Train Spotting

For those of you who don't already know, my boyfriend has quite a soft spot for trains (runs in the family apparently), and so with our departure date quickly approaching, we went to Gokseong to visit Korea's "Steam Train Village".

Ric on a train.

Unfortunately, the steam train turned out to be a diesel train, with a puff of water vapour that came out every now and then for effect. Ric was terribly disappointed but we rode the train anyway. It runs along the Seomijingang river, though a mountain valley; the scenery is really beautiful, even if the train is a fake and the other passengers were all eating dried tentacles.

The train village is a sort-of naff theme park, with a rose garden (which I'm sure is nice in the summer...), some children's rides, a petting zoo, and a rail bike track! I'd never heard of a rail biking before but we gave that a go too.

The village has lots of trains you can look at and go inside. Some have been converted into cafes, bathrooms, and cabins that you can rent out and sleep in; that was quite cool.

All in all we had a fun day, mainly due to each other's company and not so much due to the trains. 

Ric <3 <3 <3 trains

Train cabins (like caravans)

Barren rose garden.

Ric driving a KTX bullet train.

Random petting zoo.

Seomijingang river.

Seomijingang river.

                     Ric on [another] train.

Gokseong countryside as seen from our rail bike.

Traaaaaaaaaaain! (But not a steam train).

How to get to...
Seomjingang Train Village: we took a direct bus from Gwangju bus terminal. It took 1 hour.