Chuseok Getaway

"We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend"- Robert Louis Stevenson

Chuseok is a long weekend in Korea dedicated to family and giving thanks. Normally the woman work their butts off in the kitchens whilst the men drink their soju and beer. It's the thanksgiving weekend of Korea and as it's a long weekend I'm off exploring. We went to Gwangju in the South of Korea.

Saturday:

I went with Beca and Andy to Gwangju. We got on the train at 7:37 on Saturday morning to catch a bus to Gwangju at the Express bus terminal. Because Chuseok is a public holiday and a family weekend the bus trip ended up being 7 hours instead of 3 hours. This changed our plans quite a lot. 

Damyang- Bamboo Forest

After a little this way, no that way discussion we decided to take another bus (bus 311-30min) to go see the bamboo forest in Damyang. We got there and first we walked completely in the wrong direction. When we finally got to the bamboo forest after multiple queries for directions the staff told us that we couldn't go in because the place closes in 15 min. We were so bummed since we couldn't go in that we bought beer, went to the river, sat on a rock and drank a cup of beer. We still had all our baggage with us since there was no time to get to the hostel to drop the bags first. After going for dinner at a Korean restaurant we hopped on the bus and made our way to the hostel. 

We based ourselves in Gwangju and from there we took buses to the neighbouring towns. The hostel was really nice. They had a massage chair in the one room and since we were the only people in the hostel the all weekend we spent about an hour and a half taking turns experiencing the magic of this chair. It was really amazing. The first night we had a beer nightcap got to know each others sleeping habits as well as other habits really well. I must say these people are really great, down to earth and super fun. I just love travelling with them. Having the whole hostel to ourselves was like playing the three bears searching for Goldilocks. We didn't know when we will have visitors but every time we got back to the hostel we checked all the beds to see if Goldilocks is us paying a visit. 

Sunday:

Boseong - Tea Fields and Yulpo - naked public bath 

The Sunday we made our way to the green tea fields. The journey there was quite interesting. We learnt one valuable lesson: Don't follow directions on the Korea tourism site. It's way outdated or just plain wrong. We ended up in a very small town and had to take a taxi to get to the green tea fields. When we arrived we got ourselves each a green tea ice cream which tastes delicious. I wanted more but there was still a few other things to try out. We started walking towards the plantations on this stunning path with pine trees on each side creating a very exquisite look. We bought our tickets and in we went to explore our environment. And man was it beautiful. I got a second breath smelling the freshness  of the pine trees, bamboos and green tea plantations and the abundance of oxygen in the air really did my body good. We just had to take a lot of pictures. We enjoyed the breeze and sun whilst walking around the park following the route set out. The route had quite a lot of stairs which killed us. We realised very quickly we were not stair climbing fit. We'll have to work on that one. The lookout point was super nice and you could see the ocean in the distance. We made our way to the restaurant for lunch and had some Bibimbap with rice boiled in green tea. It was superb. After lunch we missioned to the bamboo forest and man that was awesome. Quite unique thing to see in nature, definitely different from South Africa and the only thing I thought about was "where is the koala bear." 

It was time to grab the bus and go to a Yulpo Haesu Nokchatang spa . We found out there is one that uses green tea and sea salt and we just had to go try it out. We got to the sauna and the group got a little split up. Men and women go to different floors. The reason is simple- everybody gets naked. Beca and I got our towels (face towels sized) and locker, got undressed and tried to over ourselves up but that was simply a fail with the size of the towels we got. Everyone is naked, walking around naked, bathing together naked with nothing covered up or shaved. For the two of us that was quite a weird experience since we normally always cover up and shave... Like we would normally say: "It's a western thing." But not today. Everybody was giving each other a scrub so, you know, we had to do what the Koreans do. We got ourselves a little scrub cloth. Lets just say we got really close and comfortable today. Crossed all boundaries. The spa was on the beach with a very nice view from all the baths. To take in the whole experience we went to watch the sunset although we were on the wrong side of the coastal line. There is nothing like the smell of salt in the air and feeling sand between your toes. It was time to head back home after that. We were quite tired and relaxed after all we did. 

Tired enough to go to sleep rather than going out and exploring the city? NO!!!! After a nice massage in the massage chair for about 20 min each we headed out to find some beer. We saw a Speakeasy bar on the Internet but when we got there it was closed. So we went on an adventure and in our mission to find beer we stopped at a "photo bong" or photo booth like we know it to take some selfies with Mickey and Minnie mouse ears and gigantic glasses with no glass. Four epic photos were taken, edited, printed and shared. But the beer idea never left and off we went on our mission. Wam bam right in front of us was the (Two) Fingers tap house calling our names. It was definitely on great place to be. Their house beer wasn't half bad and they had a sampler set of 4 beers which Andy and I shared. I think I made up my mind that I'm not an Ale fan but it tasted great nonetheless. I still prefer Cass although a lot of people would say it tastes like piss whatever that's suppose to mean. After a few beers, dancing a little, laughing a lot and being music video critics we headed back home. It was one amazing fun-filled day. 

Monday:

Suncheon Bay - Folk Village and Eco Park: 

Monday we had quite a day. Everything went right. We woke to a beautiful sunny day and fresh air had our coffee and toast, took a shower to freshen up and did some facial art. We grabbed a taxi to the bus terminal and from there a bus to Suncheon bay. Suncheon Bay is definitely a place for those individuals who love nature. The beauty is spectacular. We went to the Nagan folk village to learn a little more about the Korean culture and to see how they traditionally lived before developments started. They built small little reed roofed clay houses surrounded with a little wall. This village was build inside the palace walls built in the time of Joseon dynasty. Each family contributed to the community by farming with something. Each house had their own veggie garden and still today it get maintained. They had a nice traditional musical show when we arrived and a parade showing how the kings, Queens, princes and princesses were carried around on pedestals. We also got to wear the Hanbok and took some pictures. It was so hot underneath the hanbok that we couldn't stand it for very long. 

Thereafter we took a bus to the Suncheon Bay Ecological Park to make it in time for sunset. We had to transfer between buses and sat around for almost an hour waiting for the bus. We started asking the locals if this is even the stop we were suppose to be at because the bus ain't coming. Turned out we were at the wrong bus stop on the wrong side of the road and the park was literally just around the corner. Taxi it was and we got to the park in time to enter just before sunset. There was a wooden walkway that was built between the reeds and man it was beautiful. There was crabs everywhere on the soil and birds singing songs to my heart. In Seoul you hardly ever see a bird never ind hearing a bird. There was flocks of birds everywhere nesting in the reeds. We watched the sun go to sleep and the sky turned into beautiful orange, pink, purple and blue arts with a silver lining on the clouds. The reflections of the sun coloured the waters. We took the path up the mountain to have a panoramic view of the wetlands. We could see the ocean from the top with the turns and twists of the river and the shadings in the sky. Coming from a city area there is really nothing like nature to sooth your soul, put a smile on your face, help the thinking process and just adore life and it's given beauty. It was a beautiful day but most of all enjoying it with these two people really made it even more special. We joked around so much, singing and dancing in the streets, stressing together, figuring things out together and trying to talk Korean together (I took the back seat with that one). It was really great and definitely what was needed. 

Tuesday:

Since we were based in Gwangju and haven't exactly really explored the city we lived in yet we decided to take a field trip of explorations. Gwangju isn't as big as Seoul but it's still pretty big with quite a lot of hidden treasures. We headed off to one of these which is known as the Art street. We walked around there for quite some time before heading back home for a nap. After everything we did the weekend our batteries had to be recharged. 

Now it's time to return home and although we were on time for our bus the bus wasn't in time for us. The station is in total chaos with everyone waiting for their bus to pitch up. The Chuseok traffic is not a joke and after an hour delay we hope we'll be in Seoul on time to catch the train back home. 

Thanks Andy and Beca for yet another one for the books. It's always great fun to hang with you guys and touring together as well as getting lost.