Holiday Journal

• Start
•  
• Snow Festival
•  
• Coal Museum
•  
• Hill of Wind
•  
• Yongyeon Cave
•  
• Chujeon Station
•  
• Hwangji Pond
•  
• V-Train
•  
• Buncheon Station
•  
• Coal Mine History Town
•  
• Paleozoic Museum
•  
• Gumunso
•  
• Finish

The Highest Train Station in Korea, Taebaek 'Chujeon Station'

What do you think is the highest train station in Korea? It's Chujeon Station in Taebaek-si, Gangwon-do, located at 855m high. You can take your car or take the Baekdudaegan tour train or O-train operated by KORAIL.

Chujeon Station was built in 1973 that's been witnessing and following the trace of life of mine workers in Taebaek. After two oil shocks in the 70s, a broadscale program for increasing coal output was promoted but as the international oil price dropped again in the 80s, a number of mines were closed after coal industry rationalisation policy that mediated coal production. After that, KORAIL started to offer snow train and O-train services to people and the city became famous tourist site again.

Chujeon(杻田) was named after Ssaribatgol, the name of the town, in Chinese letters. It's located so high at 855m that has the lowest average temperature for the year among train stations in Korea as well as the largest amount of snowfall so the heater is always prepared except in winter.

Once it was crowded with people but now it's a shabby station where the tour train stops by from time to time. I think it is like a human's life course. The O-train service has been provided since 2013 but regular trains do not stop at this station, they just pass through it.

It never stopped snowing for two days when I was in Taebaek. Even then, it was snowing lightly. Near the station, there are Taebaek Mountain Provincial Park, Hwangji Pond(the riverhead of Nakdong River), Geomryongso(the riverhead of Han River), Gumunso, Yongyeon Cave(the highest cave in Korea), Taebaek Coal Museum, and Cheoram Coal Mine History Town, and they are nice places to drop by while you are there.

The empty station kinda makes it look lonely but it brings out some memories. I also remember walking along this path picking up wood sticks to make a fire next to a farm to fry sweet potatoes with my older brother who sadly passed away.

Taebaek still has coal mines that are active so you'll see trains delivering coals here. People living in apartments do not use briquettetes but there are so many houses that still use briquettetes in Korea. Heating bills are so cheap when you use briquettetes so newly-built houses these days tend to install boilers that use both briquettetes and oil.

Inside the station building(驛舍), you can wear station employee's uniform and there's a small gallery for tourists.

Next to the big sign rock, you can see the mountain peak partially covered by fog that would make you realise how high I was.

Taebaek snow is snow after all, it makes my hand cold. ^^* I can't say there are a lot to see here but I say this is a friendly station that is worth to visit at least once for it's the highest train station in Korea. If you're traveling Taebaek already, I say you should drop by while you take a look around. Wear a train employee uniform and pretend to be one.

+ Address : 123, San, Hwajeon-dong, Taebaek-si, Gangwon-do
+ Telephone : 033-553-8550

Have You Heard About It? Muldakgalbi? Must-go Restaurant in Taebaek 'SongeeDakgalbi'

Everyone knows that Chuncheon in Gangwon-do specialises in Korean special cuisine, Dakgalbi(spicy stir-fried chicken) but it's not known that Taebaek is also famous for it. Specifically, it is Mul Dakgalbi which is Dakgalbi in a soup and it is Taebaek's local food.

Since the 1960s when there used to be so many coal factories in Taebaek, miners needed to eat meat since their work required so much physical strength. They cooked chicken in hot and spicy soup with vegetables because the chicken was cheaper than beef/pork and it's called Mul Dakgalbi. Dakgalbi is normally fried with vegetables and sauce with no soup but Mul(water) made me wonder how it would taste so I chose to eat it for my first meal in Taebaek.

There are many restaurants that specialize in cooking this local food, Mul Dakgalbi, and among them, I searched for SongeeDakgalbi which has been running the business through 3 generations over 50 years.

Dakgalbi written on menu(7,000 won for one) is Taebaek-style Mul Dakgalbi and DakbokkeumMM(8,000 won for one) is regular Chuncheon-style Dakgalbi. I was in Taebaek so I should try something unique right? And whether it's Taebaek-style or Chuncheon-style, the highlight of Dakgalbi is Sari(noodles), agree? I ordered one Udon and Jjolmyeon(cold chewy) noodles.

Mul Dakgalbi was served in a big pot with full of vegetables and a seasoned chicken. It's not fully cooked and it's boiled on the table so you can keep it hot while you eat. I saw shepherd's purse which is hardly used in meat cuisines so it made me wonder more.

As common dishes, chilli peppers, cold dongchimi(radish water kimchi) and kimchi were served, very simple. There seems to be nothing special but kimchi tasted so good. That's geotjeori(fresh vegetable salad dressed with garlic and chilli powder, etc), crispy and fresh and properly salted, so I had to ask for more three times.

After five minutes of boiling, I put Udon and Jjolmyeon noodles inside.

It looks completely different from Chuncheon-style dakgalbi we are familiar with, right? And unlike Dak-bokkeum-tang I usually eat, this one has much soup. I tasted the soup first and at first, I thought 'ah why is it so bland? I taste some unique spice, what is it?' The soup tasted so unique. It must be bland for people like me who are used to strong taste of Chuncheon-style Dakgalbi. But one thing you should remember is that they're the same cuisines.

As it starts to boil, it looks more delicious, doesn't it? It was kinda bland for me so I boiled it a little longer, and this made me even warmer in cold weather and I liked that it was hot until I finish it.

After a while, I tasted it again. I could feel the fresh yet sour taste of shepherd's purse. Vegetables with strong scent like shepherd's purses and crown daisies made the food taste fresh and neat. I never tasted anything like it but I liked it so I couldn't stop eating.

Now that I tasted soup, I should try meat. That's the most unique part. Chicken was seasoned with unique sauce that made the soup taste unique. This sauce removed gross smell of chicken and made the meat soft. I picked up Udon and Jjolmyeon noodles, sweet potatoes and vegetables from the unique soup and I liked it.

If you're used to the taste of your mother's Dak-bokkeum-tang or Chuncheon-style Dakgalbi, you might find Mul Dakgalbi kinda bland and strange. But if you keep eating it, you will be attracted to the clean and fresh taste of the soup with unique scent and you won't be able to put down your spoon until you finish it. It would be something new but it definitely is a privilege for a traveller to eat Taebaek's local food that you cannot eat anywhere else.

+ Address : 265-70, Hwangji-dong, Taebaek-si, Gangwon-do
+ Telephone : 033-552-3257
+ Opening Hours and Holidays: 11:00 - 20:00, Closed on National Holidays