The main reason we went to Jeongseon was to ride the rail bike! What is a rail bike you ask? "It's a pedal powered vehicle built to run exclusively on a disused railway track." (Their words, not mine.)
Back in the day Jeongseon was a large coal producing town, but due to the decline in the coal industry Jeongseon found itself with empty tracks. The people in the area didn't want to see the tracks go to waste so they concocted the 'Rail Bikes', and I am so glad they did! This was a great day to hang out with the family!
To make a reservation you need to go to the website listed above, but you will need to plan WAY in advance as they only make 50 reservations for each day on line. If you want to go and you are not planning your trip in advance (like us) you will need to arrive at 8AM the day you want to ride to make your reservation for later in the day. This is the part that stressed me out....."What if they are full? What if I come all this way and I don't get to ride?" Well, I need to relax. (Which I find hard to do.) Now, I don't think I mentioned this part - my Korean friends booked everything for us - including our pension, which they were not going to make a reservation for, we were just supposed to show up...I will get to that in another blog. And they, along with Hubby were the ones telling me not to worry - everyone will all get to ride. In fact, my friends left their house in Suwon at 4AM so they could arrive at the rail bikes by 8AM to make our reservations! (They were also going - a total coincidence.) We didn't leave our house till 6AM.
Back in the day Jeongseon was a large coal producing town, but due to the decline in the coal industry Jeongseon found itself with empty tracks. The people in the area didn't want to see the tracks go to waste so they concocted the 'Rail Bikes', and I am so glad they did! This was a great day to hang out with the family!
To make a reservation you need to go to the website listed above, but you will need to plan WAY in advance as they only make 50 reservations for each day on line. If you want to go and you are not planning your trip in advance (like us) you will need to arrive at 8AM the day you want to ride to make your reservation for later in the day. This is the part that stressed me out....."What if they are full? What if I come all this way and I don't get to ride?" Well, I need to relax. (Which I find hard to do.) Now, I don't think I mentioned this part - my Korean friends booked everything for us - including our pension, which they were not going to make a reservation for, we were just supposed to show up...I will get to that in another blog. And they, along with Hubby were the ones telling me not to worry - everyone will all get to ride. In fact, my friends left their house in Suwon at 4AM so they could arrive at the rail bikes by 8AM to make our reservations! (They were also going - a total coincidence.) We didn't leave our house till 6AM.
Me and my friend Jeong-Hwan!
Our friends that met us at the rail bikes and made all our reservations!
OK, OK, on to the bike ride!
Getting ready to ride!
Hubby & Boy 2 riding the rails together!
A couple of things you should know if you plan to do the rail bikes. First off - If there are more than 2 of you, buy the 2 seaters. You can connect the two seaters together with a bar and all ride together. We didn't know this, so myself, Boy 1, Boy 3 and Girl were WAY far away from Hubby and Boy 2, so we didn't get to enjoy this together as a family. On the flip side, Boy 2 and Hubby did get some nice one on one bonding time. Secondly, one person can pedal an entire bike, so no need to worry about people that don't pull their weight - there is no work out involved in this at all. And the third thing I would like to mention - if you go in the fall, take jackets or blankets!! This ride gets cold especially for the little people!
OK, here we go....
OK, here we go....
The ride takes about 1.5 hours.
We went through several tunnels.
The country side was beautiful!
My handsome boy!
A man working the fields...
Rice paddies in the background.
Cute little old lady working in the field.
They were freezing, so Boy 1 took off his sweatshirt and gave it to them!
We found the moon!
More women working the fields.
At the end of your bike ride, you can get a bite to eat in this big fish made out of an old train car. (There are actually 2 big fish.)
Then you ride back on a train that is jam packed full of people! While you are riding the train is pulling the bikes back to the start location.
The rail bikes are so much fun! At one point Boy 1 said "Mom, this is SO much better than hiking!" (And I thought he liked hiking! ;-)
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