Wonju Korea Where in the World is Maria?

Wonju Korea is in Gangwon province.

It’s east of Gyeonggi province and a little northeast of Pyeongtaek. It’s in the upper middle area of the country.

On April 17th, I woke up early and went to GS25 to load my Tmoney card and was off to Wonju Korea. I had a bunch of change and the lady was so sweet.

Just as I was walking out of the door, the 810 bus drove on by.

I ran and tried to make it but my little legs couldn’t move fast enough. I ended up taking the 80, which was just right behind the 810.

Once I got to AK Plaza, I took Line 1 to Cheongnyangnibound. It took about two hours to get to Wonju. I went to Sancheon but got off at Seowonju. Right when I got to the station, I bought a ticket back to Seoul. Gooood thing I did that cause there was only one bus running back to Seoul that day around 5 pm so that would’ve been interesting if I hadn’t reserved my ticket.

I walked out of the deserted station in Wonju Korea and there were many beautiful mountains and barely any cars. Naver said that there was a bus coming but that I was also able to walk there in 25 minutes. So, I tried that. Didn’t work out too well. I ended up going back to the station and waiting for bus 57. As I was getting on the bus, the bus driver yelled something to me and pointed to the station that was behind me. I had no idea what he said so I just nodded. I’m thinking he was telling me to get a return ticket? Who knows.

It only took about ten minutes to get onto what looked like the main road? It had a few restaurants and stores. It looked like the correct stop on Naver so I just hopped off. The town was adorable but also desolate.

As I was making my way to the Sogeumsan Suspension Bridge, I came across what looked like a train track. I also saw Spiderman on top of an Emart. It’s funny cause when I was in Thailand, I saw one on top of a 7/11 I think? So random.

₩38,000 later and I was on a train riding through beautiful Wonju Korea.

Lucky me that there were some spots left. They do have a website but obviously, it’s in Korean, and well, I was already there so it was too late for me LOL. The train ride was only about 25 minutes.

At the end, they have a four-person bicycle which was cute. I was able to ride it by myself though so it clearly wasn’t too difficult. In total, it took about an hour there and back.

On the way back, there was one tunnel (above) that was dark and everyone screamed upon entering.

Going through the tunnels and seeing the suspension bridge from afar was amazing. Looking at the bridge now I’m like “WOW I WALKED ON THAT.” There were also so many mountains and trees. Ahhhh, so beauteous.

Next was my journey to the Sogeumsan Suspension Bridge (Ganhyeon Rocking Bridge). It was only about a ten-minute walk from the train station to the entrance of the parking lot. You walk through the parking lot and there’s a small strip of restaurants leading to the bridge. I tried to navigate my way and walked across this bridge and heard two girls speaking English. It’s always comforting to hear people speaking fluent English when I am abroad.

After crossing another bridge and paying ₩3,000, the lady at the counter gave me a wristband and a gift certificate. I crossed ANOTHER bridge and was finally (almost) there. But, first, I had a mini photoshoot.

You can use the gift certificate at any of the vendors walking up to the bridge. I used mine on the way back.

From the second bridge, it took about 25 minutes to get to the suspension bridge. It was drizzling a little bit and I obviously didn’t bring an umbrella, woops.

Luckily, I ended up going the same way as the two girls who spoke English. I mean, there was really only one way to go anyway. They took pictures of me and we exchanged a few words and kept crossing paths but eventually, we lost each other.

A few weeks before, I decided that I needed to invest in a selfie stick for my solo travels. It came in handy but it’s also not the same. I learned to just ask random people to take photos of me instead. However, if you’re traveling solo, I still recommend getting one of those things, they come in handy.

Before walking onto the bridge, I learned that this suspension bridge is in a Kdrama: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. I have never seen it though and had to Google the name. Still cool though.

After the suspension bridge, there was another bridge. I saw at least one path between this bridge and the suspension bridge that was closed off. It looked like it would’ve been cool too. And after the sign to the other bridge, there was another bridge that led all the way back to the beginning.

The walk back down was quick and I was famished. I also did not bring a water bottle with me (who am I???) so I stopped to get a cheese stick and a water bottle with my ₩2,000.

As I was walking back, it looked like it was going to rain. I lucked out and just saw the clouds. Pheeew.

Then, I stopped to get some jjigae at this restaurant called Korean Restaurant. It was okay. The people who worked there were so kind.

After my kimchi jjigae, I went back to the KTX station. Well, I tried. I asked the dudes that worked at the parking lot entrance how to get there and they ended up driving me to the station themselves. Which yeah it sounds like a silly thing to do but oh well. Naver was showing me multiple ways and I didn’t know which one was correct. Navigation apps are sometimes a pain.