2008 Sept 28 Nami Island Trip, Part 3

I have included in all three parts of the Nami Island blog postings the introduction for people who visit my blog and don't know about the TV show, "Winter Sonata (a.k.a. Winter Ballad/Winter Love Story, Korean: 겨울연가) that made it famous.

So, please see below for the details and links that make Nami Island famous in Korea one more time . . . and NO, I do not mean this,

The Korean girl (women?) band "Jewellery" doing their signature pose for their hit song (in Korea), "Baby one more time."

It's pretty surreal for foreign teachers when you say something like "one more time"--which you think is innocuous--and suddenly your entire class is repeating the phrase in UNISON (do they practice this somewhere I don't know about??) AND ALL OF THEM are doing this posture-gesture,

Brian in Jeollanamdo has already blogged about the challenges foreign teachers face in Korea every time a pop singer or rapper uses a very common expression in one of their songs.

If you want to see the music video for "Baby one more time," go to this link,

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzkfz9UWu_E

Here are the details again about the TV drama,

On September 28th, Julianne and I decided to join Jeanette (from Japan) on a trip to Nami Island. Nami Island is famous (in Korea, and Asia) for the "second part of the KBS TV drama series Endless Love." (from wikipedia.com)

"Winter Sonata (a.k.a. Winter Ballad/Winter Love Story, Korean: 겨울연가) was the second part of the KBS TV drama series Endless Love. This installment was produced in March 2002 in South Korea. It was broadcast on Japan's NHK and has been a major part of the Korean wave both there and throughout Asia. It is known as 冬のソナタ (Fuyu no sonata) in Japanese, 冬日戀歌 (Dōngrì Liàn'gē) or 冬季戀歌 (Dōngjì Liàn'gē) in Mandarin Chinese, and Bản tình ca mùa Đông in Vietnamese." (wikipedia.com)

A short distance away from the 'food court' area is this ride on elevated rails.

I imagine this little girl is thinking . . .

The Bene Gesserit Litany against Fear.

Pg 19 of Dune

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Okay, not really--but you gotta admit that using that quote has a very high 'cool factor'--how often can you quote Dune in an everyday situation?

Somebody (the two people below holding their hands in 'rapper gangster-like gestures' of the letter "A") must think I'm American (nope, London, Ontario, Canada--thank you very much) . . . see Brian in Jeollanamdo's blog on the whole "A"-phenomenon in Korea . . . I won't sully my blog with explaining it . . .

There quite a few different kinds of vehicles and bicycle hybrids that you can rent to move around the island on.

If you love to take pictures like I do there are also a lot of interesting statues and art objects.

I thought this map was very cool. It's made out of wood and rope.

There are a couple of tree-lined lane ways on the island that are really beautiful.

I saw a lot of very cool camera gear on different people walking around. Koreans generally like to take a lot of pics, but it seemed to me like there was a lot more higher end gear walking around the island.

There are pathways that run around the edge of the island. At different points you can see people doing different activities. Lately I've been trying to improve my sport/speed shots. So I took a bunch of this guy . . . I have a zoom lens with a 200mm range, and even with that it was hard to get this guy in focus after altering the ISO, and using the Artificial Intelligence movement setting on my Canon Digital Kiss SLR that is supposed to speed up and synchronize the zoom and focus . . .

This guy knows how to work . . . lol.

Julianne and Jeanette taking a rest while I was taking pictures.

More ways to travel around the island. Electric vertical bikes . . . very cool, but also not my cup of tea. I can just picture falling and breaking something, or getting a concussion in the middle of nowhere with no medical facilities nearby . . . after my latest experience at Seoul National University Hospital's International Foreign Clinic I think I'll walk!!!

And suddenly a BIG GIANT HEAD APPEARED! Julianne had some fun here.

There are several rooms/cottages/bungalows/guest houses on the island that you can stay in. They range in number of people who can stay in them from 2-12 (yikes, I can't see myself coming to Nami Island with my girlfriend and sleeping in a room with 10 other people!!! Kind of kills the romance, doesn't it?) and prices range from as cheap as 55 000won to 290 000won (for 12 people).

If you're like me and would want some privacy with your significant other then cottages are the way to go: 70 000-110 000won.

Electric cars were all over the place. They usually had a father and son in them, but it was nice to see ONE mother and daughter driving around. Too many activities are gender segregated here, in my opinion.

Julianne and I saw some dragonflies and the quest for the holy grail of dragonfly pics was on again . . . lol.

This guy was hilarious. I'm walking along the path when I suddenly hear him wailing away because he can't control the boat and it's rocking too much. Someone yelled something at him and he seemed to get things back under control.

So much for impressing your girlfriend with a romantic getaway . . . hehehe.

There are two or three places where it looks like you can rent boats that you paddle yourself, and also speed boats that you can get a ride in.

Chitty, chitty--chitty chitty . . . CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG WE LOVE YOU!

Nami Island is a very beautiful area . . . but at the end of the day I concluded that the best times to go would be mid-October when all the leaves are changing color (hmmm, I sense a second trip coming soon) or during the winter when there is a lot of snow there because that's when the TV drama filmed here captured the most beautiful shots.

It's happening again, my couplehood sense is tingling . . .

Pics of the Bonsai Exhibit. Jeanette told me that the proper pronunciation of "bonsai" when talking about the TREE is with an "S" sound, NOT a "Z" sound. Good to know, thanks Jeanette.

From wikipedia, Bonsai (Japanese: 盆栽, literally "potted plant") is the art of aesthetic miniaturization of trees by growing them in containers. Cultivation includes techniques for shaping, watering, and repotting in various styles of containers.

Jeanette and I saw this little chipmunk and we tried to get some good pics . . .

Walking around the Bonsai exhibit I suddenly heard a rustling sound, and investigated--it looked like a black squirrel but it was a Korean squirrel--their ears are shaped like horns and other features are different from North American grey, brown, and black squirrels.

While I was trying to conduct a stealthy search for the chipmunk so that I could take a picture, a Korean man in his late 20s walking by YELLED and pointed to where it was just as I was about to get a very clear shot--thanks, lol, sigh.

I realize that this is ONLY ONE PIC of a Korean squirrel (above), and not representative of all squirrels in Korea--but seriously, I think our squirrels in North America (below) have got the better deal in terms of food sources.

Arriving back at the main gate and ferry dock.

Next to the ferry dock is another statue of a naked woman. I find it interesting that these statues are scattered around the island, and yet there are none of a man . . . I also wonder if the woman is from the TV drama, or something else . . .

Riding the ferry boat back to the mainland Julianne and I saw this,

HOLY COW!

I tried cropping and sharpening the shot above to see if the two girls' faces would come into focus but nope, nothing. It's still a hilarious shot though--I can just imagine the 10 000 "UMAs" ("mother" or "mummy") the girls must have been shrieking! LOL . . .

We didn't have time to explore the area around the ticket office for the ferry when we first arrived. There are several restaurants, and apparently you can go bungee jumping . . . also, if you don't want to take a bus back to Gapyeong bus terminal, and are willing to pay for a taxi (faster, quieter, and no schedule--you go right away), head for the bungee jumping tower--that's where the taxi stand is.

I enjoyed my trip to Nami Island. The only thing I'd recommend is that you go in mid to late October when the leaves are changing color, or during the winter when there's a lot of snow. Also, if you don't like walking, bring some extra cash and rent one of the different electric cars or hybrid-bikes to drive around on.

J