Hwacheon Sancheono Ice Festival 2013

Since it is the region where the water freezes the fastest in the country and Sancheono (Trout fish) live here, the Sancheono Ice Festival is held every year in Hwacheon, Gangwon-do. Sponsored by BNBHero and Korea Tourism Organization, I had a chance to visit and play at the festival.

Transportation
Have you read my article about BnBHero? It is a website that allows you to search for homestay with local people. Apparently, they have started another feature which is called BnBHero Activity. Here you can choose among activities provided. I actually really like the idea of this feature. One thing that quite difficult, though, is the payment process. I do not know about international cards, but cards that are issued in Korea have a really complicated process, well .. at least for me.

After finish with payment, BnBHero will send email about details of the activity. They even sent me a complete how to go with pictures. They made it so easy to find the meeting point. We met the staff from BnBHero at the bus terminal in Seoul and then went together to Hwacheon.

The Big 5

As soon as we arrived in Hwacheon, we were welcomed by a lady from the festival. She was so sweet and kind. I felt really welcomed in Hwacheon. We got our ticket with 5 recommended places/activities we should go/do.

The first one is illuminated ice sculpture. Before going in, I sort of thought it would be like ice gallery in Insadong which I have visited before, but not really. It was huge and the sculpture were really well made. And it was not as cold as I thought.

There was one extreme thing I did at the festival. Catching the fish on the freezing water with nothing but a T shirt and a short. My feet were literally frozen. The worst part was I did not get any single fish. The best part was I am glad that I did it. It was such an experience

Then we had our lunch which were sushi and fish cutlet plus makkoli (Korean traditional rice wine). I ate so much while actually we had to go fishing after and had to eat fish that we caught.

I thought fishing is a boring thing to do, you just sit there and wait for fish to eat your bait. I did it, i was just waiting and no result. But actually in there it was not supposed to be waiting and catching. You have to hook the fish. You have to constantly pull your string until you feel heavy. I got two fishes and yeah it was water under thick ice and I fished from a small hole. You can imagine it :)

The other things are like sledding and bobsleigh which were ok. I know it was not as fun as the other activities, but since I already there, so.

Other Activities
The one that I like is cart race on thick ice. I have tried the one on the asphalt circuit, but this one is on thick ice! It was pretty slippery but I enjoyed it very much.

There are also hockey and soccer. Surprisingly at the day I visited the festival, there were a lot of soldier having fun with in the festival. It was more like a military camp, lol.

Back to Seoul we then had a barbeque and some drink with BnBHero and KTO. It was a lot of fun back there in the festival and at the barbeque. Thanks to BnBHero and KTO.

angga | 앙가