cheongsando island
when i planned(?) my month-long trip to korea this summer, i was hoping to escape seoul and go to busan or gwangju or one of the other big cities. unfortunately it ended up raining about 90% of the time i was there. during a(nother) somewhat rainy weekend, our family ended up taking a 2 day trip to wando (완도) & cheongsando (청산도) in jeollanam-do (전라남도), approximately a five hour drive from seoul. thankfully the weather was sunny, and the southern coast of korea was beautiful.
here are my really lame photos (i'm pretty sure any photos not taken on a dslr pretty much scream that they're bad quality)...may or may not have overcompensated through photoshop
sat 1:00 pm - first meal upon arrival was octopus in red pepper paste (can't really account for its taste).
sat 3:00 pm - took a cable car up to mount duryun (두륜산), found in haenam (해남), another region in jeollanam-do. it was as bad as it looks - stuffy, suffocating, too many people, like most places in seoul.
sat 3:30 pm - a tiny museum on the top of the mountain! apparently the region produces sweet potato wine (i really want to try it).
sat 3:35 pm - view on the top. very lush & peaceful. apparently on clear days you can see mount halla (한라산) in jejudo (제주도)!
sat 4:30 pm - a traditional primary temple. i love architectural details like these.
sat 4:40 pm - tiny buddhist monk figurines (seriously, so cute!)
sat 4:45 pm - inside the temple were a lot of elementary school kids learning chinese characters/hanja.
sat 6:30 pm - abalone from wando! they have good abalone because of their yummy seaweed and kelp (or so they told me).
sat 8:30 pm - the sun sets late...
sun 7:30 am - taking the ship out to cheongsando island. everyone on the boat was over 50 except me and my cousin, i swear. this korean boat (and many others) have "lounges" where loooots of people cramp into one room and even lie down and sleep.
sun 11:30 am - a view of cheongsando. it seriously felt like a resort, and there were barely any people there (only the smallest of tourists). the island's a cittaslow (slow city) & they had a slow road to connect villages all over the island (we were too lazy to walk it).
overall it was a really relaxing, gorgeous trip with nothing particularly touristy to look at, which made it all the better since seoul has the hoards of tourists anyway. i'd highly recommend cheongsando island to everyone (next time i want to try going during spring, when all the flowers have bloomed!)
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