Three hours of sleep last night. Also heard a drunk guy singing opera down the street before I went to bed, and it took a lot of my willpower to keep myself from laughing my ass off while my roommate was sleeping.
As per usual I took care of my morning rituals. Breakfast was… Satisfactory.
I was hungry as fuck, yo.
Our asses were on the bus for the day tour as soon as breakfast was over. Our first stop? Le Petit France, which was located out of town and an hour or two away. In the meantime I took the opportunity to take pictures of the way there with my phone, and short clips for compilation on my Canon camera.
Excuse the weather. It's been a cold, cloudy and drizzly day:
Personally, Korea feels a whole lot like Japan to me. The roads and infrastructure have a lot to affecting my perspective, as well as their scenery. There are even times I almost end up telling them Japanese expressions like sumimasen (excuse me) or nani kore (what is this). I'm only reminded it's not Japan when I hear them talk in Korean.
Anyway, after an hour of napping to artists like Gyskard, we had arrived at our first stop for the day. We were greeted by a blast of autumn chill, and my breath misted whenever it left my lips.
So many untouchables.
Because fuck all y'all signs, I'll do whatever the fuck I want #rebel #yolo #sweg
Man. Imagine having this guy peeking over your shoulder in the middle of the night.
Don't ask me why there's a Squirtle down there.
Oh. And I found a gallery full of chickens too.
To be completely honest, there wasn't really much to do there other than take pictures. For those who've never been here before, it's a good thing for obvious reasons.
From Le Petit France, we continued ahead to this quaint little cabin restaurant for lunch.
I've been here also as well, two years ago. This restaurant serves only dak galbi, a stir-fried cabbage and kimchi chicken dish with rice, tteokbokki (small, cylindrical rice cakes), sweet potatoes, and bean sprouts.
Not too far from this resto was the Naminara Wharf, the entry point to Nami Island. According to our tour guide's story, the island used to be part of the mainland but over time, parts of it sank and it became isolated. The island is named after General Nami, who was known as a war hero during the Joeson Dynasty and was buried in the island after being wrongfully executed.
In 2001 it became the filming location for a Korean drama series called Endless Love: Winter Sonata, where the island's mascot--a snowman--is taken from. Faith Cuneta, a local artist in the P, did a Tagalog version of the main theme here.
Sometime 60 years ago the island was bought by a rich businessman named Min Byeong-do. He had the island cleaned and planted several trees around the island in the hope that they would flourish… Which they did. In 2006 it became culturally independent (ergo becoming a smaller nation within South Korea) and became known as the Naminara Republic.
See, they have immigration here too!
The paper leaves on this canopy have the wishes of the people written on them. While people think it's all a bunch of tall-tales, it's said that putting your wishes up here will make them come true.
And yes, I made a wish too. No harm in that, eh?
As with the restaurant earlier, I've also been to this island two years ago. Aside from the colors of the leaves, not much has changed around here. But for the sake of you lovely people I took a crapton of pictures for your viewing pleasure.
THIS OSTRICH IS STILL HERE OMG
The only irritating part of that was that I lost my earphones… And had to buy new ones.
This cute kitty sort of made me feel better though:
Tomorrow on AFK: Going around Seoul, and possibly more stories about Korea from our tour guide's mouth. Stay tuned!
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