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Start
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Bears Town
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Sansawon
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Pocheon Dongjanggun Festival
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Pocheon HanwooMaeul
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Pocheon Art Valley
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Hotel Nine
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Harbor Coffee
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Dasan Historic Site
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Finish
Pocheon Dongjanggun Festival
So we’re traveling Gyeonggi-do now. But sometimes it makes me wonder if we’re in Gyeonggi-do or Gangwon-do.
It’s because of this cold weather and rare public transportation. We had to stand outside in the chilly wind waiting for mini bus that comes once in almost an hour.
But when I finally saw that bus after a long time in the cold wind, I can’t tell you how happy I was. Probably that’s why we feel so close to this bus.
And the view outside the windows under the warm heater on this cute bus was amazing that made me feel like one hour was like a dream.
After I enjoyed the nature through the window, I saw the bus was passing Idong-myeon, Pocheon, the hometown of Idong Galbi. We still have to go further but we got excited since then.
After a while again, we finally got there. This is Dopyeong-ri, the borderline of Pocheon, Cheorwon and Hwacheon as well as there’s Baeun Valley that represents Pocheon.
The reason why we came all the way here to Dopyeong-ri is because there’s Pocheon Dongjanggun Festival held here near Baekun Valley.
The ticketing office was already crowded with families and there were other visitors barging in behind us so we could see how popular it is from the entrance even if we didn’t get inside.
The festival is available for free but you’d have to pay for each activity or a full service ticket.
So we bought tickets before more people come in and the first place we headed to was Ice Castle Amusement Park, the most popular place in here.
To the right of event hall, there’s a castle made of big hexahedral ice, and there’s a guidance checking the tickets at the entrance.
Inside the castle, the snow white world spreads out before your eyes as soon as you get inside. And this ice castle is as big as a playground that would belong to elementary school.
Looks quite common but well-built igloo caught my eyes first. It’s built out of snow and ice but the inside is much warmer than the outside as far as I hear? But the entrance was too small for me. Should I lose weight?
There are ice sculptures of various animals made of ice here and you won’t even have to go further to look at them.
Penguin family made out of white snow. This must be the most popular spot for photo shoot. People were waiting for their turn to take pictures.
A little bit awkward Dabotap(Dabo Tower) sculpture. It looks a little bit weird probably because it was melt in the sun but the fact that it was made of ice was amazing.
The most delicate one was an ice house. A simple house with Jangdokdae(platforms for crocks of sauces and condiments) and a dog in the yard reminded us of an old house in the country.
Look at the bars on the door. The door was open with delicately made bars and a doorknob as well. If this is a real house, your hand would get cold every time you open the door… A house should have warm spot on the floor.
Inside the ice castle is connected to the sledding slope. There are three sledding slopes for Dongjanggung Festival but this one is the longest and the most interesting course.
The rest is installed inside the ice castle and this one is half the length of the longest one but the waiting time should be shorter. You could slide down the snow in a sleigh here a few times more than you do at the longest slope.
And the parents could watch over their kids so the kids were busy with sliding down. Plus there were 5-6 guides just in case so I think they won’t have to worry.
The time flied while we tried a few times as well while we were giggling…So we had to hurry up to clean up and approached the white wall with Merry Christmas letters on it.
Ta-da~!! This wall is not just ice wall but ice tunnel!! If you look inside from the entrance, there’s an ice tunnel that is 50m wide, just big enough for one person.
You’d have to steer by if you bump into another person coming from the opposite direction but walking on this tunnel makes me feel like I’m somewhere in the North Pole.
After we passed the ice tunnel, we headed to another activity corner. It was quite cold but we had to hurry because there were still some places to drop by.
The second place we dropped by was the beauty of water play in winter. It’s ice fishing activity. There were already many people here as well waving their fishing rods hoping they would catch a big fish.
This activity costs 18,000 for one adult, a little bit expensive I say. And I was frustrated that I had to buy the fishing rod as well.
And the scarier thing was that I could not find anyone who caught trout after all that hard work in the cold weather and paying for the expensive fees. The fishes must be frozen in cold weather as well.
And the scariest thing was that we were getting sleepy in the middle of that cold air. So we headed to ‘Traditional Ice Skating Activity’ event hall at the furthermost end. After we warmed ourselves in the resting area with the heaters on, we headed to the info desk.
A wooden top and top-string at the info desk. Wow~unfortunately you’d have to buy the top and top-string just like the ice fishing activity. Why can’t they just be a little generous?
Well, even under that pressure, men and women of all ages were enjoying sledge and top-spinning game on the wide ice link. The older people seemed to have a great time than the kids did.
And then a professional top-spinning gamer showed up. A young girl was so good at it. To see her playing the game, I remembered myself playing it in the country as a kid. I used to roll the wooden top with the top-string with a long rubber band on it, threw the top and whip it then it spun so fast. And when I was about to get bored, I covered the top with different colors and it makes beautiful colors when it spun.
Sliding the ice link on a wooden plate is something that you can do only in winter.
You have to sit on the sled crossing with your legs but it’s not the law right? You could also lie your face down, jump a little like a frog and enjoy your time on the ice.
The weather was so cold that my hands felt like they’re falling off but you won’t regret only when you do your best to enjoy your time on the ice ‘cause it’s possible only in winter.
But there’s always a trip. If you turn around the ice sledding slope, it gets 10 times colder.
It’s because there is a big ice building. The 10m high trees were tangled with white ice that made the spectacular winter view.
The dozens of ice layers that look like stalactites in a cave were combined into a big ice tree if you look closer.
I felt chilly that I would be frozen as soon as I put my hand on the tree. This enormous ice tree was not made naturally but it turned into ice in such a low temperature after they watered it through a hose.
Thankfully, there’s a big slippery ice link under the tree and it felt more slippery because there’s few people since it’s the innermost place in this event hall.
So if you look at it closer, you’d have to walk carefully. Or you could just ride the rubber washbowl like them. Hooray~~!!!
Now we moved to the center of event hall to enjoy other activities out of ice world. In the middle, there’s woodchopping event hall, the only free event hall as well as the best place for people who like to show off their strength.
One kid who raised a big ax with the very power he has left. It’s too much to chop a piece of wood with an ax that is as tall as him, right? He failed to do it but he will remember this time.
The logs chopped here are used in bonfire event hall. Killing two birds with one stone, huh?
The most fun play is play with fire. With the bonfire here, you could keep off the cold from ice castle, sledge and ice fishing.
And the roasted chestnuts, baked sweet potato or ramen(noodles) boiled in military canteen with bonfire taste so good. However, there are only a few bonfires so you would have to wait for a long time.
There’s a kid and a father flying a kite next to a bonfire.
I thought the winter wind is just cold. Thanks to that wind, the big kite looking like a pheasant was flying so high.
Not only the kite was flying the sky, there is also a corner where you can make various musical instruments and toys.
It has an advantage that you don’t have to freeze outside since you can make hand mirror with fresh cream and stone-color painting with stone powder.
And in another booth, there are items used in old schools. As soon as I got in, colourful high school military drill clothes caught my eyes first since we can hardly see them.
And there’s a harmonium that was used instead of piano in music class in Gukminhakgyo(formerly used as elementary school). Harmonium is played as long as you constantly step on the pedal. Wow it’s been so long since I saw it.
The textbooks from 70s-80s where Cheolsoo and Yeonghee had to be main characters, steel lunch box, backpack and so on…there were items displayed that my parents would’ve used as children.
And dial-type telephone that you should turn the dial with your finger that you want to call was displayed in a pretty good condition.
You could also see the poster of Taekwon V which is the origin of theater animation. I was just wondering how you got them all.
Round paper tag that the boys used to play with everyday and paper dolls that girls used to play in the 80s were also hung like they were from yesterday.
They also have snacks from old times as well. It’s 100 times expensive compared to 10 won at that time but still they get people’s attention.
Wherever you go or what festival you go to, it would be boring if there’s nothing to eat. Regional Food Hanmadang where it sells snacks for you to have a meal or snacks.
There were snacks from Gukbap and Pageon that are preferred by adults to Ddeokbokki for kids but as always, they are a little bit expensive than regular ones.
But one thing that is worth to try is pork barbecue sold at pork barbecue event hall next to Regional Food Hanmadang.
You could buy sliced pork right there and bake them with charcole fire provided at the event hall. The vegetables are offered as well so you could enjoy outdoor barbecue party where you don’t have to prepare anything else.
And there’s also fish cake that would warm your body in this chilly weather. Plus to see this hot steam coming out of soup in cold water made it so hard to resist it.
I was holding one without even realising it. After I dipped it in soy sauce, one, two…I just stopped counting and kept eating.
After warm fish cakes, I didn’t feel it was so cold anymore even when I was looking at cold icy water. That’s it, magic of fish cake soup. Thankfully, I could look around the event hall outside for a few hours.
It’s Dongjanggun festival in winter so most services are available on the floor or around the ice but the toilets were well-prepared. It’s still movable toilets but it’s clean, provides hot water and is located in many places so we didn’t have to wait in a line. I liked that.
As we took a look around the area outside and inside when it got cold looking for hot food, we could enjoy coldness and attractions.
There are many winter events and festivals but as I saw on the news, they do not offer much service except for a short period of ice fishing and nothing else. But here in Pocheon Dongjanggun Festival, it has an advantage that you can enjoy different activities in one place, and as far as I heard, they also have military weapons exhibition on specific dates so you could drop by Dongjanggun Event Hall of Baekun Valley in Pocheon to enjoy winter play and unique activities. But it’s still one of coldest place in Korea so don’t forget to wear warm clothes.
Map : link
Address : 156-41 area, Dopyeong-ri, Idong-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
Telephone : 031-535-7242
Operating Hours : Winter 10:00 ~ 17:00
Prices : Snow Sledge on Valley 8,000 / Top-spinning Game 3,500 / Ice Castle 5,000 / Ice Sledge 2,000 / Trout Fishing 18,000(Child 15,000)
Website : website
