When I and Hasan, my colleague whom I went with, finally arrived in Incheon-Seoul, there were already people from KARI waiting for us and guided us to take the limousine bus to Daejeon. It was a 3 hours drive from Incheon to Daejeon. In Daejeon, again, the nice people from KARI was already there to pick us up and took us to Innopolis Daedeok Guest House. The GH room was very clean and spacious for me, the bed was comfy enough.
The very first participants that I met were from Gistda Thailand, these two and the people from Pakistan were then my close friends for two weeks in Daejeon. Daejeon is a clean and nice city, it was spring when I was there. It's a smart city as there are lots of Research Institutes in Daejeon. "It's Daejeon" the city's slogan, "It's" actually stands for Interesting, Tradition & culture, Science & technology (http://wikitravel.org/en/Daejeon).
The first day of the training went well and fun, Dr. Choi made it fun. There were total 20 participants from 11 countries attended this training. The subject I liked the most was the Space Policy and Space Law, perhaps because I sometimes deal with the frequency regulation stuff in my office, and because of these subjects, I now happened to know more about them. This training was not always in class, but we got to visit some of the coolest places (at least for me). KARI even let us experienced a hands-on satellite operation & tracking! We got to see their (upcoming-when we were there) launched satellite, KOMPSAT-3. So very cool experience, we got to see and even entered the Assembly, Integration and Testing room !
On weekend they took us for a cultural experience, we went to Gyeongju, it was 4 hours drive from Daejeon, I think. This place was so beautiful, this was where we learned about the Silla millenium culture. Saw and amazed by the Bulguksa Temple, stone temple Seokguram Grotto and The Royal Tombs. We experienced wearing the Royal Costume etc. But before visiting these beautiful places, we also went to visit the Satrec and Satrec Initiative ( now I know the difference between them!), and one of another coolest thing was when KARI took us to visit the Hyundai Automobiles factory, simple yet amazing.
My first Sunday there, I already planned with Tania (the Thai girl) that we would be going to Nami Island, no matter what. So that Sunday morning, we and some of the guys head to Seoul by riding KTX, went along with us was Ms. Soyoung. After some souvenirs shopping in Insadong, we just split up with the rest of the guys, they all went to the Grand Palace while Ms. Soyoung nicely assisting me and Tania to Yongsan Station where we would be riding KTX to Gapyeong station, arrived in Gapyeong after an hour, we took a taxi to the Pier. We had a delicious Ddakgalbi for lunch (expensive though) before entering Nami Island. The tickets were sold in the Immigration (ticket booths) yeah, this Naminara Republic is an imaginary country, we have to get the 'visa' to enter this island.
The visa entry costs KRW8,000 that includes round trip ferry. This place is good for family and couples. You can also enjoy a bungee jumping and a few attractions as well here. Spent the whole afternoon here with lots and lots of picture-takings. We continued our trip to Myeongdong for another souvenir shopping.
It was already pass midnight when we reached the GH in Daejeon. But it was all worth it!
Our second week of training was filled with Remote Sensing and all about Space subjects. KARI took us to visit Nagan Folk Village, NARO Space Center, Korean Aerospace Industry and Korean Air factory, so very cool isn't it? so darn lucky I was! ;-)
The closing ceremony was solemnly simple, so sad realizing that it was all over. KARI made a video clip from combined pictures with funny comments, it was beautiful, we all loved it.
The next day, some of the participants were already gone back to their home, while for the rest of those who still stayed, KARI booked us a room in Koreana Hotel in Seoul. Before checking in, they took us to Gyeongbokgung Palace with a nice lady as our guide who told us the history. We also learned how to make gold patterns which usually found printed on Hanboks.
The Koreana Hotel located close to the City Hall and Insadong is only within walking distance. The Hop On Hop Off Seoul City Tour Bus is right next to their door. There's a restaurant that served delicious Ssamgyetang close to the Hotel.
The KARI staff was still there in the Hotel to assist us to take the bus to Incheon Airport, although we were the only ones left.
Thanks so much to KARI for given me this amazing experience, and thanks as well to LAPAN for chosen me, it was an incredible trip !
Full Pictures here
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