Holiday Journal

• Start
•  
• Mungyeongsaejae
•  
• Mungyeongsaejae Filming Site
•  
• Museum of Old Roads
•  
• Natural Recreation Forest
•  
• Trekking-1
•  
• Trekking-2
•  
• Gaeun filming site
•  
• Coal Museum
•  
• Guryangri Rail Bike
•  
• Finish

The very first rail bike in Korea, Mungyeong Guryangri 'Rail Bike'

Railroad in Mungyeong that was used to deliver coals 20 years ago now is newly born as rail bikes today.

Rail bike in Mungyeong that is also called rail bike was made as sightseeing product by utilizing closed track since 2005, which is the first in Korea. Nowadays, the rail bikes in other regions including Jeongseon or Samcheok are more famous but those were motivated by this rail bike in Mungyeong. Personally, I think the term rail bike is much more beautiful than rail bike.

There are 5 rail bike stations in Mungyeong and today I'm going to visit Guryangri Station.

This course is 2.2km (round-trip 4.4km) long from Guryangri Station to Meokbaengee and the facilities are clean as it was newly built unlike other stations.

One-way trip distance seems short compared to the ones in other cities but the price for 4 people is not even half the price, 15,000 won. (In Jeongseon, it costs 35,000 won for 4 people and 25,000 won for 2).

There are 5 open stations currently and the oldest station, Jinnam Station, is under repair and has been shut down temporarily so don't forget it.

Jinnam Station: Jinnam - Gurang-ri 3.4km (round-trip 6.8km) - temporarily closed

Buljeong Station: Buljeong - Jupyeong 1.8km (round-trip 3.6km)

Guryangri Station: Gurang-ri - Meokbaengee 2.2km (round-trip 4.4km)

Mungyeong Station: Mungyeong - Mawon 2km (round-trip 4km)

Gaeun Station: Gaeun - Meokbaengee 3.2km (round-trip 6.4km)

We were about to go to Gaeun Station that looks like a pretty temporary station but the station is closed on holiday, which is Tuesday. So we had no choice but to go to Guryangri Station.



Guryangri station is newly built so it is clean and neat. It has a big parking lot as well.



There's no vehicle for 2 people. The only vehicles they had were for 4 people but we had no problem.



I wondered what would it feel to ride a rail bike in Mungyeong. Okay, here we go~



This was just opened so they had only two other families beside us. We could ride it relaxed since we didn't have anyone chasing after us! It was really good!



Running in the wind~ I've ridden most of the rail bikes in Korea and I enjoy it every time! :)



In Jeongseon or Samcheok, the section is long and has many tunnels with uphills and downhills so they were dynamic, on the other hand, Mungyeong's section is shorter but the surrounding environment looks more charming.





For Guryangri section, there's only outside section with no tunnel.

I've heard that other sections have tunnels but I didn't try so I have no idea what it's like. Personally, I preferred outside section than tunnel section.



The bicycles in Mungyeong are a little different from others. In Jeongseon, for example, you need to work a pedal all by yourself and in Samcheok, they had a motor that moves the bicycle up the hill through electrical rail installed on the trail like a subway while in Mungyeong, there were batteries installed under the right seat so that the bicycle moves with the help of electricity when you work a pedal on the right seat.

On the other hand, it's all on your legs on the left seat. So if you are a man, let a woman sit on the left seat and you sit on the right seat so that you could move the bicycle with little effort. This is brilliant.

We felt so fresh and pleased all the way enjoying the spring flowers we met during the trip.



We're crossing a little scary metal bridge where we could see the bottom of the river,



and passing by the apple orchard with apple blossoms.



As we reached 2.2km point from the starting point, I could see the ending point over there.

When you get to the destination, you need to turn your bicycle and come back.

Hey, we are almost there! Do your best to work a pedal!



Just like in the parking lot, you go up to the big round table and they turn the table and put us up to the other trail. This looks fun.



In other places, you would walk to the destination and take the shuttle bus or train on the way back but here you need to use your legs to come back again.

It's the same route but the view looks completely different on your way back.



I feel like this same flower bed at the same spot seems new.

I don't know why I love flowers so much. :) Be careful with your head when you take photos, caution, watch your head!



With the help of electricity, I didn't have to work so hard to move 4.4km going and coming back which was fun.

It wouldn't be fun if there are too many people because I can't drive fast enough and feel pressured when someone is right behind me but I didn't feel uncomfortable here at all.



We walked up to the top of Guryangri Station out of curiosity and we saw a garden that looks exactly like Mungyeongsaejae castle walls. With a coffee at a convenience store on the 1^st floor, we watched the great view at the pavilion on the 2^nd floor and the coffee tastes much better.

Mungyeong has beautiful roads to walk, great places to look around and a lot of activities to enjoy. I could not go everywhere for two days but I have no doubt the travelers should love this city.

I bet there are few places that allow 4 family members could have this much fun with 15,000 won. Why don't you drive here with your family or special ones? :)

Address of Guryangri Station: 251-4, Hanae-ri, Maseong-myeon, Mungyeong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do
Telephone: 054-571-6421
Website: http://www.mgrailbike.or.kr/page/usage02.php

Brand new taste of jjamgppong! Good restaurant in Mungyeong, 'Hanseongjjamgppong'

When you search good restaurants in Mungyeong, most of them cook Yakdoldoeji and the rest serve Korean traditional dishes like Maeuntang(fish stew) or Cheonggukjang(fermented bean soup), and one of them called Hanseongjjamgppong caught my eyes.

I thought it wouldn't hurt to eat noodles for one meal rather than having rice for all 3 meals if we were to spend one night in Mungyeong full of places and things to enjoy so we decided to go there.



Hanseongjjamppong, which is located in Mojeon-dong taking 30 minutes by car from Mungyeongsaejae, hardly looked like a restaurant since it is in the middle of an apartment under construction and complex of villas.

When I heard it serves jjamppong I thought of a typical Chinese restaurant but it was completely different from what I had expected. The exterior was out of the ordinary so we got inside with great expectations.



The restaurant opens at 11:30 and takes a break from 3 to 5 p.m. in order to prepare for dinner time so you'd have to keep that in mind.



There are only 4 main dishes in Hanseongjjamppong, jjamppong (cockles, beef), jjajangmyeon, fried tofu and Tangsuyuk.

You could also decide how spicy do you want your jjamppong, and this simple menu made me think 'you're good at this, huh?' with a little bit of suspicion.

Plus, the price was quite high so it made me wonder even more. As far as I knew, jjajangmyeon was typical so we ordered Ggomakjjamppong (regular taste) and Sogogijjamppong (spicy one) since it is known for jjamppong.



With self service dishes like onions, danmuji, chunjang and other dishes prepared, we waited for the main dish to be served.



It was quiet in the early, around 5 in the afternoon, but still it took a while to see Sogogijjamppong and Ggomakjjamppong on our table.



First, we tried Sogogijjamppong that I chose. Above all, sliced beef pieces as big as a woman's fist were laid on the top of the bowl.

Then they added napa cabbages, onions, carrots, pumpkins and other vegetables. Especially, I liked the fact that they used enough napa cabbages because the soup goes well with napa cabbages since it is more refreshing rather than with sweet taste of cabbages.

The dish looked good since it had sufficient ingredients just as worth as the price.



After I tried the meat and vegetables in soup, I tasted soup. Wow~~~aftertaste which is strong and fresh at the same time goes with beef and napa cabbages and I could feel the taste of charcoal fire from vegetables presumably because they were fried or almost burnt with strong fire. Familiar yet different taste reminded me of Yukgaejang mixed with Japanese Tonkotsu ramen.



The soup was boiled for 24 hours twice with pork bones in it. Normally, we naturally think of seafood when it comes to jjamppong but it seems like a special jjamppong that delicious pork stock goes well with soft beef.

For jjamppong, vegetables are supposed to be fried with Chili oil and pork stock and pieces of beef were added so it looks like cheesy but it did not cheesy at all and it had rather strong flavor and good taste with fresh aftertaste.

So I thought they used refreshing napa cabbages rather than sweet cabbages. I am not a fan of spicy food so I ordered normal one but it was spicy that I cannot even imagine how spicy 'very spicy' jjamppong would be like.

I was surprised at the taste of soup and it's time to try noodles. First, the amount is enough. I tried beef with jjamppong noodles wrapped around it just like I eat meat in naengmyeon(chilled buckwheat noodle soup).

I thought the meat would be a little dry because it is lean meat even if it's sliced beef, but it was soft and full of flavor. However, the noodles were not chewy as I had expected and I think they were a little bit swollen.

I assume it is because they did not use chemical material, gluten, which maintains noodles bouncy, instead they used uncooked good quality flour noodles as I read it on the menu. I felt like the noodles taste less than normal noodles but I didn't feel like the noodles were not properly seasoned with sauce like any other restaurant.



That is Ggomakjjamppong that my wife selected who accompanied with me. I could not understand why but it seemed like they offer it with mussels or cockles in it with different kinds of seafood depending on the season, not serving Ggomakjjamppong all the time. When I was there, they served me Ggomakjjamppong with vegetables and cockles in it.



Small yet plump cockles, presumably living cockles, were put on the top of it. The soup tastes less strong and lighter than Sogogijjamppong soup and I assume it is pork meat broth mixed with seaweed stock.



Just like Sogogijjamppong, it has different kinds of vegetables including napa cabbages, onions, carrots, and pumpkin.

Ggomakjjamppong was good enough with fresh and plentiful vegetables but I preferred Sogogijjamppong. I think it would've been better if they put mussels because of its unique and refreshing taste.

Texture of cockles was nice and chewy but the taste was better with beef. I could not possibly compare one with another but to me, Sogogijjamppong was a little bit better.

It might be a coincident but all of the guys at the restaurant ordered Sogogijjamppong while I was there. Probably it would be better if we choose beef if they cost the same price. ^^*



It is quite expensive for jjamppong, however, the ingredients were rich. These are cockle shells that my wife opened for 10 minutes.

It might take a while to open the cockle shells because there are many in food so I suggest that you open them while you eat noodles. Otherwise, the noodles will get swollen.

There are 5 best jjamppong restaurants in Korea that specialize in cooking jjamppong. I am a big fan of noodles so I tried all of them and I must say the taste and uniqueness of Sogogijjamppong at Hanseongjjamppong was as good as any other noodles from those restaurants.

Ggomakjjamppong was good of course...I think 8,000 won is not small amount of money for one bowl of jjamppong but once I tried it, it was worth it since it has so many ingredients in it and I won't be able to eat it elsewhere so I strongly recommend you to try it.

Address: 943-2, Mojeon-dong, Mungyeong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do (경상북도 문경시 모전동 943-2)
★The restaurant will be moved to the next building so that the exterior might look different★
Open: 11:30 to 15:00, 15:00 to 20:00
Close: Every Monday
Popular menu: Ggomakjjamppong, Sogogijjamppong, Tangsuyuk

As I finish my two-day trip to Mungyeong...

Even if it's a two-day trip, for the sake of tourists who want to visit Mungyeong, I experienced and took a look around Mungyeong with no break. Mungyeong had so much more to eat, to see or to do other than I did.

I understand why Mungyeong got the most votes for '100 tour sites that Koreans should visit' poll. There are not many places worthy to look around in 2 days unless they are big cities.

I believe it would be selected as the first city among 'the cities Koreans want to revisit' if Korea Tourism Organization conducts a poll. It was very satisfactory city for me. What don't you take a two-day trip to Mungyeong?

-The end-