explorations and stories of life in Korea.
look for #bbmkorea to follow the adventures throughout Korea
{farewell Korea}
The idea of writing this post seems so strange. While I flew out of Incheon airport one week ago, it still doesn’t feel real that I won’t be going right back. At this time last Thursday, I was wrapping up my final classes, grading end of semester tests, and finishing my last report cards painfully trying to ignore the fact that I would be leaving in less than 24 hours.
How did the time go so quickly?! Thinking back to the summer of 2015, I so clearly remember tensely packing my two huge suitcases to fly to Korea and start this adventure. I was anxious about where this decision would lead but excited and ready to try something new. Never could I have imagined that a one-year hiatus from my Chicago life would so easily become a two-year reality.
In the time that I was away from home, I met incredible new friends, decorated a sweet little apartment, mastered a new job, taught over 400 students, and got to travel the world. I feel so lucky to have had such an incredible experience.
While it doesn’t quite seem like time, indeed the time has come to say a grateful farewell to the country that allowed me to make it my home away from home. Thank you, Korea, and I’m sure we will meet again.Korea
As for now, I’m currently off on an entirely different adventure as I continue my explorations through Asia for the next three months. Follow along via Instagram.
{Boseong Tea Fields}
Any quick Pinterest search of South Korea brings floods of images of bright green rolling hills filled with perfectly manicured green tea hedges, specifically those belonging to the Daehan Dawon Tea Plantation. That said, upon my arrival in Korea, it didn’t take long to hear about the unbelievable tea fields that lay within the sleepy town of Boseong. Once discovering the fields were on the southern edge of Korea, I immediately made it a goal to visit on the first long weekend once the weather got warmer.
During my time spent in Korea, I fell in love with taking little weekend getaways to explore all of the nooks and crannies of the country. It was so nice to get away from the city every once in a while and rediscover that I was, in fact, living in Asia, rather than just in some odd part of the States where nobody seemed to speak my language.
While my love of exploring continued to grow, I can’t say the experience of getting to the final destination ever got any easier. Let’s just say that navigating a foreign country with about a preschool level vocabulary of the spoken language can get quite interesting at times. While I’d been living in Korea for about nine months at this point and had visited numerous small towns, the journey of getting there and back was always an adventure which required the help of dozens of kind locals along with a great deal of luck. However, those weekend adventures brought me to the southernmost regions of Korea as well as within swimming distance to the northern border, and I loved nearly every minute of it.
Back to this trip, in particular, the journey to find the famous and picturesque tea fields.
After an early 6am start and a bit of traffic, my friend and I finally made it to Boseong by late afternoon.
We walked around the small and snoozy town for a bit to get our bearings and find a place to stay for the night then found a cozy little restaurant for dinner. After managing to order some bibimbap from the Korean menu and enjoying our side dishes we decided to explore the town a bit more before heading in for the night.
The next morning we woke up eager to make our way to the tea fields. After driving through dozens of small rice farms I was expecting to arrive at a small, yet somewhat touristy, tea field. What we actually arrived at was something that seemed like it could have been a small tea-themed park at Disney. The plantation owner definitely capitalized on their land, though I can’t blame them because the fields are truly spectacular. Though the initial welcome is somewhat contrived, once you begin to wander into the actual fields the experience becomes more personal as you take in the incredible scenery that is in front of you.
The park is actually much bigger than I had anticipated and is more than just tea fields. We wandered through fields to find cedar-lined trails, waterfalls, and even some late-blooming azaleas. After exploring the grounds we decided it was time for some green tea ice cream.
Just as we were about to head out for the day something caught our eye. A small forest of bamboo trees. Not to discount the tea fields, which were beyond stunning, I actually think that exploring the small section of trees was my favorite part of the day. This area of the park is much more secluded and we were two of just a handful of people who seemed to find it. We got to enjoy the small trail pretty much alone amongst only the noise of some cicadas and a woodpecker hiding in the trees.
Finally, we made our way out of the park and slowly back into the bustling streets of Seoul, happy to have had some moments of quiet and seclusion outside of the city.
{Busan getaway}
As a peninsula, Korea has countless beachside towns and cities that offer the perfect escape from the busier areas of Seoul and Incheon. One of my favorites is the city of Busan. Busan is just a quick three-hour train ride away and offers the opportunity for the perfect weekend getaway. It still has all of the conveniences of city life with countless cozy cafés and western restaurants, however, it sits right along a beautiful coastline housing various beaches to relax.
In addition to the coastal vibes, there are also cultural attractions that bring people to this part of the country. One of the areas on the top of the list for many is the beautiful Gamcheon Cultural Village. Gamcheon is a picturesque little setting of hundreds of brightly painted homes complete with small alleyways to explore and countless painted murals to admire.
After grabbing brunch at a local restaurant, some friends and I decided to make our way up to the village for an adventure and the ultimate Busan photo-op. We bused up the curving mountain until we reached the top and could admire the spectacular view. Throughout the village, there are dozens of roadside stops offering coffee, ice cream, snacks on a stick, and just about anything else you could imagine. Even a small boutique specializing in socks. We took hours to wind our way through a myriad of alleyways; stopping to take pictures of the view and artwork along the way.
This sweet village offers such a juxtaposition to the traditional setting of Korea which is, for the most part, filled with tall office and apartment buildings and generally follows a gray color scheme with hints of green roofs. We couldn’t have been happier to experience this pop of color for a weekend and explore an entirely new part of a city we love in the country that has been home for nearly two years.
{GANGHWADO ISLAND}
Every few weekends or so I find myself wanting to get away from bustling streets of Seoul and Incheon and explore new parts of Korea. That said, the recent start of the warm summer months has really amped-up those feelings and has had me reminiscing of past getaways. One of my favorites from last spring was the day trip some friends and I took to Ganghwado Island in search of azaleas on Goryeosan Mountain.
As per usual the day started off well enough catching our first bus for the two-hour journey to the island. We made it in time to grab a quick lunch catch a second local bus, which was when things got a bit more interesting.
Expecting a long bus ride, we unintentionally missed our stop which unbeknownst to us was announced in Korean just a few minutes into the trip. Twenty minutes or so later we found ourselves taking a scenic tour of the island. Bus number one took us along the northernmost part of the coastline which just happens to share a thin river’s border with North Korea. As we looked outside the bus’s windows just beyond the barbed wire fences and across the water was indeed N. Korea. Though taking tours of the border are quite common via the DMZ, somberly being flagged through military checkpoints, passing by bulky soldiers holding guns the size of some of my students, and setting eyes on that part of the world, in general, was surreal, eerie, and beyond unexpected.
Once we had made it further inward on the island we realized we were definitely lost and actually traveling away from our destination. At that point, we decided to hop off the bus and trust our luck to catch another bus returning in the direction of the mountain we were so desperate to find. Forty-five minutes, two peeled oranges, one snack-sized bag of peanut M&Ms, and a few pictures later we managed to hail a lone taxi that seemed destined to pick us up. After a brief drive, we were dropped at an azalea festival which we wandered for a bit before starting our hike up Goryeosan Mountain.
About halfway up the mountain we came across a Buddhist temple and a tea shop. We stopped for a cup of tea and some snacks before exploring around the temple and eventually making our way back to the hiking trail.
Finally reaching the peak late in the afternoon we were able to take in the sun and the spectacular views of the island. Being from the midwest where even a good sledding hill is rare, seeing the lush mountains that cover Korea is always a breathtaking experience.
Though this was a brief day trip, it was nice to get out of the city for a bit and take in a little bit of natural scenery.
{HOLI HAI}
Just about a year ago a group of friends and I headed south for a weekend of festivals. We spent Saturday in Jinhae for the cherry blossom festival and then headed to Busan for the Holi Hai festival on Sunday.
I remember sitting in a world cultures class in high school learning about this festival in India and immediately adding it to my bucket list. While I still have every intention of making it to India someday to celebrate the festival in its country of origin, seeing the festivities in Busan has been one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had since moving to Korea. Holi Hai is a celebration of spring, friendship, and equality, and those ideas were truly embraced on that Sunday afternoon.
We woke up Sunday morning in Busan which was incredible enough on its own. Busan is a seaside city and always makes me feel like I’m in California rather Korea. It has a much more laid-back vibe than up north where we live.
This particular weekend, we were lucky enough to be just a five-minute walk from the water. I spent a lazy morning walking around the town exploring alleyways and searching for coffee. Around 11 we made our way to the festival along with hundreds of other people dressed in white. As we walked along the beach we spotted the tents and were greeted by an incredible burst of color as Holi Hai began.
Once everyone in our group picked up their color packets we ventured into the mass of people celebrating. Indian music was blasting, people were dancing, and color was everywhere. There were hundreds of people, some tourists, some fellow expats, and many transplants from India who were more than happy to share their culture with us; pulling anyone into the circle that seemed to be drifting away.
We spent the next few hours dancing, throwing color, and eating some much appreciated Indian food. As the festival ended we attempted to clean ourselves off as best we could, got a quick caffeine fix, and made our way to the subway to travel back to Incheon.
{JINHAE CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL}
As signs of spring are starting to appear in Korea, I’ve been reflecting on weekend trips taken last year and starting to plan what I hope to do this spring. I’ve been revisiting photos of various getaways and one in particular that stands out was the weekend spent in a southern city of Korea, called Jinhae, for their famous cherry blossom festival.
After a long day of travel by subway, train, and bus we made it to Jinhae and were immediately greeted by streets lined with blossoming cherry trees. The Jinhae cherry blossom festival is one of the most well-known events in the country and attracts thousands of visitors each year. We started our afternoon at the festival walking through rows of tents set up as shops, game booths, and restaurants, before landing on one of the restaurant tents for a quick pig roast and makgolli lunch.
Once we had finished eating and walked through all of the tent lined streets, we started exploring to find the river we’d all spent the week dreaming about via Pinterest and Instagram. Seeing as there really were thousands of people at this festival it wasn’t terribly difficult to find. All we had to do was follow the masses in hopes of making our way to the front of the line to take a photo of the brightly colored river umbrellaed by blossoming pink and white trees.
We spent hours walking along the river and eventually made it to a coffee shop around dusk for a quick rest and caffeine fix. As the sun set, we ventured back out into the crowds and found that the paths had been lit up by arches wrapped in white lights making the small town seem just a bit more magical.
Hours after arriving in Jinhae, when we had had our fill of the festival, we made our way back to the bus terminal. Our next stop for the weekend would be Busan. A coastal city in Korea that would be hosting the annual Holi Hai festival the following day.
{Taebaeksan Snow Festival}
Always in search of an enticing weekend getaway, when a friend mentioned this festival last winter I was equal parts gung-ho and yet seriously questioning my desire to spend the weekend in a teeny tiny town surrounded by snow. Ultimately I decided that if nothing else it would be an adventure, and I purchased my ticket.
Our journey began with an overnight bus trip into Taebaksan. We left Seoul around midnight and arrived at 5am on Saturday morning. After a short rest at a jjimjjibang {a Korean bathhouse with saunas, massages, and sleeping rooms} we headed out for a quick bite to eat and then got on to exploring the festival.
The jjimjjibang was about a half-mile or so from the festival itself so on our way we got to experience this sleepy little town that seemed to have awakened just for this particular weekend.
The first half of the walk was quiet with just a few locals roaming the streets and an occasional home here and there. The other half of the walk was bustling with different vendors that had set up tents in anticipation of the crowds selling everything from corn dogs to jarred ginseng.
Finally, after serpentining our way through masses of Koreans and foreigners alike, we made it into the festival and set eyes on the towering snow sculptures we had been seeing photos of. Massive whales and elephants, mushroom houses, PSY, and even a replica of the Parthenon; all made of pure snow.
As we made our way around snapping photos of the sculptures we decided it was time to warm up for a bit. And where else would you go to warm up at a snow festival, but an igloo café serving warm coffee and hot chocolate. We found an empty ice table and sat down to enjoy a moment of warmth before heading back out. Surprisingly, it was actually quite warm in that igloo despite sitting on a massive block of ice.
After finishing our hot chocolate, we took one more lap around the snow sculptures before finding our bus headed for home. It was a short 36-hour trip, but an unforgettable Korean experience, none the less.
{A weekend in sokcho}
One of the wonderful parts about living in Korea is that the country is small enough to be able to make it to any coast just to spend a weekend away from the city. After a stressful week post-2016 election, some friends and I were looking for a peaceful weekend away, perhaps on a beach. We decided to head out for central Korea, towards a city named Sokcho. Near the larger city of Sokcho are Seoraksan Mountain, as well as, a cozy little beach town, Ingu. Both would be my destinations for Saturday and Sunday.
We left Incheon early Saturday just as the sun was rising in order to get the most time possible in Ingu. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we boarded our bus and began the three-hour journey to central Korea.
This particular Saturday was an absolutely perfect fall day. Crisp chilly air, the bright blue sky, and warm autumn leaves on all of the trees. As we got off our bus, I decided that any wavering plans I had to hike around Mt. Seorak would have to be reevaluated as the weather was gorgeous.
My travel mates had previously hiked through Seoraksan National Park so we decided to part ways for a few hours as they went straight to Ingu, and I left for the mountain.
The national park is huge with multiple hiking routes, a temple, and a massive Buddha statue. I decided to take a shorter path past the Buddha, the temple, and up towards a beautiful white rock formation. It was an easy enough route to be relaxing for a girl from the midwest, but still put you right in the middle of nature. Exactly where I wanted to be. It was really nice to have a couple of hours to myself just to be in the beautiful fall toned trees breathing in some country air.
As the afternoon was quickly turning to evening, I started my journey to Ingu.
Ingu is a tiny surf town that runs about four blocks long and is set against the Sea of Japan. There are coffee shops, burger restaurants, and countless surf shops. This appears to be the city where all of the few Korean hipsters have settled. It is amazing.
My friends had gotten to the town before me and booked our accommodations for the night. A camper right on the beach. Perfection. After a cup of coffee we went out for a surprisingly American dinner of hot dogs and french fries before getting drinks at a local bar.
We woke up feeling refreshed on Sunday morning and walked out of our camper to a beautiful beach view. Our first stop was of course to find coffee. A quick walk led us to December Coffee where the very sweet owner gave us complementary hardboiled eggs with our caffeine fix.
This man might just have been one of my favorite Koreans I’ve come across. He was incredibly kind and welcoming. Every time we walked past the café he would pop out and wave to us. We ended up spending about an hour sitting in the shop discussing our travels. He had been to 70 countries and was planning a trip to Spain at the end of the year. He took some time to show us his journals filled with stories and drawings of the places he’d been. It always amazes me what can be communicated through broken English and just a semblance of Korean vocabulary.
After leaving the coffee shop it was time to get to the beach. While my friends hit the waves, I opted for the warmer option of reading a book on the sand. Somewhere in the middle of chapter two, a beautiful friendly golden retriever came up and sat down right next to me on my blanket. His owner seemed to be mortified, but it was everything I could do to keep him right next to me for as long as possible. Once again, perfection. Calming, peaceful, quiet perfection.
After a few hours on the beach it was time for lunch and a bus ride back to Incheon for Monday.
{Baseball in Korea}
As a young girl being raised in the suburbs of Chicago there are a lot of teams you cheer for throughout your life. In my family baseball was our sport and the Cubs were our team. I grew up going to baseball games be it my brother’s games, minor league games, or Cubs games. Baseball was a comfort sport. I knew the rules, I knew what team I cheered for, and I knew to order a Chicago dog and beer at Wrigley field.
Moving to Korea I never would have expected to have the opportunity to go to baseball games on the other side of the world. I didn’t realize that America’s greatest pastime reached that far. But it does. And dare I say, it may be more fun in Korea.
Baseball can be a slow moving sport at times, however, Korea has found a way around the occasional boredom of watching the sport. Cheering.
My favorite part of any Cubs game was getting to sing “Go Cubs Go” after they won. Korean baseball takes that excitement of singing and places it throughout the entire game. Every time a player is up to bat the crowd roars with cheers for that player. Each player gets simple cheers written specifically for him with choreographed hand moves, and every fan knows the words to each cheer. Anytime your team is batting your up, out of your seat, cheering with excitement. There is an MC to get the crowd up and moving as well as cheerleaders and mascots to lead the dance moves. When your team is in the field it’s time to load up on food and drinks. From traditional baseball fare like peanuts and hot dogs to traditional Korean food like rice cakes and fried chicken, and of course there’s beer. When the home team wins a game the crowd sings the team’s win song and fireworks light up the sky.
Right now is an exciting time for Cubs fans back home in Chicago as our team plays in the World Series with a chance of winning for the first time in over 100 years. I’m longing to be back in my old neighborhood with Wrigley Field just a short walk away. To feel the energy of the city. For now though, I’ll have to accept cheering them on from afar. GO CUBS GO!
{Cheongsong Apple festival}
Fall in Korea is beyond gorgeous. Even being from a place with a nice fall season, I was mesmerized by the colors on the trees in this country. Everything becomes painted with shades of orange, red, and yellow and seems to stay that way for months. Set against the backdrop of mountains and blue skies it makes for a dreamy walk to work each day. That said, with all of its beauty Korea unfortunately lacks in the customary autumn festivities. There isn’t any apple picking or hot apple cider. Starbucks doesn’t serve pumpkin spice lattes. Halloween is not celebrated. There is no pumpkin carving or scary movie marathons on TV. While the weather is beautiful the traditional feeling of fall can be hard to come by.
In an attempt to regain some of the fuzzy feelings of fall from home some friends and I decided to venture out of the city to an apple festival that we had read about online. The ad promised apple picking and tons of autumn activities. With ideas of home in mind we adorned ourselves in plaid and woke up early to make the long trek down to Cheongsong in central Korea.
Getting to these places is never quite as easy as it seems. It took a subway, a bus, and a kind stranger to get us to the festival in a total of six hours… what some basic white girls will do to go apple picking in October.
We made it to the festival expecting to see stands selling apple cinnamon baked goods, apple cider, apple wine, and of course miles of red spotted orchards to go apple picking. What we discovered is that even in its best efforts, Korea’s idea of an apple festival is unfortunately quite lacking in the standard festivities we are used to from the United States. Ironically, the festival was less about apple themed festivities and more about apples themselves. SO MANY APPLES.
As it turns out Cheongsong is famous for growing apples, and it seemed every orchard owner and their cousin was set up in a booth offering samples of, what appeared to be, the exact same type of apple which is kind of similar to a gala. Not to sour or too sweet, and actually quite delicious. We sampled as we walked taking in all of the green and white tents as well as the apple themed art installations. Finally, we found a little girl selling home-made apple pies that she baked with her mom. Score.
We continued to explore the festival. We saw some tractors and sampled some apple liquor,
various types of tea, and even a little apple juice. It turned out there weren’t any apple orchards for picking bundles of apples, or at least not that we could find, but at that point we were happy just to be taking home our apple pies.
After a few hours we left the festival via bus and started our six hour journey home. While it was a long day, it was worth it for a little taste of autumn and the apple pie which made for a scrumptious breakfast the following morning
{National Foundation Day on Nami Island}
A string of national holidays in October leads to a number of long weekends in the beginning of fall and a lot of opportunities to explore the country. One of these holidays is National Foundation Day which is a celebration of the founding of Korean as a nation. While this year I’ll be doing some adventuring outside of the country, last year I used the the extra day off work to explore Nami Island {one of over 30 islands in Korea} with a friend.
Nami Island is interesting because it’s not a beachy or mountainous island like many of the other ones are. Instead, Nami Island feels a little more artsy. It’s a small island filled with sculptures, art installations, and interesting bohemian attractions, think ostriches and sky bikes.
We arrived on the island later in the afternoon after stopping for lunch on the mainland and catching a quick ferry ride over. We were greeted right away by a gorgeous walk way filled with trees and what appeared to be balloons of some sort hanging between the limbs. We strolled through without a plan, ready to simply enjoy anything the island had to offer. And it did have a lot to offer.
It didn’t take long for us to stumble upon the ostriches. While they weren’t exactly free roaming, they also weren’t fenced in with much at all. I kept waiting for one to nock the rickety wooden barrier right over and start exploring the island for itself.
After a few selfies with the ostriches we continued wandering the island passing sculptures and art installations galore. Then one quick turn and we found the sky bikes. These were small two seater bikes complete with seat belts and cannopy as you pedal through the sky on a raised track around the island.
Towards the end of the day we went off the beaten path a bit and discovered a quiet area on the edge of the island by some water to watch the sunset. As we started making our way back to catch the ferry home we realized that those “balloons” from the tree lined path were in fact little white lanterns that magically lit up the trail as we waited in line for the ferry. A perfectly charming ending to a long and exciting day.
I had no idea what to expect from Nami Island, but I quickly fell in love with this island and look forward to going back to continue exploring. National Foundation Day is quickly approaching once again this year which means a three day weekend and another quick getaway. As always I’ll be posting about the trip on Instagram so be sure to check it out!
{Chuseok Weekend in Muuido}
The beginning of fall in Korea is filled with long weekends and days off of work. One of these breaks happens to be for Chuesok weekend, which is similar to Thanksgiving in the U.S. With Chuseok quickly approaching once again this week I’m taking a moment to look back at last year’s holiday and how much I’ve learned since then.
After a long month getting used to life in Korea and working with kids each day some friends and I decided that a little beach get away would be a much welcomed escape from our new chaotic lives. Living in Incheon, we are lucky enough to have an amazing little island just about an hour away called Muuido Island. We hadn’t done a great amount of research prior to leaving for the island and were planning on seeing where the weekend would take us. Adventure time!
We left early Saturday afternoon for an overnight stay on the island. Catching the subway and bus were fairly easily, and we got only slightly turned around once we got off at our stop. The next bit of the trip was much more memorable as we realized we would have to walk across an incredibly narrow bridge, lacking any kind of guard rail, as cars and busses drove by; some slowing down to avoid us and others not so much. After about ten minutes of cautiously creeping our way along, a middle-aged man offered us a ride across the rest of the way. And just like that we graciously accepted the offer hoping the backseat of a stranger’s car would be safer than the treacherous bridge. It was a good call too because we ended up just making the last ferry of the day. Once on the island we found a local bus driver to take us to the beach, and made it right in time for sunset.
When we arrived the tide was over a mile out which was surprising, but turned out to be really interesting. We walked all the way out as the sun was setting to really put our feet in the water. Once we were back on shore we headed to one of the few restaurants on the island for some soju and Korean bbq on the beach. After dinner it was time to go back to our little hut on the beach and enjoy a good nights rest on the heated floor.
Day two was an amazing day of zip lining, hiking, sitting on the beach, and exploring when the tide was out. It was exactly what we needed. We were even invited to Chuseok lunch by the sweet Korean family in the hut next to us. We met three generations of family celebrating the weekend on the beach and enjoyed a delicious traditional lunch with them.
At some point during the day we decided to ditch our plans of going home and stay an extra night.
During round two of soju and Korean bbq we heard something very rare for us now. It was an English conversation being spoken only a few tables over. We were then invited to join a group of four fellow English teachers from England. We had a great dinner together ended up having a fun rest of the night sitting around a bonfire on the beach, lighting some sparklers, and listening to Shania Twain. Doesn’t get better than that.
We woke up the next morning, had a quick breakfast on the beach while the tide was in, and then sadly departed to get back to normal life on the mainland. Luckily our journey home was simpler than our adventure getting there. In those two days this island stole my heart. It was by no means tropical, but it was relaxing and exactly what we all needed for the long weekend.
Chuseok 2016 is now just days away and having been in the country already I had much more time to plan for the five-day break from school. I’m so excited for the upcoming trip out of the country. Any quick break from work is a reason to do some more exploring. Be sure to follow along on Instagram. I look forward to sharing the journey.
{bupyeong Market}
Living in Korea has been an interesting and incredible experience and really nothing like I ever could have imagined. I’ve found that most days I feel like I’m still living in the states. Everything here moves so fast and a lot of the comforts of home are easy to find in a big city. In fact, I’ve spent many a weekend trying to escape the city in search of a truly authentic Korean experience. The open market has become almost like a sanctuary of some sort for me to escape the hustle and bustle just a quick walk from home. Ironically, this market tends to be bustling itself in a different way.
The open market is essentially like a Korean farmers market on steroids. It’s twisty turny aisles of vendors selling fresh produce, meat, fish, rice cakes, desserts, and more. Many of whom are shouting out greetings or sale prices. It’s tucked away right inside a square of busy streets yet all of the noise of the city seems to disappear. This market has become my nearly weekly grocery shopping market, particularly because it’s the only place I seem to be able to find cilantro in this county. It’s a little spot to quiet down for a moment, practice my…s l o w l y… improving Korean, and enjoy some of the culture of this country.
bbm travels 