saw the end of small waiting room for people who booked standing room. There are two spiral stairs connecting first-level and second-level. That was exotic but these stairs made it impossible for 'food cart' to get into the two-level cars, which would ruin the best bit of train travel. Instead, delivery system(?) is provided so the employees came with the menu and get orders directly.
If possible, we wanted to stay on the second-level to get a better view and wide space but it was all occupied by the time we booked. So we gave a sigh at the entrance and headed to the first level in the car. I suspected that the first level would feel like semi-basement but unlike what I had expected the ceiling was quite high and it was clean and cozy.
Plus, this is heaven compared to normal car, which occupies 40 to 48 people. You could check it when you book seats but compared to the normal car, two-level car has wider space for each seat since it occupies 24 people.
Especially the best seat was the even number seats on second-level car. On the odd number seats, sights could be limited because there are pillars by the window, and C and D lines are good seats to enjoy because you'd get the view of Bukhan River course.
Personally, C and D seats on the second row are the best spots because I could lay my seat as much as I want since it's empty behind it. I'm going to book these seats next time I take the train to Chuncheon as well.
We chose good spots but there was something else. If we look out the window on our seats, all we could see were the feet of people walking on the platform. 'Is this all we're going to see until we get to Chuncheon?' Ah, as I expected, the problem was that our car was on the first level.
Thankfully, I didn't have to worry since there was no need to divide two levels as soon as the train left Seoul, and we could enjoy the view of scenery and Bukhan River outside the window.
While we appreciated the view of Bukhan River through the window, 40 minutes had passed since the train left the Cheongnyangni Station. The ITX train passed by Gapyeong Station where you could visit Jara Island and Nami Island, and it was running towards Chuncheon Station so fast.
In a while we arrived at Chuncheon Station. I carried my pack backpack again, went to the station square, and there stood a bull sculpture with a model of train to celebrate the opening of Gyeongchun Line double tracking. It seemed like we'd come to the right place, the final stop of Gyeongchun Line, Chuncheon Station. It was quite complicated but this is the beginning of our Chuncheon tour. So we took a powerful step towards our first destination.
In Chuncheon downtown, there are two train stations, Chuncheon Station and Namchuncheon Station. They're not very far from each other but the most of places to sightsee in the suburb are located in the western area so if are going to use the train, you'd better take off at Chuncheon Station since it's located in the western side of the downtown, near Jungdo-dong.
Address : 190, Geunhwa-dong, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do
Telephone : 1544-7788
Website : http://www.letskorail.com/
Soyanggang Dam 소양강댐
Chuncheon in Gangwon-do is located in the upper region of the Bukhan River and multi-purpose dams including Chuncheon Dam, Uiam Dam and Soyang Dam are established so it's called the city of riverside.
Especially, Soyanggang Dam located in Soyang river, one of big branch of Bukhan river, is known to be the best dam in Korea, not only in Chuncheon, so it's obligation to see Soyanggang Dam if you're in Chuncheon.
Among a few lines to Soyanggang Dam, bus numbers 11 and 12 are the fastest ones. After 40 minutes on the bus driving along the spiral road, it arrived at the top of Soyanggang Dam. I had to check the bus schedule for going back to the downtown. Bus numbers 11 and 12 were coming in every thirty minutes so it is practically available in every fifteen minutes.
At the final bus stop, the top of Soyanggang Dam, you could see Yongneomi Falls with fish decoration across the street but they were not working. You see…being on time for events is one of the most difficult things during trip. You could see these falls dropping at 11, 13 and 15 for one hour each time so if you make it on time, you won't miss the heavily dropping waterfalls.
In the middle of square behind the falls, the Soyanggang Dam Monument with a letter of W that signifies Water of Soyangang Dam was standing high. The letters written on the monument was written by former president Park Jeong-hee, so I've heard.
Behind the Soyanggang Dam Monument, there's Palgakjeong trail, 2.5km for a round-trip, along the river bank that opens at 10:00 till 16:00 in winter and from 10:00 to 17:00 in summer.
But we were quite a bit exhausted from hot weather already so watching it from afar was enough for us. Plus, we still had a long way to go so…we passed.
Soyanggang Dam was made by blocking the downstream of Soyanggang river that's 123m high with 530m of river bank and 2.9 billion tons of water kept in store which is the biggest dam in Korea so that it is a winding way up here like a snake because of it height.
If you look at the downstream of the dam from the long river bank, you'll see Soyanggang river flowing between the mountains faraway. Anyways, Chuncheon is well-known for fogs everywhere but the weather was worse than we had expected and we were worried about the clouds as well.
Soyang Lake, built by the establishment of Soyanggang Dam, the biggest rockfill dam (dam made of mud, sandy soil and rocks) in the East, is a lake that reveals its splendour and it is so big that it's also called ocean of inland.
On the foot of a mountain behind the Soyang Lake bluer than pine trees, a white sign was fixed in by Korea Water Resources Corporation to indicate this is THE Soyanggang Dam of Chuncheon.
There were a few diverse benches and sculptures for taking pictures around the dam and the best photo zone is this place with a white swan. People were waiting in line to take a picture.
In another corner, the girl character in 'Soyanggang Cheonyeo', the song that represents Soyanggang river, was grabbing her chest because of her broken heart and waiting for her love who does not notice her to come to her. Strangely, people started humming the song Soyanggang Cheonyeo when they passed the sculpture.
Although we only had a brief visit to Soyanggang Dam, we could forget the hot weather and I don't know if it's because we saw water big as an ocean or cool breeze from river. If you want to see somewhere enormously wide and get some fresh air from the river leaving the exhausting city life behind, I want you to try to see the biggest multipurpose dam in Korea, Soyanggang Dam.
Telephone : 033-242-2455
Soyanggang Water Culture Centre 소양강 물문화관
Korea is one of countries in good condition in terms of water supply but it was placed on the 5th place for the water-stressed countries in the world by PAI(Population Action International).
Besides, since there is always a need to save water in daily life for so many reasons other than energy savings, and everybody needs to learn the importance of water and how to save it.
I think you might be wondering why would I give you a lecture on a trip and it's because I visited this 『Soyanggang Water Culture Centre』 operated by Korea Water Resources Corporation to awaken an interest in water.
This is an alley leading to Soyanggang Water Culture Centre. 'Huh? 88 Seoul Olympics? Hodoli? What are you doing here?' In one corner, a sculpture to commemorate Olympics was standing there out of blue. The worst mismatch in Chuncheon, I must say.
After we passed the unexpected Hodoli sculpture and entered the water culture centre building, guide desk and OT display room were welcoming us. There's also a convenience store called Water Lounge so you could buy stuff that's needed during travel or simple snacks.
When we entered the OT display room that starts the exhibition with the theme of 'First Encounter with Soyanggang Dam', we could see the whole information on Soyanggang Dam, including the creation and process of Soyanggang Dam and cross-sectional diagrams of dam/development facilities, which was one of three national projects in the 1960s along with the establishment of Gyeongbu Expressway and Seoul Subway Line #1.
You could also read the information on various dams established over the water system and in the middle of Bukhan River, lifeline of the capital city, that begins in Gangwon-do, adorns Seoul and finally runs into the Yellow Sea.
Getting out of OT Exhibition Room, we headed to the Exhibition Room 1 on the second floor where it starts to show images of water in each country and explains about the origin of water, the process of water circulation and water as energy with the theme of 'The Power of One Water Drop'.
As I started to read everything following the wall, I noticed I never really had thought about the origin of water and it was new to me to know the secret of water whether it came from the universe or it was formed after the eruption of a volcano. It wasn't just educational.
In one corner, a big painting showed us the process of water circulation and if you turn the handle below, the light turns on that stimulates children's curiosity.
When we were about to get bored at looking at pictures, water drops started to fly to white walls making mysterious sounds. When we got closer, the water-related words showed up on walls in the shadow of ourselves, and when we touched the dropping water drops they popped up to the sky.
Another exhibition room on the second floor, Exhibition Room 2 shows how much water is spent everyday and how to save it based on a theme of 'The Important of One Water Drop'.
It's bit darker than the first exhibition room but it's equipped with various lights and activities for children to understand about water savings in a better way.
When we were almost finished at the Exhibition Room 2, we saw a big room at the end of the hall way. A light music was played with videos of water on a really big screen so that it feels like I was watching 3D movies or something.
Soon after, the video ended and with 'ppyrorong~'! sound, a game started. A two-player game started, and there were dirty water drops and clean water drops falling from the cloud in the sky and we had to fill the water with clean water drops by hitting them with a ball.
We tried so hard to win and collected all the clean water drops then it opens the sluice, dam discharges water and shows the process of water circulation again. She won the game and made the world clean so she's hooraying. I can't believe I lost again…
On the third floor, there was Water Gallery and a conference room but the conference room was not opened and the hallway was decorated with pictures of tourist attractions in Chuncheon on the wall.
The end of the hallway, Water Gallery was there where you could take a rest and watch Soyang Lake. It also has a comfortable sofa and a small book shelf as a place to relax, read or talk but unfortunately, there was few people who'd come to the third floor. I noticed it that it was only us.
This outdoor deck has the great view that it makes it the best place to take pictures of Soyang Lake with a few benches looking at the river, small chug boats and swing chair.
Soyanggang Cheonyeo that I saw at the entrance was also here sitting on this bench with a forlorn look but unlike the previous one, this is so popular among tourists.
As we checked the outdoor deck at the end, the tour finished so we headed down to the left of observatory deck towards Soyanggang cruise ship boarding site. As a place to learn the purposes of multipurpose dams in Korea as well as the importance of water, Soyanggang Water Culture Centre provides educationally great information not just a stop-over tourist attraction so we felt kinda proud and moved to the next destination.
Address : 10-3, Cheonjeon-ri, Sinbuk-eup, Chuncheon-si (춘천시 신북읍 천전리 10-3번지)
Telephone : 033-259-7334
Operating Hours : 10:00 - 18:00 (17:00 in winter)
Website : http://blog.naver.com/kwatersyk
Lake Soyang Cruise Ship 소양호
At the dead end of the parking lot and the end of the way to Soyanggang Dam, there's a dock for a cruise ship that's constantly moving on the water of Lake Soyang.
The cruise ship departs every 30 minutes to make a trip to Obong-Sancheongpyeongsa, and it also provides long-distant courses like Yanggu-eup, Gangwondo, three times a day(11, 13, 15 o'clock).
Probably because it was a weekend, I saw so many tourists lining up to buy the ticket and the employees in distinguished blue uniforms right next to me were guiding them. It was frustrating that there were almost as many employees as the tourists.
The course we were going to travel that day was a 15 minutes course, Obong-Sancheongpyeongsa course. We would finally get back to here after touring Cheongpyeongsa so we bought the round-trip ticketk. The price, 6,000 won, was same as 2 one-way tickets.
As soon as I got the ticket, of course that wouldn't happen but just in case, I needed to write down my name and telephone number on the ticket. As instructed by the guide, I wrote my information at the front table of dock, got down and a few cruise ships caught my eyes anchored at the dock.
'Are we taking this one? It's smaller than the one we took in Cheongpung Lake last year but not so bad.' I assumed, but the one we actually took on was even smaller one that looks like a fishing boat there.
Following the passengers in line and getting on the ship, front part of the cruise ship had a low ceiling and chairs with least space, and the back part had long chairs by the rail with three sides opened except the ceiling.
If you get on the back, you could enjoy the wind and the view directly, not through windows. Especially the best spot would be the back seat. If you could stand the engine sound a little, you'll enjoy the view of white waves, cool wind and the wide view of everywhere.
While I was being satisfied with the wind on the best seat, some motor boat passed by us. 'Damn!' Renting a motor boat for traveling to Choengpyeongsa is 50,000 so if you have companies, it would be better. And it's faster.
Lake Soyang Cruise Ship departs every half hour but on weekends like this, they have many passengers so when the ship is full it departs any time so you don't have to worry about waiting here.
Address : San 205-2, Cheongpyeong-ri, Buksan-myeon, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do (강원도 춘천시 북산면 청평리 산205-2)
Telephone : 033-242-2455
Operating Hours : 09:30 - 20:30, Every hour, Every 30 minutes (Depending on seasons) + Departure when the ship is full
