This weekend a friend had organized and invited me to an ice festival at Mt Bisuel just south of Daegu. Nice for someone else to do the organzing for a change as its usually me. The tricky part was the logistics of getting there by public transit. You can take a city bus from Daegu. But my friend that lived out that way said it was a tremendous waste of time with every bus stop on the route. Instead there is a Hyunpung express bus from Soebu Bus Terminal for 2200w ($2). That runs every 20 mins and will get you to Hyunpung in about 30 mins. From there he said to take a cab which would cost 8000w ($7.50). Divided by four people thats about another 2000w ($2) each, so one way under 5000w ($5). The express bus from seobu terminal was easy to find and our large group were the only ones so we almost had a private bus. At Hyunpung there was a group of taxis waiting. As there were 16 of us that worked evenly to four per cab. We made sure the cab drivers understood where we wanted to go and that all four spoke to each other and were in agreement before we got in, just in case they started driving in different directions. As we started driving one of our passengers noticed the cab meter wasnt on. She started telling him in korean to turn the meter on. He said he wanted 10,000w when our friend that lived here had told us the price should be about 8000w. Two of us said to just pay him 10,000w as per person its not much different and he knows where to take us as we explained to all four cab drivers. But the girl who was korean kept arguing with him and told him he was trying to rip us off. Upset the cab driver took us back to the bus terminal and told us all to get out. Now we could have a problem as the other three cabs had left and the remaining cab drivers are all his buddies so they could all refuse to take us. Luckily we jumped into a cab driving on the street and his meter was on when we got in. The meter price ended up being 7900w when we got there. He even showed us a bus stop where we could take a local bus back to the terminal. Our friends told us the same thing when we arrived, that their cab drivers didnt have the meter on and charged a flat 10,000w. On the scheme of things I hardly think thats a ripoff. This is a very small town with no tourism or reason for people to come here other than the ice festival. This is their peak season in the year so a flat 10,000w isnt unreasonable and easier to handle than figuring out change with uneven numbers. Although I have never seen this in korea before of cab drivers not having the meter on. Entry to the event was free. After walking up a short part we come along a frozen stream and a bridge crossing. Here is the start beginning with some stone stupas. There was an ice igloo you could go inside. I was wondering how the sculptures had not melted as its was reaching daily temperatures above zero with overnight freezing. There are small water jets gently spraying water into the air. As it slowly freezes it accumulates creating giant structures. These structures continued for about 100m. After that were some ice slides children were using to come down on cardboard mats. At the base of the slide you could climb down some steps into another ice house. There was a second ice house at the top of the slide. Beside the top of the slide were a couple of one room wood houses with blankets of frozen ice on top and all around. It looked very christmassy and a scene from Bethlehem. We thought there was more but this was pretty much the end of the event. There was small ice enclosure where parents could pull their children on sleds. There were many families and children at todays event. There were also chalets where people could stay in the mountains and a sign showing that korean tv dramas had been filmed here. Back by the bridge at the start of the area was a small temple compound. We ended up taking the city bus which took us back to the Hyunpung Bus terminal. We could also use our Daegu Bus cards so didnt have to pay with cash. From here we took the express bus back to Daegu Soebu Bus terminal. If we were fast enough we could have even got back in the subway without paying as you have 30 minutes from when you tap out the local bus in hyunpung, which is part of daegu transit, to transfer to another bus or subway. Instead I went into the large market next to the terminal for some food. Earlier before we all met up I had come here for some snacks for lunch. Now I came back for dinner. I got some tempura shrimp, squid, and potatoes for 2000w ($2), and ten bean paste donuts for 2000w ($2) but they gave me one extra as a freebie. The festival area is all lit up at night in different colours, as another group of friends had gone later to see this. Our concern were the buses getting back. The last Hyunpung Express bus leaves for daegu at 9.05pm. The event is free and should be open as long as cold temperatures remain. http://visitdaegu2011.blogspot.com/2011 /12/mountain-biseul-ice-park.html Visit My Page on Facebook Departures1