As I’m writing this draft, I am on my way to the Ski Resort at 15.00 in Korea. Last night I was still in Jakarta, Indonesia. I took Asiana Airlines at 23.50 from CGK airport to Incheon, Korea. For this trip I packed my luggage 3 days earlier consisting one 25 Kg luggage and about 5 Kg backpack for my camera and lenses. I bring a jacket and two coat for layering, today it is -10 degree Celcius and I could feel the cold although I wear one thick polo, layered with sweater and coat. The cold wind hit my face until my face gets red. I don’t use gloves because it makes me hard to operate my camera button. For documentation I bring my new and fun to use Fuji X-Pro1 and 18-55 f/2.8-4.0 attached, I use it exclusively for photographing the scenery long the bus trip and Nami island. But I also have my old trusty dog, 5D Mark II attached with 35 f/1.4 for bokehlicious shot (portrait or street photography). And of course g12 in my pocket.
Along the road from Incheon airport to Nami island took about 1-2 hour(s), then I stopped at a Korean restaurant, eating barberqued-spicy chicken which is very delicious. After taking 20 minutes break, I walked around he restaurant and catch some beautiful scenery.
I took a 5 minutes boat ride to Nami island, although there’s a warm room inside the boat I prefer to stand outside with wind hitting my face and enjoy the scenery. Nami island itself is not a very large island, it is located 63 Km from Seoul (pronounced: So-ul) and isn’t quiet large at 460.000 m2. It is named after General Nami, a soldier who died in battles at 26 years old. There’s a lot of tall trees in Nami island, and it is the place where the romantic korean drama “Winter Sonata” was made. For a solitary-introvert individual like me, you’ll love this place. Although the main road is occupied by tourist, there’s a lot of alternatives road where you can be alone, sitting in the snowy woods facing the lake.
Now I’m on a 2 hours bus ride to the Ski Resort and I will take a nap for now.
Finally I arrived in the Ski Resort, but I stopped first to a rental store, I rent a ski jacket and pants. In the Ski Resort you could learn to skiing or just play with snow, building a snow man. After being one hour on the snow, I felt tired and freezed! So I went into a noodle shop with heater on, I ordered a nescafe hot chocolate which is very tasty and a rameyon (korean spicy noodle) for 7500 Won ($7). I am tired and as as I’m writing this post I’m watching Star Wars in a condo. Today was great! Despite being tired after 5 hours sleeping in airplane and a very cold weather, the experience was great. When travelling like this, I learn many things I couldn’t learn in my daily routine.
