all the green tea things

Martha and I took a little day trip to Boseong Green Tea Plantation. It's located in the South Jeolla province and luckily just a couple of hours outside of Yeosu by bus.

Actually, it took us two busses--one to get us to the Boseong station, and a second heading towards Yulpo. We met a kind local that was heading in that direction too and helped us out, also making sure we got the right bus along with her. On the way, the bus driver made a stop and yelled out "nok-cha!" (meaning 'green tea') and stared at us a few seconds longer and we realized maybe we should get off here too (earlier than we'd expected haha). We said farewell to the kind stranger and found that the place of our green tea dreams was just a short walk down the road!

We grabbed our first green tea ice cream of the day and walked down the path which was lined with tall and admittedly majestic cedar trees.

You know those moments where you feel like time slows down and you want to breathe in a little deeper?

This day was full of 'em.

Since we were pretty hungry, we grabbed lunch at a place subtly named "Heaven" and ordered a Green Tea Beef Casserole for two option, which did not look anything like casserole to us. It was delicious nonetheless (below is a photo of all the fresh ingredients before they were reduced in the boiling broth). The outdoor decor was charming. Repurposed old kimchi/gochujang jars as planter pots.

All fuelled up, we got our tickets and went inside the park area. We took a path that lead up past a fountain and a gift shop and that's when I caught my first glimpse of the fields.

The little bit of research I did before our trip did not prepare me for how I would feel when I finally saw them for myself. You can't contain the grandeur in a simple photo. It's like looking out at the ocean, or sitting under a sky full of stars. You feel so small.

The fields stretch as far and wide as you can see and up the side of a huge mountain. Absolutely incredible.

We walked and walked and went up and up.

I even went all the way to the top to see the view. A sweet, Korean lady saw me struggling to take a selfie--haha, embarrassing--and kindly offered to take one for me as I was about to head back down. It turned into a family ordeal as she couldn't hit the right button on my iPhone, so her husband hopped over to do it, but then the daughter tried to help instead, then he was motioning that she should take it from the waist up and took over again. Slightly more embarrassing, but SUPER sweet that they all took it upon themselves to get me a nice photo up there! Here's the result of that teamwork:

(Martha and I took some pretty great selfies together too, but they were on her camera, sorry guys!)

Also, there were sooo many flowers!

So, we mightttt have bought a thing or two at the gift store of ALL THINGS GREEN TEA (literally, if you can imagine it, you can probably put green tea in it) and we maybeee got a second scoop of ice cream, each (although, mine was technically an apocato- a delicious ice cream and coffee combo), along with an actual cup of green tea, and a green tea churro on the side, but I'll try and keep some mystery. 

Or, not:

Why choose between hot and cold? Get BOTH. ^^

To get back we waited at a little bus shelter on the opposite side of the road that we got off at (which entailed going down the street and through a tunnel, not as straightforward as that originally sounded, friends!), but a taxi came by and brought Martha and I to the bus terminal along with two other young women who were visiting from Australia. It was nice to meet new people and hear about how they were enjoying their travels.

The bus back to Yeosu felt much faster than the ride there, as the way all trips do. I heard there's a place where you can actually bathe in green tea which intrigues me enough to want to go back and try it some time, if not to simply stare at this lucious, ocean of green.

yer spring

Today felt like the first real taste of Spring. It felt good.

I went for an afternoon walk with one of my friends around the perimeter of Goraksan (or, Gorak mountain, if you remember from my last post!). The sunlight was pouring through the trees and we weren't the only ones out and about, as usual!

I had originally planned to go to the top again, but I'm glad I was convinced otherwise. It was nice to try something different. There were many interesting grave sites/cemeteries along the path, which I didn't find creepy at the time, just interesting. Looking back now I might reconsider!

Afterwards, we went to a little restaurant and I got to try the famous bibimbap (비빔밥) for the first time! It came with a few more side dishes that I hadn't seen before, like pickled jellyfish and zucchini, clams, oyster kimchi and crab marinated in soy sauce. I don't know if being told what it all was made me braver to try it, but I gave it all a taste and I survived! I quite liked it, in fact. I didn't even know that you could eat jellyfish, but then again, why am I surprised?

I'm slowly getting used to using chopsticks. I can't help but think of the scene in Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is majorly struggling over a bowl of porridge. If you can picture that, well that's pretty much me with chopsticks. Today, however, I felt a little more like Belle.

Maybe I will try live octopus before I leave this country, after all. I seem to be working myself up to it.

And, I'll even eat it with chopsticks.

lunar new year (hiking wolchulsan)

The highlight of our Lunar New Year was spending it climbing Wolchul mountain in Korea's smallest national park. It may be the smallest, but I think it holds the biggest mountain I've ever climbed! Wolchulsan means "mountain where the moon rises" and apparently has beautiful views at sunset. We didn't stay till sunset, but the views were still incredible.

Fun fact: "-san" actually means "mountain" in Korean. :)

Thursday morning we woke bright and early to catch the bus from Gwangju to Yeongam. About an hour or so in length, it was a little nerve wracking not knowing exactly where to get off the bus. Many of the towns sounded the same and all the signs I saw along the way were written in Korean! 

Luckily, we waited long enough and the bus terminal was written in English - "Yongam." I think it ended up being the fourth stop and we knew we were in the right place. We caught a taxi to get the rest of the way to the mountain and were there so early that we didn’t see anyone at first. The information centre we first came across looked closed, but luckily I tried the door anyway and we scored ourselves an “English” trail map. We walked along a little garden of statues on the way to the trail. 

After a little stretching (because they have areas with outdoor signs with stretching poses for you to use!) we started our journey. The incline of the path was already warning us of what our legs were in for that day! We hit a fork in the road and chose the path that lead to a waterfall. It turned out to be the best idea because the path was well made, and ran next to a river and had gorgeous views. The water was so calming as the stairs burned, haha. There were so. many. stairs. At some points it was so steep to climb that there were ladders, too. 

Eventually we had the cloud bridge in view and that motivated us to keep going! We were so close!

When we got closer to the top, the weather started getting colder. As we went along we were passing signs that said “Watch out for Lightning”, “Watch out for Falling Rocks” but finally, we came to signs that said “Watch out for Falling Ice” we realized that there was more and more snow near the top and we looked around and found icicles! Finally, some winter here in Korea!

And then, we reached it! The Cloud Bridge! We couldn’t believe how high we were! We crossed the 52-meters suspended 120 meters from the ground. We made it!

We wanted to continue on to the peak but the trail is closed off until the end of February. We made our way down by a different path but boy was that difficult. It was all natural rock, not much to hold onto and there were patches of ice and mud that we had to try and navigate.

The best part was talking to the fellow hikers! Korean hikers seem to be the happiest people! Smiles and hellos and exhausted faces rooting each other on. Despite the language barriers, we still all communicated and it was such a lovely experience. There was a sweet couple from Seoul that stopped for a few minutes to talk to us. They asked us where we were all from, and even gave Fran a hug when he found out she was Christina’s mother! It was their first time climbing the mountain too and we offered each other encouragement before we all continued in the opposite directions. Those are the kinds of generous souls that make me happy to be here. 

Nearer to the bottom we walked past a couple of temples, a bamboo forest and a special grave/ memorial. Many beautiful things. To end our day at the mountain we went into the cozy cabin-like restaurant on site and ate spicy ramen soup and breaded pork. So yummy. I also had an iced Jujube tea - a type of fruit not to be confused with the candy back home!

It may have been hard, but I loved every second of it. I don’t think I’ve done anything so beautiful or as challenging as Wolchu mountain. The most pleasant surprise is that I don’t feel very sore after doing it. Climbing all those stairs to my apartment every day over the past month must have made a difference!