November 26, 2015
Day 5
Today is Nami Island day! We left the guesthouse a little late. From Chungmuro Station Line 4, we went to Seoul Station then transferred to Line 1 going to Yonsan Station. From there, we planned to take the ITX for a shorter travel time. The train comes every hour and we got the 12PM ticket. We had about half an hour left to spare so we went outside to smoke.
After a stick (or was it two?), we headed back to the station, walked to the correct platform and dropped by the 7-11 store right beside it (yes, there's a 7-11 store right along the platform!). A train arrived and we hurried out to board the train only to realize halfway to the next station that we hopped on the wrong train. Ugh. We were supposed to board the ITX, but didn't bother to check if it was the correct train. We were at the correct platform and there was a train. We thought it just arrived earlier than scheduled and it didn't occur to us (or at least to me) that it was a different train altogether. Anyway, we approached some fellow passengers, explained that we want to go to Gapyeong station, and asked if we were on the right train. They said they didn't know and moved to another side. After a while, they approached us and, in broken english, tried to explain that we had to transfer to another train. We thanked them and got off at Oksu station and decided to just wait for the ITX train there. But then I realized the ITX train won't stop at Oksu station. Oh fudge. It didn't help much either when we tried to use the customer service box where you can call for assistance. We can't understand each other so I said thanks, never mind and politely dropped the call. I was ready to give up. My best bet was to go back to Yongsan station and try to take the next train available which is an hour later. That was until a woman in uniform, a station staff who seems to be in a hurry, approached us and invited us to the office. She explained to me using a translator app that she is going to refund our ITX ticket and give us the local train ticket instead, if we agree. The commute will be quite longer but it was a much better option than to go back to Yongsan station. She was like an angel that heaven sent to rescue us, so I was more than happy to agree.
It was more than an hour long ride. I was looking outside and was content with watching the scenery. At first, I thought it was raining hard, but my eyes opened wide when I realized that it was snowing! The train window was a bit tinted, but I was sure it was snow. When we arrived at Sangbong station, we transferred to Line 7 Gyeongchun line going to Gapyeong station. And guess what? It was still snowing!!! Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you how amazing it was to witness my first snow! Awesome awesome day! It was just a light snowfall, but still, I had to take photos and some videos as well to document just in case it stops snowing when we get to Gapyeong station. Hehe.
Saw a Charlie Brown Cafe in this station and said to myself I'll try it on our way back since we were already running late. (Note: we weren't able to. I forgot why, but it's either a.it was already closed or b.we were dead tired and just want to get a proper dinner and get back to our room). Oh, and another happy discovery in this station was the musical stairs! You know..where the stairs makes a sound when you step on it. I was like a child playing going up and down making music. That was really fun!
