Vietnamese Tourists Camp on Frozen River

Duc Anh and his friends were woken up to the sound of cracking ice while lying in their tent...

Ollie Le Nguyen

ollielenguyen@gmail.com February 19, 2022 | 07:21

Lu Huu Duc Anh is a 24 years old enthusiast traveler, currently living and working freelance in Korea. Due to the upcoming return to Vietnam in March, Duc Anh wants to take advantage of the remaining time in the land of kimchi to explore the winter and gain new experiences.

On the occasion of Tet, Duc Anh was invited by his Korean friends to camp on a frozen river in Andong, the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. Andong city is located in the south of Seoul, Korea. Visitors can come here by car or train. Duc Anh's camping site is about 300 km from Seoul and can only be accessed by private car.

Vietnamese tourists camp on frozen river

Viewed from Duc Anh's sleeping tent are the ice surface and the frozen waterfall on the cliff. Photo: Luu Duc Anh

Accompanied Duc Anh on the 2-day-one-night camping trip is Onaga - his close brother, Tuan - his roommate in Seoul, along with his Korean friends who have climbed mountains with him before.

"Camping on the ice" is a keyword that many travel enthusiasts in Korea are interested in. Getting in the car with everyone, Duc Anh still brought with him a feeling of skepticism because he thought the south was warmer, nor did he see any sign of the cold when the two sides of the road were mostly harvested fields, leaving stubbles dry in the sun. flamboyant. However, when the car turned towards the road deep into the mountains, people saw more and more rivers with frozen water.

Duc Anh's photo from the trip. Photo: Luu Duc Anh

"As soon as I got to the place where the cold air from the frozen river below hit me, it made me more excited than ever, I immediately took out my phone to livestream to share this moment with everyone," Duc Anh said.

In this frozen river area of Andong, visitors can enjoy camping, watching the Milky Way at night, also skating, climbing frozen waterfalls, fishing, and so on.

Duc Anh's photo from the trip. Photo: Luu Duc Anh

After setting up camp, the whole group gathered around to unload things from the car and set up the first tent. It was the largest tent for gathering, eating, and storing things, and then came the individual sleeping tents.

Duc Anh's photo from the trip. Photo: Luu Duc Anh

After setting up all the camper's tents, everyone returned to the gathering to eat. What is better to have while you're eating a meal on the frozen ice river and the freezing cold than to enjoy Korean-style BBQ and a steaming pot of freshly cooked rice.

After the meal, everyone wandered around to sight-see and take pictures. They only return to the tent when the sun went down and they are ready to eat again. The aroma of the smoky grilled intestines made it so difficult to resist. After having dinner, while some people stayed up at night photographing the galaxy, Duc Anh decided to fall asleep.

Although Duc Anh has been exposed to the cold from mountaineering and camping trips, sleeping on the ice for the first time would still going to be his most memorable night. Because without the two extra pads Onaga gave him, the young man certainly wouldn't be able to sleep. Photo: Luu Duc Anh

The first time he slept on the ice, Duc Anh was really lost in preparation and thought he had brought enough clothes to deal with the cold from the ice underneath. Luckily, Onaga gave him two more pads so Duc Anh could sleep well.

However, sleep is not peaceful when sometimes you would hear the crackling sound below the ice. The anxiety climaxed when a strong rift accompanied by the screams from the group sleeping in the tent beside, leaving everyone bewildered. Perhaps because they fear was taken a toll on them so the team packed up the tent and left.

The others continued to sleep until about 3 am, Duc Anh woke up saw Tuan was still awake. Tuan told him about what had happened. Duc Anh decided to put on a jacket to go outside to have a look, he noticed that there were more crack marks on the ice and there were a few tents missing. Some cracks were so big you could reach out and feel the water. However, at that time, it was difficult to get Tuan out for ice cracks exploration because he was afraid of the cold. Finally, Duc Anh had to leave the thought and by the time the sun came out, everyone woke up, had breakfast, and their bodies were gradually warming up.

Korean friends camping in Andong stayed up all night waiting to take pictures of the galaxy. Photo: Luu Duc Anh

After more food and drink until noon, the group got on track to get back to Seoul. According to Duc Anh, this place is difficult to reach without a private car because there is no public transport available here. If you are in Korea, have local friends and love to travel and experience new things, this is definitely an ideal place to camp, especially in winter.

First time camping on a frozen river, Duc Anh learned a lot of useful experiences. Before choosing a campsite on the ice, it is necessary to survey the surrounding terrain, check that the ice surface is hard and thick enough to stay. When going on a camping trip, you need to have enough basic equipment, and you should use a hand drill to set the tent rather than a hammer to avoid breaking the ice.

Specifically, to keep your body warm in winter, you must have a sleeping bag that can withstand the cold up to -10 degrees Celsius, an insulated sleeping mattress with ice tops, ice-insulating foam pads and sleeping pads, and a warm blanket. If it's too cold, use a portable heating bag.

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