Wonju Rail Park & Suspension Bridge

This is M&M here and I am going to tell you about our experience doing the Wonju Rail Park and the Suspension Bridge. We started out in the car. We took the short / long drive to get to the park. We had to wait to ride the rail bikes because the Koreans only let the rail bikes get ridden on at a certain time. So the next closest time to ride the rail bikes was in 20 minutes. So we had to wait. We took this trip with Talia and our best friends, the Walkers. 

So while we waited, there were these retired rail bikes and the little kids had fun pretending that they were rail biking. After the 20 minutes were up, we got on the rail bikes and enjoyed the scenery as we biked. The weird thing about these bikes was that it was a 1 way trail. So the rail biking company took us on a train and pulled behind it hundreds of cars. 

Then when we got about 10 minutes away from the start, they finally stopped and let us get on the bikes and ride back. My family had done a suspension bridge just 5 minutes away from the rail biking place a few months back. So we were happy to see the suspension bridge as we biked and rode the train. We all had fun riding on the bikes and going through tunnels. 

We rented three bikes.  Talia and Mom were in the bike with Little A and Bryn.  Big Sis, M&M and Clair were on another bike.  And Bri and Jason were on a bike with Monster and Quinn.  Dad had to work, so he wasn't able to come.

After we got back, most of the kids wanted to go home. Talia and Mom really wanted to do the suspension bridge, so they made a plan. The Walkers would drive all of the kids besides me and Big Sis back home while Mom, Talia, me, and Big Sis went to do the suspension bridge. Mom, Talia, me, and Big Sis drove the short 5 minutes to get to the start of the hike. The we hiked up the 578 stairs to get to the top.

When we hiked it up the first time, it was with Grandma and Grandpa, It was one of the hottest day of the month, it took about 3 hours to finish it, and Little A fainted from the heat 3 times. So it was a lot easier this time. It took us only 1 hour to get up the 578 stairs, go across the suspension bridge, go back down the stairs, get some ice cream, and get back in the car. We were going super fast, and we were all out of breath when we got to the top.

Mom didn't get to go across the bridge the last time we came, so we made sure to go all the way across to the other side.

Mom saw a big sign, so we made one last stop on the way to the car.  It was a big I love you sign.  Big Sis and I wanted to hurry and leave because we didn't want to miss youth group tonight.  We were a little late, but we still made it.

Jeju Island: Manjanggul Cave Near-miss and Jeju Rail Bikes

Last night while planning our day, we originally planned to go to the Manjanggul Cave and scrap the Jeju Rail Bikes.  We were looking at all the reviews for the Rail Bikes, and they kept saying it wasn’t a good view and it was a waste of money.  The Rail Bikes are extremely expensive.  So, in the end we decided to scrap it, and told the kids this morning. 

We arrived at the Manjanggul caves and sat in the parking lot for a few minutes.  While sitting there we noticed one comment element- all visitors were putting on jackets, sweaters, coats and had pants on.  This immediately made us extremely nervous as we were all in shorts and a t-shirt.  I looked online and found that the temperature on the caves are about 10 degree Celsius.  We came to Jeju without any plans, so we weren’t prepared for a freezing cave.  We have also been in a few caves, and always leave feeling like it wasn’t ever amazing.  Caves are cool for the first 5 minutes, but then after that the cave just gets cold and wet and the same thing over and over again.  Asian caves are also always a  one way cave, you enter and have to go the entire route before you can exit, with little kids, it’s hard to go down a one-way street without an exit.

It took only a few minutes for Kevin and I to put the pieces together and decided to skip the cave and take a gamble on the rail bikes instead.  

We arrived at the Rail bikes at the perfect time because the bikes were ready to go and we wouldn’t have to wait.  We swallowed the exorbitant amount due to ride and had the three girls in the first bike and Kevin and I and Monster in the second bike.  

These Rail Bikes are different then any we have taken before, as they were fully automatic.  We didn’t have to peddle at all.  This works out perfect since we had kids on our bikes. The bikes were also more like little buggies then the rail bikes we have been on.  It was a bit of a windy day, so it was super chilly.  But we had a great time.

It seemed like the Rail Bikes were built on a farmers land, surrounded by cattle and horses.  The scenery was beautiful with rolling hills, ponds and wildflowers.  It took about 40 minutes to get all the way around the rail.  Our bike was extremely fast, we kept having to put the break on so we wouldn’t ram into the girls bike.  There was this rather large hill and our bike went so fast, that Monster, Kevin and I were yelling, whooping and hollering down the entire thing and our bike was booking it.  

We made it to the end and all the kids jumped off.  As we exited the rails, we noticed a small animal petting farm and the kids ran in. I love Korea randomness!  The kids enjoyed seeing bunnies, sheep, horses and more. 

We left the petting farm and found set up photo ops all around the rail park.  We took some time and took a bunch of pictures before we went on our way.  

I am so glad that we didn’t listen to the reviews and that we skipped the cave for the Rail Bikes. Eventhough it was expensive, it was worth it.  All the kids had a blast riding the bikes, seeing the animals and taking pictures. We got in the car and left with all smiles. 

Jinwi Park Bike Ride

We brought our bikes with us to Korea, and I have been itching to dust them off and take a ride.  I heard from a friend that there is a bike trail super close to the Doolittle Gate.  After scouting out the trail, we decided to take a Saturday family trip to the bike trail and park at the end of the trail.  

While we were venturing on our ride, we passed by the most gorgeous field of cosmo flowers.  The flowers were everywhere and the most amazing shades of pink.  We parked our bikes to take a walk in the cosmos and take some pictures.  M&M was so scared to walk into the field because she was worried she would step on a snake.

After passing the cosmo field we rode around the corner and came to the Jinwi Park.  The Park had a small circle rail bike trail with a few four seater rail bikes making circles around the park.  We want to come back and ride the rail bikes during the evening time.  It looks like there are lights and light tunnels all around the tracks.

The park was littered with fun metal statues.  These statues and structures were larger then life-size.  Some even looked like transformers.  Kevin and the kids had fun exploring the statues and seeing the intricate details.  This is definitely one of those random Korea moments.

We found a spot in the shade to park our bikes and lay out our picnic blanket and have a great picnic lunch.  It's been a while since we have used our picnic blanket, like, a few years.  When we laid it out, I had to laugh because it was way too small for our family now.  I think the last time I used it, we didn't have Monster and the three girls were little.  Note to self- buy a bigger picnic blanket.

There was a huge field at the park so the kids took about an hour and ran around trying to fly kites.  Our kids didn't have much success getting their kites airborne, but they sure had fun running around and chasing each other.

Jinwi park is located on a river.  It made the ride more refreshing as we would get little gusts of cool air on our bike ride.  We found another super cute photo stop along the river of a frame that said 'I love you' in English and Korean.  This has got to be my new favorite selfie spot.

We took the trail back towards home.  It is a beautiful trail that follows the river.  The path is nice and flat.  It was fun breathing in fresh air and enjoying the occasional races and the fields that we passed.

On the ride to the park, the kids saw a little walkway across the river and asked if we could stop on the way home and explore and jump rocks.  We stopped as promised and took a walk across the rocks.

Don't let the beauty of the river and the rocks fool you.  It stunk so so so bad.  We only made it about half way across the rocks before all the kids were almost green in the face from the horrific fish and stagnant water smell.

After our bike ride, we decided to cool off at Heavenly Bread with a super yummy treat.  Waffles in Korea are consider a dessert.  We got the fruit and ice cream waffle to share.  All the kids loved the treat, especially little Monster.

Gangchon Rail Park

For Labor Day Weekend, we decided to go to Seoraksan National Park area with our friends, the Liddells! Since Saturday was our youth temple day, we packed up the car and drove to Seoul for the temple first.  I watched all the littles while Kevin and Kylee went in the temple to do service.  They got done super fast, so we left Seoul around 10:30 and were on our way to Seoraksan National Park with the Liddell's right behind us.  About halfway into our drive, I notice that there is a railpark only 10 minutes out of the way, I texted Adreann and asked if they wanted to check it out, and they said they were down with the idea!

We find the Gangchon RailPark parking and check it out! The next tickets available were to leave in 45 minutes, so we bought tickets for three 4-seater bikes.  We packed up our backpacks, made the kids sandwiches then went to explore the park.

 The main waiting area to load the bikes has some really neat structures and architecture.  In the center of the square was a huge RailPark sign, just waiting for my kids to climb.

 The littles had a blast playing in the picture perfect railbike.  They were able to move the peddles and act like there were already riding a bike.  Monster got real mad because he wanted a turn, but he was just too little to reach the peddles.

 When it was about 10 minutes until the ticketed take-off time, the lines started to form.  We joined the long lines and were able to get on the bikes a few minutes later.  One thing I have learned while living here is that if you have an appointment or a ticket time, make sure you get there early, because if you arrive at your ticket or appointment time, you are late and sometimes you will be denied service.

We had Little A and the little Liddell who is the same age and friends with Little A.  Kevin and I took turns holding Monster on our lap.  It would have been easier if he had his own seat, but by putting him on our lap, we only had to get three of the bikes.

The last time we were on railbikes we followed the ocean, and enjoyed a scenery of sand, beaches and waves.  This time we followed the mountains and enjoyed fresh air, beautiful mountains and valleys and flowing rivers.

Big Sis and M&M rode in the bike in front of us with the two older Liddell girls.  They were so cute together as we could see them talking and laughing together.

The rest of the Liddell family were in the bikes behind us.

This railbike path seemed much longer then the ocean one we went on. It made for such a nice and beautiful ride.  It was so beautiful.  Monster, however, made it difficult to peddle because with him on my lap, when I would peddle he would pop up and down with every turn of the foot.  He didn't like that, so Kevin and I would take turns holding him.  While one person held the Monster, the other would peddle.  When the peddler got tired, we would switch.  The two little girls on our bike were too small to help peddle, so we only had one person peddling the bike of four.

 We passed through three different tunnels for this adventure!  The first tunnel was a bubble and lights tunnel.  There were huge bubble machines along the walls inside the tunnel that blew thousands of bubbles while we wizzed by.  The kids were squealing and laughing as they tried to get all the bubbles.

The next tunnel had lights and music.  The kids all whooped and hollered as we entered the tunnel and enjoyed the bright lights all around us.

The scenery from tunnel to tunnel was breathtaking.  It was seriously the perfect day with a clear and bright blue sky.

The last tunnel was the longest and favorite tunnel.  This tunnel had loud K-Pop music blaring and super bright laser lights and strobe lights flashing everywhere!  If I hadn't been strapped down in a seat with a toddler on my lap, I would have thought I was clubbing.  The laser lights went everywhere and were brightly blinding.  Everyone was dancing and raising the roof with their hands.

After about an hour of peddling, we reached the end.  We got off our bikes and had no idea where to go.  There was a snack bar there with ice cream and drinks, and some stairs.  We figured the stairs must take us to the platform home, but they just circled back up.  We found a sign that said the love train would be here after the last rail bike parked, so now we just had to wait.  The kids sat and talked while we waited about 20 minutes for the love train.

The train arrived and we were able to load and start the 30 minute train ride to the next station.  We found out they called it the love train because it was a popular train in the 70's.

After arriving at the next station, we then walked to busses that shuttled us back to the Railpark parking.  It took about 2 hours total to do the bikes and make it back to our cars.  We all had so much fun and are so glad we stopped!