I was invited for the Snow Festival In March trip and part of the itinerary was to experience a Hallyu themed train and watch the paralympic ice hockey game with Lee Dong Wook after a fan meeting with him. I thought it would be fun for me to do a photo travelogue to show my journey. 

All participant gathered at Cheongnyangni Station early in the morning for our ticket and gift collection. Since it was a Goblin K-drama themed KTX train tour, we were gifted a red scarf, an iconic item from the popular and successful K-drama. We wore the scarf immediately so we could take a fun group picture with Sohoorang and Bandabi, the mascots for PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic.  

It was my first time being on KTX since I first knew about it from the famous movie 'Train To Busan'. Obviously, the experience is a little different than your regular KTX ride as this train is decorated with loads of Lee Dong Wook face everywhere with Goblin K-drama playing on the screen, and this train is chartered to go directly to the new Gangneung Station, which allowing us to reach Gangneung in about an hour than the usual 2 and half hours on regular KTXs that stops inbetween. 

The ride throughout was really fun, they had all sorts of activities prepared for us! Almost immediately after a settled into our seats, the "Grim Reapers" that dresses up exactly like how Lee Dong Wook dress in the K-drama Goblin, came to our cart and started playing a few simple games with us. Winners either get bragging rights or entitled to one of the olympic mascot bear. There was also a dance group that came around performing to popular K-pop music, making the entire train lively and entertaining. We also took some time to walk around, we found a few places were like pitstops for you to take a picture with cardboard cutouts of Lee Dong Wook for memories! 

I didn't even had time to shut my eyes, we've already arrived at the new Gangneung Station. I'm really glad that we now finally have an alternative way to get to Gangneung as it's one of those cities that I would recommend my friends to visit. 

We had some time to walk around the Gangneung Olympic Park before the fan meeting event. The park was a huge area that consist of 10 sections including the Ice Arena, Curling Centre, Art Centre, Hockey Centre, and etc. A number of olympic and paralympic games where held here such as Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Speed Skating, and more. Some of the main sponsors of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics where given ample space to showcase their goods. It was all very well done I would say. 

Once it was time, we took our tickets and interpretators to the hall. No cameras or any sort of shooting were allowed in there but I managed to get hold of some official photos from the event. 

Lee Dong Wook was funny. He was exactly how I thought he would be, the awkward type. Interestingly, he actually emceed the entire event. So we pretty much got to see him on stage for an entire hour or more. During the event, he did some giveaways, played some games with a few lucky fans who ended up having the opportunity to take a selfie with him, and he spoke a little bit about himself and his new role as Gangwon-do's ambassador. As a finale, he requested everyone to write a little wish for Gangwon-do on the piece of card provided before we took a group picture with him. Try finding me in the group picture above, I was seated at the the first row, right behind the monitor on the left corner. 

After the fan meeting, we moved to the Ice Hockey Arena, where we had the opportunity to watch one of the Paralympic Ice Hockey match. Another first in my books and it was so different than what I knew before. It was quite cool watch how these players are so good at what they do, the game can get really intense and the crowd were all for it. That's until the celebrity steps in, Lee Dong Wook became somewhat stole the limelight for a good 30 minutes before he, himself had to do some crowd control. After allowing his fans to indulge in his presence for a while, he tried his very best to "manage" his screaming fans by keep politely reminding them to take their seats and watch the game as the whole purpose he was there was to enjoy an Ice Hockey Game with his fans. 

Personally, I think Lee Dong Wook did a pretty good job as a celebrity trying enjoy a game with his fans, knowing very well that he would cause a chaos in the stadium just by being there. For that, I have a new found respect for him. 

Pretty much, that's about it. After a good Para Ice Hockey game, we headed back to our hotel in Seoul in our chartered bus. Thank you Korea Tourism Organization Malaysia for this once in a lifetime experience! 

Check out my vlog here: