It been almost a month since I came back from a short visit to South Korea. I am writing about our day trip to the country side which led us to this wonderful place called Jinhae.
March 31, 2014 was a perfect day to be in Jinhae in South Korea. As the Koreans would say 대박! We were so lucky to be in this place the right time. I made our booking as early as October 2013 with little hope that we will get to see cherry blossoms. Heavens conspired with our earnest desire to see this wonderful event. Our flight back is April 1, a day before we go back to homeland we spent the whole day in Jinhae walking. Yes…after getting off the bus terminal we never took a bus or taxi and roamed around walking.
Everywhere we set our eyes, there was cherry blossoms. Jinhae is hometown to the biggest cherry blossoms in South Korea. It was a good decision to be there a day before the festival. Almost all the trees are in full bloom.
Since this is a day before the actual festival, there were no direct Korail routes yet. During the actual festival a special train schedule is made available by Korail that takes passenger from Seoul direct to Jinhae. However, on ordinary days, the express bus is the fastest and most convenient way to go to Jinhae. From Seoul, the Nambu Bus Terminal has regular bus trips to Jinhae.
The terminal is right outside Nambu Bus Terminal subway station of the green line. It was convenient to take this line as our hostel is in Hongdae. This bus terminal is pretty organized. We were able to buy our ticket in advance and the bus left on time as scheduled.
The cherry blossoms appears to be the main attraction but in the festival is to commemorate Korean Admiral Yi who led a successful battle with Japanese. This festival is called 군항제 (Gunhangje).
The streets were getting ready for the first day of festival when we arrived. There were food stalls line just before the main rotunda. We had a taste of Korean street food from this lane.
There were lots of choices for the food and seems like roasted pork is one of the speciality being offered. In the Philippines we call this lechon. Having these stalls around gave me a taste of what the festival could be minus the crowd. That day, there were many people but it was manageable.
Finally, a day in Jinhae will not be complete without seeing this wonderful place–the Yeojwacheon. It’s like the Cheonggye stream in Seoul, it was a long path walk but this one is lined up with cherry blossoms.
The place was breath taking. This made me realize that what I saw last 2013 was too little compared to this. It felt like an endless walk. I told my self, this is what 벚꽃 (beotkkot) is. The sakura of Korea.
The weather was perfect for walking. It was not too cold nor hot. This is what one perfect spring day should be. This was one of the most memorable day I had in South Korea.
The trip to Jinhae was the culminating part in of our visit to South Korea this year. The cherry blossoms brought happiness and energy to us. This is something that I would definitely want to do again.
It Started with Hangul 