Holiday Journal

• Start
•  
• Bears Town
•  
• Sansawon
•  
• Pocheon Dongjanggun Festival
•  
• Pocheon HanwooMaeul
•  
• Pocheon Art Valley
•  
• Hotel Nine
•  
• Harbor Coffee
•  
• Dasan Historic Site
•  
• Finish

Pocheon Art Valley (FORAR)

It became late afternoon so soon. Our last destination in Pocheon is Pocheon Art Valley - FORAR where you shouldn’t skip this place.

Pocheon Art Valley used to be Hwagangam quarry transformed into an art piece and an attraction, one of best attraction in Pocheon.

Where we took off the bus to go to Art Valley is in front of Sinbukmyeon Office. This place is key point in the east area of Pocheon but we had to get inside further to get to Art Valley.

The buses often come here near the Art Valley but it was winter so the sun was already behind the mountain and we had to walk along the ridges between rice paddies.

We never thought we’d walk like this in Pocheon. As we took a walk, we saw a stone tower standing at the entrance to a village.

And a statue of a virtuous woman from Joseon Dynasty Era. It’s a statue of Changwon Yu Family who was the daughter-in-law in Jeong Family and died from lovesick of her husband that she lost from the Manchu war of 1636.

We finally got to the big road but we still had to walk up 0.7km further to see Art Valley. Well, I had a bad feeling that we had to pass that mountain at least. Still we haven’t seen any bus using this road. Probably it was a good choice to start walking than waiting.

It’s only 0.7km but no sign of the building then as I expected, as soon as passed the mountain and turned corner, bang! There came a parking lot. My gosh, we’ll be exhausted when we got there.

There was a sign on the hill on our way to the mountain. Cheonju Mountain Trail…We came here to climb?

Well, it was a long walk but thank god we got there before the sun sets. Even a yellow bathroom at the entrance was a candy for my eyes.

We finally saw the parking lot and Art Valley buildings. Nobody would’ve guessed there are buildings in the middle of the mountains since they’re all invisible from down there.

Phew~anyways, we came all the way for this. We had to go to the bathroom to mark our territory and doll ourselves for the tour. It’s been a long way but tour starts now.

On the first floor of the nearest building to the parking lot, there’s also Pocheon-si agricultural products display for tourists. Although they are not exactly the farmers but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to buy souvenirs here for your friends.

First exhibition is Gallery and Creative Activity Hall. It looked quite empty that the entrance was hidden between buildings but we were excited because it was our first tour of that day. And there’s something we wanted as a compensation since we came a long way…

A small garden spreads out as we passed the entrance and there’s a map of key points in Pocheon Art Valley. Along with 2-3 display rooms around the parking lot, there are outdoor exhibition halls and astronomical science center spreading over the mountain, which is enough for us.

So if you plan to visit here, I hope you take time to take a look around this place rather than killing one or two hours.

Follow the snow path then you’ll get to Creative Activity Hall. Creative Activity Hall and Gallery do not share the entrance but they’re still connected so either way you get in, you can finish the tour at once. Plus, they both are free.

Creative Activity Hall is a place where you can do a lot of making activities as you can assume from its name. There are different workshops on two-storied building where you can do activities including making soap with natural materials, aroma candles, hanji(Korean paper handmade from mulberry trees)/stone/leather crafts and ceramics.

There are professionals waiting in each workshop where they offer activities and lectures on specific days. I just happened to see kids and the teachers were making aromatic vinegars in pretty colors in Aroma Workshop.

Along with pictures and frames, there are activities that allow the kids to make small items that can be used to decorate the house with their parents as well.

Cute puppy and bear topiaries. By the windows and stairs were covered with products made in each workshops.

We got there too late after our tour in other places in Pocheon so we’d better look around the place than sitting there to make something. So we headed to Educational Exhibition Centre at the end of the hall.

As we entered the lobby, the walls were covered with post-its of people’s wishes. Well, I cannot skip this part.

We have to do the same. I wrote my wish from my heart and stuck it somewhere nobody would known. Ours are somewhere over there. lol

Now it’s time to take a look around the gallery. Just in time, the gallery had special display about Hantan River, Pocheon’s lifeline.

Along the quite wide hall of the gallery, there were as many displays as a big museum with comments. Plus we didn’t have many other visitors at the time so we could take a look around quite easy.

Important rocks were displayed. Yeonchon-gun, a Prehistoric Site where the Acheulean hand axe was first found in the East, is included in major regions of Hantan River so the rocks found in that region have a significant meaning as well.

Plus they were impressive that we were allowed to touch them not just reading the comments or explaining them.

And the Ground Stone Workshop that we had a good laugh. You’re going to have to touch the ground stone place on the monitor and rub it constantly. So you gotta rub it until you have what you want.

I didn’t know that it’s been 60 years since this place is called Pocheon until I came here. The historical significance of this name and the relics found in this area are also displayed here.

Regular relics used in relatively modern times were displayed in one corner but people don’t seem to be interested in them. Plus, they were all mixed regardless of age or use so I think they are just for the show.

The most innovative exhibition(?) was rafting photo zone. Although we were not blowing through waves on Hantan River but we could make quite nice photo with serious faces. The reason why this photo zone is prepared in the gallery is because Hantan River has narrow canyons and cliffs and the width of the river is rather narrow that is perfect place to do rafting.

Plus, this Hantan River is located in Gyeonggi-do, relatively lower region in Korea, but it is quite different from other rivers in the south regions as it joins Imjin River flowing to the west through Paju, not the biggest Han River. It’s not magnificent, it’s rather small yet rough, I guess. So there are things worth to watch around the river like Bidulgi Nang Falls.

At a small table in front of the photo zone, there were kids sitting together, doing puzzles and making something while they were looking into the paper.

It was Stone Ax Activity that you could make stone ax excavated from Hantan River with paper. But even after I read the instruction for a while, it seemed so hard to make it.

When your head hurts, you’ve got to get some air. We left the gallery and went to Stone Culture Exhibition.

If Educational Exhibition Centre was built to offer general introduction on Pocheon and Hantan River area, Stone Culture Exhibition was built to introduce Pocheon Art Valley. It’s because this place was used as a quarry where people used to dig up granites.

In front, the models of rock layers of the mountain where the Art Valley is located were expressed in three dimensions. If you press the button, a voice comes out of speaker giving explanations and guides for each part. Assuming from this place consists of these rocks, there must be quite many kinds of rocks here.

I found out later but these granites from Pocheon were used to repair Cheonggye creek and Gwanghwamun Gate in Seoul and to build the Blue House, National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Supreme Court, the National Police Agency and Incheon Airport. So it’s not exaggerating to say most granites used in major buildings in Korea are from Pocheon.

In the exhibition hall, there are various items in different shapes made of granites produced here. Granites are found in most areas in Korea but the ones from Pocheon are the most popular since they are especially beautiful.

What I liked more than big items were small pencil cases made of granites. Granite itself is beautiful but it was amazing to see that they could make this delicate pencil case with rocks.

After we checked the past of Art Valley briefly in Stone Culture Exhibition, it was getting dark and the street started to glow from the glamorous lights on the trees.

It’s finally time to take a look around Art Valley in Pocheon. The exhibitions we’ve been to are available for free but upper part from quarry is going to charge you.

And the highlight of Art Valley, monorail. We decided to take it. It costs 7,500 won per one person for a two-way trip. (3,000 won for admission fee is included)

It’s not so far to the mountaintop but it was kinda steep and there’s nothing to see on the way to the mountaintop so it’s better to take the monorail if possible.

The platforms were warm since they blocked the cold wind coming from the mountain. While we were waiting, they also explained us how to tour this area.

Quite soon enough, there came a cute two-car monorail. One car that could occupy 47 people was built in 2014 and it takes less than 10 minutes to get to the top.

This monorail has two stops excluding the one in front of ticket office, and the fastest way is to take it here, take off at the top, start the tour, walk down to the second stop and take the monorail to get to the starting point.

The inside was clean and there were seats in front and back. Among them, front seats in the first car and back seats in the second car are the best seats. If you sat on the back seats in the first car or front seats in the second car, all you’ll be able to see is big yellow face.

Less than 5 minutes after we got on the car, we arrived at the top. And then the amazing view we got. Colorful lights twinkled on the trees and decorations.

It’s in the middle of mountain that there’s no light except the lights on trees and decorations and the lights reflected on white snow in this area were so much beautiful than others.

Herb Island, another tourist attraction in Pocheon, is famous for night lighting but this was as good as that. It hasn’t been long since this place was open to public so you won’t be having any disturbance to take pictures or bumping into people.

Another attraction of Pocheon Art Valley is that you can visit Astronomical Science center. It is natural that you’ll get a clearer view of starts in the sky since it’s located on the foot of the mountain in Pocheon with clean air.

It has quite many things to see for an attached building. This is a three-storied building where it has an exhibition hall on the first and second floors and astronomical observation facilities on the third floor and rooftop.

As we got to the lobby, there are models of satellite and various sculptures looking down the tourists over the hole on the ceiling. It’s completely different from outdoors and I can smell science here.

There’s a mannequin in an astronaut clothes along with an information desk in one corner and a photo zone for us to be an astronaut. There’s a small step stool for kids as well.

The Exhibition Room 1 was decorated with a theme of the story of earth that we live on among many other planets.

Along with the creation of earth, the stories about the composition of plants and simple stories that might evoke interests in space science are written on the walls.

The stories are mostly about the fact that the sky we’ve been watching is not just dark sky but it has beautiful colors and a big world behind it, which is much much bigger than the one we see.

And there’s a visitors’ book here which is supposed to be in the end. If you take a picture with a camera prepared in front of the book and writes a story, it becomes a star and flies away.

The Exhibition Room 2 is about signs and plants in the solar system. It has the most items among other exhibition rooms so it’s crowded with the biggest number of tourists than other places.

The first things that caught my attention were astronomical telescopes. Kindly enough, there are footstep marks where you can look into the telescopes.

Huh? What kind of telescope is this simple? This is actually a very simple telescope to which basic principle of reflection and refraction was applied. It’s indoor so you don’t need to look further away. Instead, if you look into it, you’ll see the light of stars that are 3-4m away from it. This is just for kids’ curiosity.

Behind telescopes, there’s a model of main telescope on the observatory of Bohyeon Mountain, one of the best in Korea. This telescope is the biggest in Korea that is as big as 1.8km in diameter located in Yeongcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and as you can see, you’ll find it on the back of the 10,000 bill.

The center of exhibition room 2 is darker than the rest. So the model of big sun in the middle looks brighter. The light in the center even moves like it’s burning that it makes us feel like we’re watching it in front of our eyes.

It makes me want to touch the sun…so I approached to make my wish come true and found out the glamorous look was just lights. But it’s big anyway so I guess it is enough to attract the visitors.

Not only did they display the sun, they also compared planets in the solar system, which is relatively a small part in the universe, in order to make us understand them easily. And we couldn’t see Pluto, the planet that was currently ruled out from the solar system.

When you talk about planets and galaxy they seem to be related to science but when you talk about starts, they seem to be closer to myth and legends. So there are interesting expressions about the signs here as well.

There are more people than other places to check out the mythical significance and seasons for each sign. It could mean that the signs are more famous among people than science that is seemingly boring.

And innermostly, there’s a semicircle board that shows us the sky. If you lift your hand in the middle of the screen, you can adjust the screen as well. You’ll also be able to hear the stories about the signs and their stories in each season. But the sad thing is that only two people can do that at once. So you’ll have to wait for a long time when it’s crowded.

There’s a lobby for rest when you get outside the exhibition room 2. The exhibition rooms 2 and 3 are on the second floor so you’ll see the entrance where you came in over the resting area. And you’ll be able to see the earth floating over your head closer.

After a short break on chairs, we headed to the last exhibition room, number 3. The theme of the third room is ‘trip to space.’ It shows us the scientific stories and histories about space as well as the stories of planets further away.

Firstly, they explained how the space is visible to us. In order to show us that there are many kinds of light other than visible ray, the kind we see regularly, there was infrared cameras lighting up on visitors.

And as you learned in science class as a child, the color is different depending on the temperature of fire. It’s simply called spectrum and its temperature, namely color of light, is used to discriminate them when observing the stars and measuring the distance.

A while ago, it got so popular that a big meteorite crater fell on Korean land. You can also see these fallen meteorites here as well.

It says most of them consist of iron and there are meteorites as cute as this one. It would look great if you put it somewhere in the house.

So if you’ve seen the mystery of space through lights and meteorites, it’s time to introduce people who have observed the space in the past.

The names of known people who loved the space and the records about them were displayed. Unfortunately, we had to finish our tour here at exhibition room 3. Upper floor and the rooftop are available only for those who requested in advance so if you’re interested, you should refer to the website.

Even if you can’t see the stars, the night lights were lighting up Art Valley outside the museum. It seemingly was cold to get outside from the building but we had to adjust our clothes and get out.

Lightings on small trees. They probably were simple lights but they look beautiful on the white snow. Is it just me who thinks it looks like a cake or snack?

Art Valley is a quite big place that there are maps here and there helping us look around the whole area.

So we walked down the road covered with snow and lights. This time, we’ll visit the best attraction in Art Valley, Cheonjuho Lake.

Cheonjuho is less than 10 minutes radius from the science museum. It’s been on many dramas as well.

Ta-da. This is Cheonjuho Lake of Art Valley. It looks less amazing in the picture than it is but you’ll be overwhelmed by rugged precipice with rocks of fantastic shapes. Even the furthest place where you can’t see is filled with blue valley water surrounded by big rocks. Just like a scenery in old landscape painting.

On the rocks, there are different colors of lights changing over time that make us feel that the rocks are moving alive if you stare at them.

I was told that there used to be no water here. This used to be a rock mountain but as people started to dig layers of rocks for extraction of granites, water started to fill the empty space and the lake was created. So it would be the best to say this is the joint work by humans and God.

While the empty space of quarry turned into Cheonjuho Lake, the small hill over Cheonjuho turned into a park with sculptures made of granites.

And the place has been upgraded with the help of glittering lights and white snow. It was a better place to enjoy and hang around because there were a few people probably because of cold weather.

I liked the sculptures in the park because each one has no unnecessity unlike other art pieces that I didn’t understand the meanings of in other parks.

Plus there were barely 10 sculptures in a big place, not dozens of them, so even if you take a look at them all, you’ll be able to remember all of them.

At the bottom of the works in the park, you’ll see a work that has a hole of Korean map. And there are step stools for kids to take pictures for every sculpture.

This work has been attached to the mountain rock, from which the granites are not extracted, so the whole thing is an art piece. I don’t know why but it was loved by old visitors the most. lol

We walked a bit and saw a bright light from a giant white igloo. We entered it assuming there must be special inside it.

Inside there, we saw a big Makgeolli bottle with “Pocheon Makgeolli is the best” written on it…My gosh! Is this all? I turned away my eyes and then saw the real purpose of this house. This is indeed a Makgeolli house built with white Makgeolli bottles~.

This house is surrounded by high cliffs and the front cliff had an observatory on the spinning steps. Unfortunately we couldn’t go there since it’s been restricted to enter because of slippery surface from snow.

But if you step aside and look, you’ll see a giant stage that looks like a theater that is made of rocks. Can you see the people down there? This cliff is so high and it’s the same one as the innermost rock in the deep valley that we saw from Cheonjuho Lake.

Since this Art Valley used to be a quarry, you can see the traces of it from the rocks here. Under the cliff of broken rocks, there are tools that were used to extract the rocks including drilling machine.

As we took around the park, we started to feel fierce coldness. We missed hot heater so bad. So we had to run to the resting area located here in square.

Boiling kettle and hot stove made tourists forget the coldness. It’s just a resting place made of tent but it makes us warm like any other room.

When your body gets warm, you stomach gets kinda hungry too. So they sell some snacks here. They have fish cake, Udon and coffee which you shouldn’t expect much from them but they are enough to melt your body.

Now that we’ve warmed ourselves with warm coffee and heater and finished most of our tour in Art Valley, we’ve got to get down before it gets late. When we got to the platform, there were a few people already.

Monorail is regularly operated but at night when there are few passengers, they check until the car is full of passengers through CCTV and send it up. So we warmed ourselves in front of red heated electric heater for 10 minutes until it started to move.

After a while we met the yellow monorail again. We could sit down because it was quite empty in it.

Just like that, we finished our tour in Pocheon Art Valley FORAR that turns abandoned granite quarry into an artistic space.

But unfortunately, Cheonjuho Lake is much more beautiful and dignified during the day than night, and in summer days than in winter days. But to think about it, you won’t be able to see the beautiful lights and astronomical science museum of Art Valley during the day. It means it has things to see during the day or night.

Hm…but if we have to choose the best season for a family to tour, it would be Christmas season or night of very hot summer day. It’s not a valley in forest or an observatory on a high mountain but you’ll get both of results at Art Valley in Pocheon.

If we have to pick one except for natural scenery in Pocheon, we’ll have to pick this one as the first one. If you by any chance drop by Pocheon, why don’t you hold your family’s or girlfriend/boyfriend’s hand and look at the stars far away under the clean and clear sky?

Map : link

Address : 282, Giji-ri, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do

Telephone : 031-538-3483

Opening Hours : 09:00~18:00 (Opening at night frequently)

Admission Fees : Adult 3,000 won / Student 2,000 won / Minor 1,000 won (Monorail 7,500 won / 5,500 won / 3,500 won – Admission fee is included)

Website : website

Manbeokal

Pocheon Art Valley is on the hillside away from the downtown. So there’s no restaurant around there that we can go on foot.

But there’s one place right next to the ticket office that saves all the troubles. It’s called Manbeokal that cooks tofu, mushroom and kalguksu(chopped noodles).

As I searched it online, I found it to be very popular among visitors. Personally, there’s few restaurant that has satisfied us near the tourist attractions so we didn’t expect much even when we got there.

It was past the mealtime so the tables were mostly empty. We checked the menu and there’s only two, one is Manbeokal and the other one is for kids.

So as soon as we sat, they ordered two dishes for us. They must’ve known how hungry we are because dried slices of daikon, mushroom seasoned with vinegar and other condiments and geotjeori(fresh vegetables salad dressed with garlic and chili powder, etc.) were served.

Manbeokal is mushroom hot pot named after the names of food, Mandu(dumpling), Beoseot(mushroom) and Kalguksu(chopped noodles) that you can enjoy fried rice when you almost finish the main dish. As this restaurant uses fresh mushrooms from nursery garden of Pocheon mushroom laboratory, there’s nothing to talk about how fresh they are.

Finally hot pot with different kinds of mushrooms and tofu in white soup was served on the table. I could see enoki mushrooms, Saesongi mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms that we’ve seen normally. And the highlight was hericium erinaceum on the top that looks like cotton on the tail of woolly hat. Considering the tofu in meat broth, it’s quite much for two people.

Anyways, we had to wait until Manbeokal stew is cooked…although we were eating common dishes, something was missing.

Since we’re in Pocheon, we might as well taste Pocheon Makgeolli, right? But one bottle is too much and I’ll regret if I don’t try it…Just when I was about to give up, I saw that they sell one cup of Makgeolli for one person.

I had one sip and it tasted a little sweet and neat for Makgeolli. So I had fresh and crunchy Geotjeori dish. It seems like Makgeolli is with us from Sansawon to Manbeokal in Art Valley. lol

The stew was already starting to boil showing red sauce. Mushrooms and tofus are cooked in different time. So if you wait until they’re all cooked, mushroom would have less flavor.

So for those who have no idea how to eat, there’s an instruction on how to enjoy the best taste of each ingredient. You don’t have to exactly follow the instruction but whatever you eat, you’ll have the best taste when you follow the instruction by the chef.

So as good people, we had mushrooms and Geotjeori in one bite. Oh-ho~we had more flavour of mushrooms than we expected. I understand why people would love this place and when I almost finished it, I also wanted to suggest this place to people around me.

When we almost finished eating mushrooms, the employee asked us if we want to put the chopped noodles. “Yes, please~!!” And we finished the tofus that were completely cooked in the stew. Even before we take a picture…;;;;;;;;; We must’ve really enjoyed it.

And our hunger wanted fried rice. Not long after the employee gave us noodles, another waiter brought chopped seafood and vegetables and fried them with rice.

Fried rice tastes the best when it turns into crust of overcooked rice but we couldn’t wait and we just ate them with common dishes.

After we had a toast with a cup of yogurt as instructed, we realised that we just lost our minds and had to finish a meal so fast, not a part of my travel diary.

Then I tried to find anything to take pictures of, but all there’s left was empty alcohol cups and dishes. Probably because we had a long walk and moved a long distance, we were so happy that we could taste these amazing dishes in an unexpected restaurant.

Manbeokal is around the tourist attraction but I say you should give this restaurant a benefit of the doubt. Fresh mushroom scent, tofus, chopped noodles, fried rice, yogurt and Makgeolli made our tour in Art Valley much more worth it.

We couldn’t take many photos at Manbeokal this time but we were so full when left the restaurant. And the last thing…we took a box of these~!!

FYI, the restaurant closes early so you’d have to confirm before you go there.

Map : link

Address : 282, Giji-ri, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do

Telephone : 031-535-0587

Operating Hours : 09:00 ~ 19:00

Prices : 2 persons: 22,000 won/ 3 persons: 33,000 won/ 4 persons: 39,000 won, Pork Cutlet for Kids: 8,000 won