Seeing places I did not even know existed, sitting in the bus for most part of the day and meeting new people. These things describe the weekend to the southern parts with Kim’s Community Travel pretty well.
The end destination was Wando, in the south:
Travelling with Kim’s Community Travel
I heard about this trip through a Facebook group. A 2-day and 1-night trip for only 20 000 won (about 15 euro). The trip was sponsored by the local government in the south which means that we got the trip this cheap because they wanted to increase tourism in these places. The guides we had were also beginners (our guide had her first guided trip ever) so they asked for patience. They were very happy to see so many students since the last time they organised a similar trip only half of the people showed up.
As the trip was sponsored we had to give the government some kind of proof. We took plenty of group photos (basically at every stop) and we had to keep the receipts of anything we bought. To get the receipts turned out to be difficult since they do not give out receipts everywhere in a small city.
It turned out that there were some overbookings and we were almost 300 foreigners on the trip. However it turned out to be quite difficult to meet new people during the day since most of the people just went off with their own group.
Travelling by bus
So me and Noelle had to wake up before 6 to get on time to the bus on Saturday and the day was mostly spent sitting inside the bus. Luckily we could sleep in the bus, which most of the people did at some point. We travelled by bus for an hour or so before every stop. On the way back to Seoul on Sunday we joined the guys sitting next to us in playing Dark Stories which made the time pass by much faster.
Finding Wando – plus other sights
The places we visited really places I did not knew existed. And since I wanted to travel more in South Korea it was interesting. Sadly we were a bit late from the schedule so did not have time to visit every sight on the itinerary and missed the main event at the festival. One museum even turned out to be closed when we got there. Perhaps I missed a chance of a lifetime to go to the Joseon Pottery Exhibit… Well, maybe next time.
Muan Tidal flat Museum
Basically a museum of mud and what lives in it. We could walk around the surroundings and enjoy the weather and look for different creepy crawlies in the mud. Yet another thing I never thought I would experience.
Myeongnyang Battle Festival
The battle festival celebrates the ’13 VS 133 battle’ where Admiral Yi Sun-sin and his naval fleet of 13 boats defeated the Japanese naval fleet of 133 boats. Sadly we missed the main re-enactment but the festival did make it up to us thanks to the food and especially the puppies.
The county of Wando
Went to Wando’s Saturday Night ‘Alive’ concert with different performances such as dancing, singing and a lottery. We stayed at the Wando oneness resort which was right by the sea and quite nice. The evening was spent playing drinking games such as Picolo outside of the hotel until we went to sleep at around 1 am.
Even though everything did not go as planned on this trip I am happy that I went. Overall it is great that they organise these trips for exchange students and foreigners so we can get out of our comfortable bubble at campus and try something different.I could definitely go to an event organised by Kim’s Community Travel again.
This is Kim from Kim’s Community Travel!! Thanks for your great post!! =) ?