🧳 Trips

We dropped in late on Sunday afternoon, the last day of the 24th Heo Jun Festival. We made a keyring, bought snacks like tteokbokki, and spread a picnic mat on the lawn with the kids on a calmer day without celebrity stages. Photos of the photo zone, the Modern Medicine booths, the exhibition zones and the doodle ball, plus this year's event info.

Our animal day at Anseong Farmland, in order: a dog-trick and animal parade show, feeding baby animals, an animal talent show, indoor horse riding, carrot sticks for the horses, and feeding cows and pigs, plus the official feeding and riding fees and the weekend show timetable.

We found cancellation tickets for a 7pm visit to Anseong Matchum Observatory. A personal account of cloudy-sky stargazing, locating Saturn and the children’s rocket drawing activity.

At Anseong Farmland we bought electric bike tickets right after entering. Our 30-minute wait, choosing the large or small bike with the posted fares, a 30-minute route from the cosmos field to the pink muhly, and how to park a bike that has no reverse.

A personal walk around the waterside park at Anseong Matchum Land. Ducks ate the food meant for the fish, turning a simple stroll into a funny memory, with photos of the pond, paths and evening sky.

A personal morning walk at Anseong Matchum Land, with photos and short clips of the rising sun, flowers in the light and cats encountered on the way back.

A walk-through, not an overnight stay, at Anseong Matchum Campsite: tidy shared facilities, a modest playground and animals by the shop, plus official booking, vehicle registration and off-season rates.

Our visit to Joyang Bangjik, a big café in downtown Ganghwa-eup near Ileokjo Sikdang. Said to stand on the site of a textile mill dating back to 1933, it's filled with so many old objects that there's more to see than in most museums — though coffee and bread are a bit pricey. A US Army school bus and a tow tractor, a wall of puffed-rice machines, a GoldStar TV and a mother-of-pearl table, pachinko machines and a wall phone, plus drink prices, the entry fee if you don't order a drink, hours and parking.

Our Chuseok-holiday night at '2026 National Heritage Media Art Iksan' at the Mireuksa Temple Site: a wooden pagoda rebuilt in light between two stone pagodas, shows every 30 minutes from 7:30 pm, food trucks and chicken delivery on the lawn — plus tips on mats, seats, restrooms and parking for next time.

Our Chuseok-holiday stop at Earth Under Park in Hwangdeung, Iksan: a café where you look down through glass walls into a huge granite quarry cut down from a whole mountain — and excavators are still quarrying stone at the bottom. It was packed. Coffee, ice cream and baked goods; prices from the menu board, hours and parking from Naver Place, and the quarry's history from a Munhwa Ilbo article.

Our December 2025 family visit to Am Phu Cave at the foot of Marble Mountains (Ngu Hanh Son), Da Nang, told through 20 timestamped photos: the memorial tablet hall, the Ten Kings of Hell, a sunlit Ksitigarbha shrine, the hell path and the Judge's scale — plus the official entry, elevator and separate Am Phu ticket prices.

Two visits to Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seoul: the evening of March 1, 2025 (Independence Movement Day) and a Saturday afternoon on June 13, 2026. The giant Taegukgi on the red-brick prison wall under a gray sky and a blue one, the 'Memory 1945 · 1987' photo-wall exhibit, plus official opening hours, admission, who gets in free, and parking.

Our family's 4-day Jeju trip in May 2026 (we brought our car over by ferry): booking the Udo Submarine (it leaves from and returns to Seongsan Port, not Udo island), official prices, ID and parking rules, the white-stair photo spot on Udo, Seongsan Bada Punggyeong's free whole grilled hairtail with braised fish, and leaving Jeju by ferry.

Two family visits to Everland in 2026: a Sunday afternoon in the April tulip festival and a Saturday night in the first weekend of the July night opening — the 7 m black-faced sheep at Global Fair, the panda sculptures, the carousel, and how to get there by public transport.

August 28–30, 2026: five families, 19 of us, based at a guesthouse on Galnam Port in Samcheok. Daegeumgul Cave on the first morning, a rainy first evening on the guesthouse terrace, swimming at Galnam Port on day two, and a drive up the coast to Laguna Beach and Burger World in Yangyang on the last day — a hub linking our four separate posts.

Our record of 2 nights at Jinsol Minbak, a guesthouse by Galnam Port in Samcheok, Gangwon. In late August 2026, five families (19 people) rented its whole first floor — 5 rooms, a living room and a shared kitchen. The rainy first-evening terrace, swimming at Galnam Port on day two, the kids watching the sea from camping chairs, and the house info we got when booking (rentals, barbecue, towels).

Our visit to Daegeumgul Cave in Samcheok on a late-August morning in 2026: five families, 19 people, booked in advance. The marker stone, the forest path and an old house in the cave area, with the times our photos were taken — plus how booking works, fares, opening hours and the monorail, from the official website and Samcheok City's tourism site.

Our visit to Laguna Beach on Hajodae Beach in Yangyang, Gangwon-do: a surf beach lined with boards that is fun just to watch, the permanent sand sculpture display in front of Burger World Laguna Beach, seats under thatched parasols, why parking was no trouble — and the beginner surf lesson if you want to try.

Our family tour of the Constitutional Court of Korea near Anguk Station, Seoul: the Grand Courtroom from the impeachment news, the constitution carved in the lobby, the 30/60/90-minute tour courses and how to apply online, plus potato bread across the street.