[At the airport]
Mummy: how many times have you been to Korea?
Me: *counts fingers* this will be the 7th.
That many, and yet the favs keep getting replaced. That said, this trip was special enough that I doubt it's gonna be overtaken anytime soon!
After a few years of envy and some very close misses, I decided that it was time to prioritise the cherry blossom chase. I have to say that we were VERY lucky for this trip to have gone the way it did, especially dates-wise. After deconflicting across family travel plans (incl giving at least 1 day to do laundry after my Disney cruise), we settled on 1-9 Apr. Forecasts notwithstanding, coz plants do things their own way, we were treated to the full suite of views, from early to full blooms to petal fall! Basically, the blooming occurred earlier than forecast and my original plan to start later (after 5 Apr) would've given us a spectacular view of branches.
Another first is that mummy came along! It was a holiday just for me and mummy, and this was a combi that I felt brought out the best of this trip - it was important that we're both walkers. And to my benefit, I gained a rather talented personal photographer and got to eat 3 square meals a day, which doesn't usually happen during solos haha. Mummy likes flowers/plants, so I was all the more thankful that the flowers showed up and she could experience a regular travel destination of mine in its most beautiful form.
There's even a bonus. Despite planning in isolation, the stars aligned enough for a few good friends to feature on this trip! I've never taken these occurrences for granted over the years. And, this makes 3 out of 3 for workplaces yielding travel-worthy friends ^^
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Day 1, 1 Apr, Wed: Busan
For the very first time, I arrived in a Korea engulfed in pastel pink.
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| The cherry blossom viewing actually started in the air with those tiny pink pompoms far below! |
But first, to hotel for a nap. Gimhae airport just wasn't spec-ed for the cherry blossom peak and I was zombiefied after queuing 1.5h at immigrations. Mummy was holding up well by comparison.
It was brunchtime by the time we got out for the first meal at Seomyeon Market. We shared a kimbap and kalguksu (and couldn't finish the noodles between us) while watching the Korean OL at the next table enjoying the same amount on her own.
πΈ#1: Oncheoncheon
λλμ΄! Despite the gloomy skies, despite the tiredness, I was in awe when we finally approached our very first cherry trees!
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| Wahhhhh! Even if there were objectively better views to come, the first will always be special. |
There were other more well known viewing locations in Busan but they all came with hills which I was keen to avoid. As is, the trip would involve lots of walking and stairs and as fit as mummy is for her age group, there was no need to push it on holiday. Going down the listings, Oncheoncheon seemed like a chill place plus it had a cafe street and it turned out as perfect as it sounded.
While that first view of endless cherry trees (they literally went on for kilometers) lining the stream on both sides was amazing enough, the magic intensified as we got closer. The stream sat in a gully and we had a choice between taking the stream-side jogging path made of colourful rubber or the boardwalk up on the hillside. We opted for the boardwalk which took us right amongst the flowers.
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| View from the boardwalk i.e. blossoms + people at stream-level. |
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| Mummy: looks like HDB. |
Mummy doesn't like stairs but she unleashed her hidden photographer and gladly went on and off the boardwalk to get her shots. Not surprising since excitement tends to be peak at first sightings and there was a photo opportunity every few steps. The trees were literally growing through the boardwalk so it was an amazing 3D experience (cherry blossoms don't seem to have much scent otherwise it would've been 4D) and even small-sized mummy was having to skirt under the low-hanging branches.
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| One of my favourite photos from the trip :D |
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| (Duo 400) Yep I definitely didn't think I was gonna get this kind of proximity and was |
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| (Duo 400) Zoomy lens was also useful for sniping subjects. |
While there was a peaceful churn of locals, there seemed to be hardly any tourists along Oncheoncheon. Or at least there was no sign of the Singaporean accent.
After ogling our way down a stretch, we arrived at a thoughtfully located cafe street just in time for tea. I really should have taken a photo of what we ordered (and everything else we ate on the trip), but alas didn't have presence of mind that afternoon. Anyway that was my mum's first encounter with citron tea which, despite claiming that it was "too sweet", she enjoyed enough to have a few more versions of throughout the trip. We also shared an apple cheese panini which became the first of a small selection of foods that mummy liked enough to recreate at home (Mummy Approved #1). I'd say not a bad showing for Korean food in general on this trip!
Eventually, we had to leave the cherry trees :') No matter, since that was only Day 1 and there was lots more in the plans! Since that was practically our only day in Busan on the "Busan" leg, I thought mummy should at least see a beach. Well uh... Gwangalli beach is normally vibey and pretty but it just looked sad on that cloudy day. Perfect hindsight would tell me that we needn't have bothered. The uber ride there was also memorable for all the wrong reasons and I'm glad the ride was short and we didn't have a full meal before that. The saving grace was that the road from Oncheoncheon to the beach was teeming with cherry trees in full bloom.
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| Sad beach. |
Days after a red-eye flight usually end early, and we defo needed our energy for the next full day out and about.
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| Dinner was a rather normal Korean set meal at Lotte, but then we passed this lovely array of bakes that I was wayyy too full to get but might totally have skipped dinner for had I been travelling solo xD |
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| No space for pastries but these chamoe (Korean melon) caught our eyes. It had the deep sweetness of honey dew and a crunchy texture somewhere between rock melon and cucumber. |
Day 2, 2 Apr, Thu: Gyeongju
Spoiling it first: this day was peak.
There was a guest star on this day - B, to whom I give most credit for the day's itinerary! We got on the earliest reasonable train to Gyeongju where we were blessed with my ideal weather of sunny blue skies and <20 deg C temps. The first location was the furthest away so we hopped on a super VfM cab ride - the first of many throughout the day for time-saving purposes.
πΈ#2: Bulguksa (Park)
At the Bulguksa temple grounds, we were very... confused. Where were the cherry blossoms? It was interesting to explore the temple but that unfortunately wasn't the objective (sorry, temple). What more, the few relevant trees looked like they were done with the season coz the ground around them was covered in pretty pink petals.
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| (Duo 400) Very limited pink in the temple grounds but plenty of lush green un-autumn leaves. |
After peeking into the various shrines and picking our way up and down the steep staircases, we exited the grounds, still confused. I'd lost my orientation by then but it was clear that we were somewhere different from where we'd begun. Then, we spied some cherry trees a short walk away and thought to go take a look, since we'd already gone all that way.
OH. WOWWW.
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| POV: diving into the sea of cherry trees. |
We crested a sloped road and all of a sudden, cherry blossoms spread to the edge of my vision. There in front of us, at the end of some random road leading away from the carpark, was a sea of cherry trees swaying prettily in the sunlight under the bluest cloud-free sky. "Chef's kiss" doesn't come close to describing such a view.
Our legs automatically took us the rest of the way. Don't care where next and what time, just walk and enjoy. No need to keep off the grass or anything of that sort - everyone was just getting up close with the trees. And there were enough trees to go around! The very first tree in our path was this cotton candy behemoth with some generously low-hanging branches, and that's where we spent like 20 mins marveling and taking photos before moving off to give the rest of the place a chance.
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| (Duo 400) The cutest sighting ever of classes of small children picnicking under the blossoms. |
At some point we encountered a sign specifying our location as Bulguksa Park (λΆκ΅μ¬ 곡μ). So that explained the difference! That park was prob akin to an SG pocket park in size, but we so spent much more time meandering around trees than we would here haha.
So Oncheoncheon from Day 1 was special and played its role well as a fine appetiser - tasty but not too filling, allowing the main dish(es) on Day 2 to shine. Anyway, there were still other (very nice) dishes to come after Bulguksa (Park), but first it was time for an actual meal.
It was part of the plan for mummy to try hanwoo on the trip since it's almost exclusively found in its origin country. Thing is, mummy+me probably wouldn't have had a very successful KBBQ on our own since mummy doesn't eat that much meat and I don't eat... that much. So company was necessary. No surprises that B took on most of the meat eating but mummy enjoyed the free flow sides and salad very much. It was a meal good and filling enough for mummy to declare that we'd have cup ramyeon for dinner back in hotel (which we did)!
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| I can't remember what cuts those were even though we ruminated for quite a while in front of the gigantic chiller lol. But hanwoo is hanwoo and I enjoyed the beef very much. |
πΈ#3: Bomun Lake
Walking is the best thing to do when stuffed, but I think many other factors came in to enable how far we walked for the rest of that afternoon. First was of course, and again, the weather. Sun without sweat provides a great incentive to be active outdoors although mummy, quite alike many Koreans, was scared of getting tanned and insisted on using my umbrella for shade. Secondly, the view:
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| (Ektar 100) Going up the stream towards the lake. If I lived here I'd come out to walk/jog every day. |
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| (Ektar 100) Amazingly picturesque entrance. |
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| (Ektar 100) And it remained good allll the way. |
Nuts I tell you. The good day just kept on giving and giving! I'd be hard pressed to say which part of my favourite day was my favourite, but I think the view of the dense, pastel pink treeline juxtaposing the rich turquoise water gives Bomun Lake the nudge to the top.
A note on the shooting at this point. Up till then I'd simply been going with the flow, i.e. snapping whatever looked nice to my eyes, but at the lake, I felt awoken enough to do some proper composition practice. In this season, social media is flooded with cherry blossom photos from wherever they grow, since it's easy to take nice pictures of pretty things just by pointing a phone at them. That said, there was only so many closeup, dreamy photos of the blossoms that I should be burning film on coz of the lack of locational context.
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| (Ektar 100) But yes, every roll had a bunch of closeup shots of its own haha. |
To differentiate, the framing and the subjects mattered. The frames could only be the branches of cherry blossoms draping over the pathways, like seriously there was no way to avoid them even if I wanted to. Subjects were also aplenty in the form of boats/park furniture/random passers by. Composition involved stopping to look at a scene (my eye-view is like a 28mm lens), identifying the portions that look interesting, and waiting for a subject to unconsciously wander in before shooting. This was where the zoominess came in super handy, because good shots don't need too much in them, just what is necessary. Looks like I was unconsciously hopping on the "what I see vs what I take" trend hurhur.
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| (Ektar 100) View of the rollercoaster with the top-down view of the cherry trees. |
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| (Ektar 100) Bomun Lake yielded my favourite film shot of the entire trip. Great location, great conditions, great film, great camera, and I'd venture to say a good eye here :D |
We covered the entire northeastern bank of Bomun Lake and the leisurely, sunny 1.4km walk was rich with opportunities to practice my craft. The distance we covered was surprising coz, remember, mummy was there too. We did stop for coffee somewhere in the middle, sitting in the shade haha. But other that that, we walked all that way with no one asking to bail. I couldn't think of a better way to enjoy the cherry blossoms than to walk amongst them, so it helped that mummy regularly goes on walks and was sufficiently fit for the rigours of this particular holiday.
After a gloomy Day 1 in Busan, this was such a level up! Again, I have to thank our lucky stars for that day. Had it rained, or had the temps been too low, our experience may have been completely different. I also have to thank B for sharing the realities of visiting Seokchon Lake in Seoul during this season. It was originally my plan to skip Bomun since there would be Seokchon, but I wasn't keen on getting caught up in a cattle drive. Hence, the responsibility for "cherry blossom lake view" fell to Bomun Lake and it rose spectacularly to the occasion!
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| (Ektar 100) Showcasing the grey brick road that we followed till the end. No location in Korea has every disappointed me in terms of walkability thus far. |
As all good things have to end, we reached a carpark which was a fitting place to move on to the next locations which I shall just summarise. Donggung & Wolji Pond was strangely underwhelming for something that was a prominent attraction in Gyeongju. I'm not sure I would revisit. So we moved again to Hwangnidan-gil for a change in environment.
πΈ#3.5: Oreung Stonewall Walkway
The walk continued off Hwangnidan-gil where it started to get pretty hot in our layers as the temps climbed to about 20 deg C. Since we'd have to wait until after dark for the next viewing, and mummy's legs were finally getting a little tired, we parked ourselves at a very conveniently located and picturesque cafe to chill and wait for the sun to finish setting.
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| (Fujifilm 200) Yes, it was just Day 2 and I was 3 rolls of film deep hahaha. Can't blame me right, look at the golden light filtering through the petals! |
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| (Fujifilm 200) Even the cafe deserves a shot. |
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| (Fujifilm 200) This cafe was like an oasis in how it appeared it the otherwise rather quiet neighbourhood, just where mummy wanted to have a break. |
Spoiler alert, we would have to move again. But even if it was not the right stonewall, the Oreung Stonewall stretch of cherry trees still held their own in the fading light. Just as suddenly as the temps dropped, we realised that we were at the wrong place (the peacefulness in that area was telling). Thankfully, there was a bus arriving shortly that would take us to where we had meant to go.
πΈ#4: Daereungwon Stonewall Walkway
There was no doubt that we were at the right place when we got there! For mummy and me, that was the only time in the trip that we got to see the night cherry view, and this was all thanks to B's plan. I probably would've been unaware of it otherwise and my usual practice is not to end days late. But this was worth it so many times over.
Similar to the wrong place, the Daereungwon Stonewall was a road lined with cherry trees on both sides. The difference was that the walkways were purposed for night viewing with strong up-facing lights set into the path. The road itself was closed off in preparation for a festival (that we were one day too early for), so there was plenty of room to walk and marvel amidst the moderate crowd. Again, infinite photo ops as the whole stretch was filled with trees at peak bloom, creating a fluffy white tunnel against the night sky. Phone only, coz low iso travel-safe film doesn't do well at night, even with flash (I did try).
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| Very different from daytime and just as stunning! |
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| Like masses of lit cotton wool. |
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| As if the day hadn't been epic enough, we got some sort of supermoon that night. No photo can do justice to the view of a fiery orb framed by cherry blossoms in the black sky. |
Towards the end of the path, there was a long queue to get a shot of a break in the cherry canopy which was apparently heart-shaped. Mummy and me didn't join the throng since we needed to leave and catch our train, satisfied with the day's haul.
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| Taken from the wrong side of the "heart". I really don't bother sometimes xD |
As we made our way back to our promised cup ramyeon dinner/supper, I thought to myself that this day would be unbeatable. Turns out I was right, but the following days were nothing to sniff at either. As mentioned, huge credit goes to B for shaping the itinerary. In another universe where our trips did not overlap, mummy and I might've had a less epic day out at Gyeongju. We parted ways at Daereungwon but not to fret, useful-friend B features again in the Seoul leg!
Day 3, 3 Apr, Fri: Jinhae
After the long Day 2, we got to start the day a little later since our tour pickup was in the afternoon. The irony is that I ended up waking earlier on average on holiday than at work but well, fun times are more worth maximising. We did some shopping around the station to pass time, where mummy procured some cardigans and a hat to shield her skin from the diabolical sunshine.
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| Hills are everywhere in Korea, such as this rather steep linkway from the station to Lotte. |
We packed some standby food in the form of a giant bao-like meat-filled mandu from Seomyeon Market and off we went on the tour bus to Jinhae. Tour, because I couldn't find online bookings for transport to and from Busan and wasn't about to risk getting stranded in another city during its busiest season for visiting.
πΈ#4: Gyeonghwa Station
Before we got off the bus at our first stop in Jinhae, we were primed to expect cherry blossoms and more cherry blossoms! And crowds and more crowds! This was drummed into us so much by the tour guide, in both English and Mandarin, that it ended up feeling not too bad in real life. Sure, there were a lot of people, but there were enough cherry blossoms and walking space to go around. I judged this from the slight challenge faced in framing photos so that they weren't overly busy. The crowds thinned out significantly towards both ends and it was rather peaceful, but I reckon that this wouldn't be the case on weekends.
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| Intense view! Even as we headed to the toilet first after getting off the bus haha. |
Even after seeing 1.5 day's worth of blossoms, the trees at this location were intriguing. On the main section of the old railway, one side had short cute trees but the ones at the other side were huge and like extra drapey, almost as though they were bid to grow in a sine curve right over the walkway. We wondered if this was the result of pruning or a more hard-handed approach as in the case of bonsais. In any case, these were mature trees at peak bloom. Hence, someone about 10% taller than myself would've been getting eye sockets full of cherry blossoms if they didn't duck, whichever side of the railway they walked on.
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| In the embrace of the mature trees. |
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| Even the smaller trees held their own! |
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| Me for scale. |
Of all the locations we visited thus far, Gyeonghwa Station exemplified the appeal of cherry tree tunnels. I just had to look up at any point and there was a neat skyline of blossoms under the weak sunlight. Closer to ground, the sine curve branches were also super useful for getting macro shots. So I shot them! ... And then realised later when reloading that the half-roll left over from the previous night at Daereungwon was overexposed... I'd forgotten to switch back to metered shutter from flash sync. That meant that all Jinhae shots so far were overexposed by ~2-4 stops. Oh well, it's not film without some user error at times, and luckily, the wronged roll was a common Fujifilm 200. The heartache would've been much greater if say it had been the Ektar or the Fujicolor.
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| (Fujifilm 200) Not all was bad though, like this extra dreamy close up shot. |
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| (Fujifilm 200) I guess overexposure can also pass off as vibes sometimes. |
Thankfully, we had a luxurious 2h at this stop which I felt was just right even though the place wasn't very big. Mummy was happy to sit on a bench and rest beneath the flowery sky and so was I, after reloading and going another round to re-take the shots I wanted. Compared to our long walks on the previous day, the Gyeonghwa Station stretch was short at about 400m tops. Only thing was that walking on the pebbly tracks required careful foot placement to avoid rolling ankles or twisting knees. On hindsight, this was probably one of the elements that made the day more tiring overall, since more muscles were activated in the simple act of walking.
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| View from the bench! |
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| (Kodacolor 100) Closeup shot checked. |
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| (Kodacolor 100) What I prob looked like getting that closeup shot haha. |
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| (Kodacolor 100) While sitting, we listened to this talented violinist play a very recognisable repertoire (e.g. My Heart Will Go On and other western songs) which seemed to cater to tourists. |
Compared to the first two days, we encountered a more noticeable proportion of tourists. Not surprising since we were part of one busload full, but it was a surprise to see a whole group of Japanese tourists. Maybe they wanted a different cherry blossom experience from their domestic ones.
After typing so much above, I still have something important to describe. We saw our first petal rain at this location! I thought we might come across it since the trip was sufficiently long, but didn't expect to see it for the first time on Day 3. The trees at Gyeonghwa were soooo dense so losing a flurry of petals didn't seem to make much of a difference to them. So we got the best of both worlds there - a magical petal rain beneath a skyful of flowers!
After a long enough time to marinate in Gyeonghwa, we popped back onto the bus to the next famous location.
πΈ#5: Yeojwacheon
Second of the cheons visited on this trip and probably one the most famous in Korea during cherry blossom season. As the guide said, we would be flanked by the trees at Gyeonghwa but experience the opposite at Yeojwacheon. Here, they were planted along a narrow stream with boardwalks built on the outsides.
Sorry but I immediately thought of it as a pretty longkang oops. I shared this with mummy who added on that there was a pasar malam. She meant the festival food vendors lining the entire stretch beyond the boardwalks haha. No we did not snack coz we wanted to eat a proper dinner. Had I been solo-ing I totally would've bought a cheese hotdog or something and spoiled my dinner xD
It's by no means the fault of the stream but by that time, it'd become completely overcast and the view suffered a downgrade. Nevertheless, it was a cherry blossom tunnel and a rather cozy one. We joined the orderly one-way march on the narrow boardwalk.
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| Spot mummy and me! |
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| Both pretty and... a lil dreary. |
Each section of the stream featured a different rainbow-coloured display, some of which would be lit up at night. Also pleasing to the eye was the sight of the pastel petals peppering the stone bottom of the stream.
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| (Kodacolor 100) What everyone saw. |
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| What I think everyone also saw but was interesting to me xD |
Looking at the map, I'd estimated the festival stretch of Yeojwacheon to be no more than 1.2km one way, i.e. very similar to mummy's regular walking route at the Tampines canal. There was a small wetland park at the end of the festival stretch so we agreed to walk there and then turn back to find dinner. What I didn't account for was a very slight incline on the way up. So slight that it really couldn't count as a hill but still it was perceivable to both mummy and me, almost like we were wearing light ankle weights all the way.
Compared to everything we'd seen up to that point, the wetland park was just a park with a few cherry trees. However, the un-autumn leaves were plentiful so it prob would've been more beautiful in a different season. So we turned back to find dinner and heading the other way down was a breeze.
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| (Kodacolor 100) No I did not apply any melancholic filter, that's just how it turned out. Still got vibes~ |
It was getting to stew temps by that point so we sat down at a pinned place in the map provided by the tour guide. It felt authentic in that there was no English menu and halfway through our meal, a bunch of local police officers came in to eat, prob after ending their crowd-control shift. I could at least read the menu enough to order a kimchi pork jjigae, but required some gesturing from the owner to understand that for 2 pax, we could only choose one stew type. During the time our food took to come, I did more slow reading of the words on a wall and realised that those were the instructions haha.
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| This was really tasty and I was hungry. But no matter how hungry I am, Korean portions always lead to leftovers >.< |
Possibly compounding from Day 2, mummy was definitely tired towards the end. We skipped the light ups back at the stream because it would involve walking back up the not-quite-a-hill and instead found a cafe to relax at. Just like dinner, the cafe had no English menu and, instead of turning to papago, I opted to do enough reading practice to order us some fruit teas - grapefruit for mummy (too sweet) and lemon for me! Finally, it was time to take the bus back to Busan and end off another ~20k steps day.
Day 4, 4 Apr, Fri (AM): Busan --> Seoul
Early breakfast was accompanied by a view of the pouring rain. There was just one umbrella between us since the other had gone hiding deep in some bag. I asked mummy to stay put under shelter while I wheeled both luggages out to the cab. The driver found me one-handed/kneed-ly lifting the luggages into the boot and said I was strong ^^
There was unfortunately more strongarming to do on the train coz there wasn't sufficient luggage space and we had to muscle ours on and off the overhead compartments, with some help from surrounding passengers. Note to self, avoid booking car 1 next time.
More cherry blossoms to come even on this day, but shall save those for the Seoul post. λ for now!
