Riding Rail Bikes in Wonju
My husband works all around Korea, and sometimes hospitals that are quite far away ask him to work on Saturdays, so we don't get to have as many weekend dates as we'd like. However, one hospital was a close enough drive to Wonju, somewhere I'd yet to visit, so we decided to go after he got off work.
Junkyu and I, along with two of my friends, made our way up north early in the morning. I wore the hanbok that I sewed and it was fun to show it off in public. While he worked for an hour or so, we went to a nearby cafe and sipped on some drinks. After that, we ate lunch and made our way to Wonju to ride the rail bikes.
My friend is a tour guide in Korea, and it was from her that I found out about the Wonju rail bikes. I thought it was only in Wonju, but as it turns out, Korea has many of these rail bike riding locations! I'd love to visit all of them now.We bought our tickets and had a few hours to kill, so we looked on the giant map/billboard of Wonju attractions and chose a museum called Museum San. It looked beautiful in the pictures, so we drove over and were immediately impressed.
The museum has art, history, and activities, and most of it has to do with books and the printing press. It was amazing to go around the beautiful building looking at all the different artifacts. The building itself was incredible, as well. We walked along stone paths lined with flowers and trees, and we awed at the ponds and water features. There is a small cafe in the building, and it was fun to go outside where the tables overlook the water and the mountains.
After oohing and ahhing over the museum, we made our way back to the rail bike station, where it was time to board the train. The train took us through tunnels and around cliffsides that looked out over the valleys and mountains. It was so relaxing to listen to the music as we rode along the tracks. Eventually, we stopped and were guided out by the staff, who helped us get into our bikes.
The bikes are attached to the train tracks, and we had to pedal as a team to go along them. The tracks and the stations probably went out of use a while back, which is why they made them into an attraction rather than let them fall into disrepair. It was nerve-wracking to pedal along the same tracks we just rode on on the train because, as someone afraid of heights, I thought I might be too scared to go over the bridges that overlook steep drops.
However, it was even more relaxing to pedal the bike than it was to ride in the train car. There were speakers in the tunnels that played music and neon lights that guided our way. The mountains and valleys were even more beautiful when seen unobstructed, and we all had a great time riding along. The ride ended too quickly, and we were all sad when we had to get off. But I'm sure we can go ride rail bikes again sometime! After that, we went out for pizza and fried chicken to end our day in Wonju. It was an amazing experience that I would recommend to everyone!