[Winter Korea Trip 2010/2011] Day 5: Yoochi-ri Day!

Even before the sun rose, I had already gotten up from over-excitement of the day’s planned activities. Taking extra time before heading out, I did a final check on all my photographic equipments, making sure that all was in order. This was one of those days I was really looking forward to. This was the day I planned to visit the home of G7 – Idol-Village in Yoochi-ri!

Before reading on, do watch the photo montage I did on the places I visited and saw in Yoochi-ri =)

Expecting to miss lunchtime later on, we decided to have a heavy breakfast before heading for Yoochi-ri. J suggested eating at a restaurant just next to his shop, of which the food he highly recommends.

J helped ordered the 제육볶음 (I think)(Chaeyukbokkeum) for us and that surprisingly, was the best meal I ate not just so far, but for this entire trip! The level of spiciness was just nice, the taste was heavenly and the pork in it was really in abundance! If you ever decide to come to Yangdeokwon and also love spicy food, this is one meal you definitely have to try! Highly recommended by myself! 5-stars!

 Chaeyukbokkeum (I think)

Side dishes to go along

After the kick-ass meal, J had to attend to something for a short while at his shop and so we decided to walk around the area while waiting. We came across a stall that sold the red bean fish snack that G7 liked to eat. Not too sure if it was the same stall but it sure tasted good too.

Red Bean Fish Snack

Fortunately, the wait wasn't too long and we got into J's SUV and headed for Yoochi-ri! For those who have yet to read my story on day 4, J had to head for another town in the same direction to make deliveries and so he offered us a ride while at it.

Yoochi-ri here we come!

Road to Yoochi-ri

Frankly speaking, I was quite worried about what I might find at the Idol Village (the home of G7) initially. Just a few days before the commencement of my trip, news of the ceasing of Invincible Youth production sent shock-waves reverberating across its fandom realm. For myself, having planned to visit the Idol Village all along, I had taken a direct hit! The house, the animals… I was really crossing my fingers and hoping that everything was still intact.

It was a fairly short 10-minute drive to the village. J dropped us off near the famous G7 house and told us that he would be back to pick us up in about 4-hours after he was done with the deliveries. It was a great relief for me to see everything, including the animals were still around! In fact, we were surprised to see some additional features which we have yet to see in the broadcasts!

 

Hmm.. The section of the road closest to the Idol Village was out-of-bounds then. A closer look at the board revealed that the restriction for entry of vehicles was due to the recent string of Hand Foot Mouth disease that had plagued some farms in the rural areas.

 "Due the hand and mouth diseases, there is vehicle control"

Moving on, we were greeted by the members of G10! (Present G7 + the 3 original members who left the show.)

G10 =)

Behind the board, there was a small platform that you could stand on and pop your head between Hyuna and Sunny to take a group photo!

 "아이돌 촌은 대한민국 대표 || 걸그룹들이 정착해서 자급자족 하면 살아가는곳이다"

"Idol Village Korean Representative || This is where G7 settled down and lived self-sufficiently"

Just ahead would be the Idol Village itself! Finally, I get to see it up-close in person!

Idol Village

Due to the Hand Foot Mouth disease that was going on, visitors were not be allowed to enter the house premises. I guess this was to protect the animals that were living within the compound. 

Fortunately for me, I had brought along my long-range camera zoom lens and that definitely came in handy! Although it would be much nicer to take pictures of the animals upfront, I at least had the opportunity to get a zoomed shot of them over the fence line =).

Sunny's cow, Pureumi, was much larger than what I had expected. Perhaps it was because she was pregnant that she was that huge! The village care-taker had just given the animals their feed so I was able to watch her eat her meal.

 Pureumi

Pureumi eating (notice her tongue =P)

From where we stood to take pictures of Pureumi, we also noticed that there were lots of fire wood stacked up in a corner. Supply in abundance for the cold winter season!

Firewood stacked up

A post box sits in a corner near the house and seems likely to be for fans to send in messages when they visit the village. The Invincible Youth sticker on it looked thoroughly sun-bleached though. I wished so much that I could extend my hands to reach for the post box and send in my regards too.

Invincible Youth Post Box

Walking over to the other side of the fence line, we saw the dog house of Yoochi and Chanran. However, we only managed to spot Chanran. Not too sure where Yoochi went.

Yoochi & Chanran's dog house

Chanran

Chanran was very energetic and gets really excited when there are visitors around. He would give me the confused look when ever I made a kissing sound. Really cute and interesting!

You may have noticed that Chanran was rather close to the fence line, making it possible for me to reach out to play with him a little ^^. He seemed to love the attention and craved playtime with people, making little sad whimpering noises every time we were preparing to move away. It was very difficult for us to leave his presence. =(

After spending quite some time with Chanran, we moved to the rear of the village where we could get a clear view of the chicken and rabbit coops.

 청춘 (Cheongchoon) the rooster

 Rabbits

That was about all we could crane our necks to see from outside the house compound. We went back onto the road leading up to the house and spotted the G7 red tractor under some kind of wire mesh shelter!

G7 red tractor

 Next up, it was off to the field where G7 did their farming. As expected of the winter season, the field was bare of all crops. Nevertheless, the soil still looked loose and fertile, ready for the next round of farming when the warmer weather returns.

Hyomin Board: "Organic Farm - Eggplant, potato, sweet potato, corn, radish, cabbage"

Bare but loose and fertile soil

Just as we were about to move off after taking the above pictures, we spotted some green! I was not too sure if it was an intended-growth of a G7 crop or just a random weed, but it definately grew on G7 soil!

 Perhaps the only green plant left on G7 field

Right in front of the field sat the pavilion rest house which the villagers of Yoochi-ri helped to construct for G7 and other members of Invincible Youth to rest in.

   Pavilion Rest House

At this point of time while we were photographing ourselves in the pavilion, X spotted a vehicle with the KBS logo driving up towards the village! OMG, who could it be?!

Lo and behold, the Producer Director of Invincible Youth, PD 김호상 (PD Kim Ho Sang) stepped out of the vehicle! What a surprise! Learning from the village care-taker that we were from Singapore, he approached and spoke to us in clear precise English!

I would think that he was there to visit Wangoo who had just suffered the misfortune of having his house burnt down by an electrical short circuit. Probably also to check on the condition of the Idol Village.

He asked us about the popularity of Invincible Youth in Singapore and how we managed to watch the program. Well for us, it was through KBS World on cable television. Regarding its popularity, there was definitely a drop in viewership when Sunny, Yuri and Hyuna left. However, I am still pretty sure that it is still very popular not just in Singapore, but in many other countries. Like if the members of G7 were to visit Singapore somehow someday, I am very certain it would be one hot event!

After our interesting conversation, I requested if we could have a picture taken together before he left and he agreed! =)

Us with PD Kim - Sorry but we do not want to reveal our faces on this site >.<

To PD Kim, if you would like the original picture, do let me know and I will email it to you =)

 

We then bade him goodbye and he left to do his work while we continued our exploration of the Idol Village ^^.

Not too far away, a mascot stood tall like a guardian watching over the village (which I then have not seen before). It did remind me of the mascot of the farm from Biei, Japan where G7 visited though. It was only after I watched the last two episodes of Invincible Youth when I got back to Singapore that I got to know more about its construction.

 G7 Mascot

 "Welcome to Invincible Youth. My name is Cheongsooni"

"Information - Do not climb up. It is dangerous"

By then, we were pretty much done with exploring the village. Having some extra time before J was to return from his deliveries, we decided to head back to the main road to explore Yoochi-ri itself.

While walking, we could see many other fields all harvested and covered with ice.

 Rice field

Is this a harvester?

 Harvested Crops

 A fox dog on a field

After walking for about 10 minutes, we came across a bridge over a stream that looked very scenic. Spotting yet another good opportunity for a photographic capture, we went down to the stream!

 

 Yoochi-ri Stream

 Ice over water

Nearby, we saw a tower of rocks that looked rather interesting. Although it looked fairly stable, we did not attempt to further stack more rocks on top, fearing the iconic tower would be accidentally collapsed by our itchy hands.

 Tower of rocks

Not wanting to wander too far off, we used another directional route to head back, spotting a location that seemed very familiar from afar.

Yep it was the Yoochi-ri Church that G7 occasionally visited to do community service. One example would be episode 13 when G7 helped soldiers clear off snow collected on the roof panels of a Ginseng farm and shovel the pathways leading right up to the church itself.

 Yoochi-ri Church signboard

 Yoochi-ri Church

 Ginseng Farm

Dried flowers by the road side

Up to then, we had been walking around non-stop and really needed a rest. Upon seeing a cottage restaurant, we decided to take a break inside and have a drink.

However, just as we managed to sit down on the al fresco benches with our drinks, we heard the noises of what seemed like cows mooing away from behind the cottage. Curious, we went to check it out once we were done with our drinks.

 Indeed there was a cow farm behind! With lots and lots of cows! =)

The cows, though mostly huge in size, were noticeably very timid. As we approached them, they were initially startled and began retreating towards the rear pen. It was only after we had stayed along the fence line for quite awhile that they got use to our presence and approached us slowly. Waving some hay from their white feeding bundle, we managed to convince them that we were friendly. Soon, they were eating out of our hands! =)

Ooo... nice looking cow

Oh you're approaching me... Hi =)

Yikes!... That's really close!

Majority of the cows were in the shed eating though. I guess cows also have their preferences on where they would like to eat. 

In Yoochi-ri, the turkeys roam freely too ^^

Turkeys

Receiving a call from J who was finally done with his deliveries, we went back down to the entrance of Idol Village to reunite with him and head back to Yangdeokwon together. Bye-bye Yoochi-ri and Idol Village!

As we still had some time before dinner, we decided to visit 성미용실 (Seongmiyong Salon). For those who have yet to read my story from day 3, Seongmiyong Salon was where Hara and Hyomin traded stuff in for their Mozart hairstyling in episode 4 of Invincible Youth. We had much difficulty locating the salon initially but J managed to provide us with the directions.

When we arrived at the salon, we realized why we did notice it despite walking pass it several times! The reason - it had a change of design to its shop signboard! Well, we were looking out for its original signboard the whole time >.<

From this original design:

To this new design!

성미용실 (Seongmiyong Salon)

Entering the salon, we saw the different proofs that this was indeed the salon we had been looking for! Though the exterior of the salon was different, the interior remained largely the same.

 Somehow I could remember this exact picture from the show, probably because of how Hara looks in it

 Hara and Hyomin with the salon owner

 Invincible youth flag

 A picture taken much later with some of the new members present

 This autograph should be from the G7 apple sales. How I wish I was there to get an autograph too...

Having spent so much effort and time locating this salon, I just had to have my hair cut here!

With a nicer looking hairstyle (complimented on by J), we went to look up J again at his shop. We really wanted to treat him to a scrumptious dinner for helping us so much even though we were total strangers to begin with! Agreeing to our request, he brought us to a nearby barbecue restaurant and we ordered a variety of chicken and beef meat that tasted great and was extremely reasonably priced!

 화전골 (Hwacheongol Restaurant)

 Cooking the chicken

 J helping us cook

 MMmmm.. looks good, tastes great!

After our dinner, it was time to head back to our motel. Having explored so much that day, our legs were aching and breaking. Our day in Yoochi-ri and Yangdeokwon concluded with a breathtaking view of the sunset over the horizon as we headed back.

 Sunset at Yangdeokwon