Hey Hive!
So if you missed the last few posts, I've been sharing about our first trip to Seoul back in Nov 2022! We were waiting post-covid for everyone to go on their holidays before taking a big one and we finally decided to go on our honeymoon! It's also our first time experiencing Fall so we were double excited!
Last week, we started the day going to a very spacious and minimalist cafe for some yummy pastries for breakfast before taking a private tour to Petite France in Gapyeong, which is a little ways outside of Seoul.
As the name implies, Petite France is a French cultural village set in the Korean countryside modeled after The Little Prince. It took about one and a half hours drive from Seoul to get there but thankfully it was still very early that the whole park was deserted!
Although I'm not sure if that was a good thing, but it meant we had freedom to take nice photos without photobombers. It did get quite eerie after a while though since there were more dolls than people in this place.
They also had a Da Vinci exhibition hall with all his famous works on display which was really cool.
I don't remember much from The Little Prince but the whole place seemed to be modeled after a fairytale, and I guess the wooden dolls were reminiscent of Pinocchio since there was also an Italian Village in the park.
Anyway, we had a nice morning exploring but tbh there wasn't much to the place other than the nice architecture. We still had other activities and places to visit in Gapyeong so let's go!
11 Nov 2022. Friday.
We were back on the road by 10:15 am and on to our next destination! It was a cool Autumn morning and we saw lots of browning trees in the countryside.
We arrived at our destination just 20 minutes later, at Gapyeong Rail Park! For this one we'd be doing a super special activity we've never done before which is to ride a rail bike!
But first we had to go get tickets. The ticket prices come in either 30,000 KRW for a 2-seater, and 40,000 KRW for a 4-seater bike. They also had specific departure times so the next time slot we could go for was the 12:00pm one.
Thankfully the slot wasn't full at the time and we managed to get our tickets quite easily. There was going to be a safety briefing 10 minutes before departure time so we had some time to kill before then and went exploring for a bit.
There was a market just beside the rail park with roadside stalls and trucks unloading their produce.
We also saw this colourful garbage can that reminded me of Pikachu but I think it's actually supposed to be a rabbit from the teeth.
This was what the rail bike looked like. I was kinda nervous when I heard bike at first since I'm not very confident at riding a bike. I didn't really learn it when I was growing up but Sean taught me how to a few years back. The bike was quite uncomfortable though so I've never been a fan.
But this one seemed like it would be fine since there are proper seats and you just pedal, kind of like the cycling machine in gyms.
As the name implies, all the bikes are on a singular rail, or track. So you don't have to worry about collisions. The only problem is if the people in front of you are slow then everyone else will be slow too. But each bike also has an engine so there's a minimum speed at which it'll go so there's no traffic jam I guess.
Of course there are some safety regulations so we made sure to check these beforehand. We sat down for the safety briefing but it was actually conducted in Korean so it wasn't really helpful. I think they were basically saying the same thing as what was on the board anyway.
There was a route map we'd be going on and it was 8km round trip with a travel time of 1 hour 20 min which I thought was pretty long!
We were all assigned a number and had time to go for a toilet break before departing. Our attendance was checked before everyone could board the bikes and we just chose one that was in the middle of the line so there was no pressure to be fast and we could just follow the people in front.
There were a few other young couples in front of us. We were told that the person on the right side was the one required to do most of the pedaling so Sean took that seat. I was comfortable to take it too but I wasn't sure how much pedaling was going to be involved yet so just in case.
We had to wait quite a bit for everyone to be seated and fastened in so we just chilled and took some photos. Thankfully there weren't problems with this bike and it was actually pretty comfortable.
We had to wait for the people at the front to move off first, but soon enough, we were off! It actually moved fairly quickly and although there was an engine to help I think Sean could speed it up by pedaling faster.
I think only his pedals were influencing our speed though since we tested if I pedaled and we were still moving at the same speed as the engine would take us.
So technically neither of us had to pedal but we just did it for the sake of exercising.
We made sure to keep up with the people in front of us but also keep a reasonable distance.
Soon enough we came to this bridge with a breathtaking view! I think everyone slowed down here to just enjoy the view, so we stopped pedaling too and just let the engine propel us for a bit.
Thankfully the sun wasn't out even at noon and we could enjoy the view without a glare.
Here's the view on the other side:
We took our time crossing the bridge to enjoy the magnificent view.
After which we found ourselves in a foresty area again with lots of trees.
It looked like we were going into an enchanted forest of sorts. But it was very peaceful and we just enjoyed the ride.
Then we came to a crossing and thankfully we didn't have to wait for a passing train or something. There is a hand brake on the bike should you need to stop for whatever reason.
Eventually we did wind up in this long aisle of brown trees that looked so tranquil.
It actually look like something out of a fairytale; like what I imagined the woods to be like in Little Red Riding Hood.
Sean pedaled the bike while I was busy taking lots of photos.
The people in front of us slowed down to take lots of photos too so we had to adjust our speed to them. It was fine though, since we were still making progress even without pedaling.
It was quite a bit of pedaling and since we hadn't really eaten since our light breakfast we took the time to snack on the cookie we bought from the cafe this morning.
It was a really good cookie and both of us enjoyed it. It was crispy on the outside but a little softer on the inside, which is perfect.
Eventually we arrived at the rest area designated by these many orange tents.
There was a rest stop here with a snack and souvenir stall as well as restrooms for everyone to use.
There was also a photo booth where you could buy the photos they took at somewhere near the beginning of the track. It's like one of those cameras on roller coasters where they snap a shot of you while moving.
We don't typically buy these photos but Sean made a funny face in the photo and wanted to get it.
Thankfully the rest stop was quite big with lots of seats and benches. I was getting kinda hungry smelling the hotdogs people were eating. But we were going for lunch right after this so we held off. It was also pretty expensive here for regular snacks so not really worth it.
There was an unused track here and as tradition since our trip to Paris it's now a habit for us to take pictures on a track if we see it.
It does make for nice photos especially with the nice autumn trees.
Shortly after it was time for us to board the bikes again! We boarded the same exact bike we rode here and waited for the people in front to move off.
Thankfully it didn't take long since we were slightly behind schedule. I guess the people at the very front weren't going fast enough the first time, so we made sure to speed up while still keeping a distance of course.
We were basically taking the exact same route just backwards now. I guess while we were at the rest stop they swapped the bikes' direction by moving them onto the other track.
I didn't notice at the time but this stretch which I thought looked like an enchanted forest the first time actually had lights overhead on the other track!
It was so pretty and probably would look very lovely in the sunset.
We came across the bridge again and didn't really want to slow down this time but the people in front us were slowing down so we didn't have much choice.
It was a really nice view though and the last time we would see it so it was nice to take it in for a minute.
After that we quickly arrived back at the station. We had to hurry off back to our driver who said he'd take us to a restaurant for lunch which was good because we were starving! Here's a collection of instagram stories I took while we were riding the rail bike:
He took us a short drive away to this restaurant which is known for buldak, or Korean style fire chicken.
The restaurant was up a flight of stairs but it was quite big on the inside and it was nice and inviting.
There was quite a crowd at lunch time but thankfully there were still some empty tables so we had no problems getting seats.
Our driver led us to a table and made some recommendations before leaving to go elsewhere for lunch. Initially I thought he'd be joining us which would be a little weird but thankfully that wasn't the case.
This was the menu and we chose the normal grilled chicken and the potato pancake. I didn't really understand the menu at first but then our food was served in this huge pan with our chicken and lots of veggies.
There were also free flow sides from this section of the restaurant where you could take as much kimchi and noodles as you wanted.
It was beside this area with more traditional seating on the floor which looked cool but I think chairs are more comfortable.
We waited for the pan to heat up before stir frying the chicken.
It looked a little dry at first but I guess that's what the extra sauces are for.
In the meantime our potato pancake arrived hot and fresh! It was alright albeit a little plain, but I think it would be a good match for the buldak.
When the pan was hot enough the chicken started to cook and released some juices so it looked and smelled so good!
There was also rice cakes (or tteokbokki) in it so I think this meal was going to be very filling. It had some seasoning already but dipped in the extra sauces especially the chili sauce made it heavenly!
Our meal also came with lots of fresh veggies which was good since the pancake and the chicken was a little oily. But the chicken was tender and juicy so it was good!
We gobbled up our meal quite quickly since we were so hungry and after that met our driver who took us to the port since we were going on a boat to a neighbouring island!
But more on that next time! Tune in next week for more of our adventures in Seoul where we visit Nami Island! Here's a teaser:
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #234 (Seoul): Touring France and Italy in Korea? 🤔