Cheongpungho Cherry Blossoms Festival

Ah, what an interesting day and event this turned out to be! Originally I had thought about going to the Yeouido Spring Flowers Festival 2011 but being Seoul, knew there would be a massive influx of visitors to contend with - battling it out with sweaty tourists does not make for an enjoyable way to admire cherry blossoms. A friend informed me about the local festival here in Cheongpungho (technically part of Jecheon - about 30 mins outside of the main city) and I figured it'd be perfect to go to this on Sunday after hiking on the Saturday ('Summit Time').




A little backstory: The custom originates from Japan (don't care - I happily admit I love Wikipedia). Every Spring South Korea breaks out in a stunning storm of cherry blossoms - etherally beautiful but sadly short lived. Hence they are regarded with reverence and EVERYONE is obessed with taking photographs of them. Their debut is tentative as they can be affected by changes in weather and they only have a life span of around 2 weeks so I can understand the rush to capture them in all their glory.

So there we were all to set to venture out on one of the most gorgeous day I've experienced in South Korea by far. Then my friend (who was already at the festival) rings and inforrms me that what should be a 30 minute bus ride will in fact take about an hour due to the heavy festival traffic. Understandable, yes. We take it into our stride. What I didn't quite anticipate though was the number of people that were already crammed onto the bus. Now you have to understand, I'm used to buses in the UK - large, spacious with a low suspension. Due to the location of my school I have to take the bus to and from so I knew what to expect. Buses in Korea are like large versions of mini-buses - thus the suspension is relatively high. Sometimes I end up having to stand if I get out of school at the wrong time (i.e. same time as the middle school kids!); I dread this as inevitably you'll end up hanging on for dear life as the driver stops, starts and swerves in and out of heavy traffic as he (yet to meet a female one) pleases. So it was with a heavy heart that I set foot on the bus and I certainly wasn't disappointed. We joked that at least it was a good workout - yet to surf but I would liken it to that. Couldn't help but think of Donkey in Shrek - "Are we there yet?" The entire journey ended up taking almost 2 hours by which point we were glowing with perspiration and struggling to breathe as a sly person was letting rip.  Therefore, when some of our friends got off to walk we quickly followed suit. No idea why we didn't think of doing it sooner! Needless to say the view was incredible and thankfully, worth the painful journey.

Dunkin Donuts: That's a BLUEBERRY bagel there..

The Wonders of Public Transport

Took a (long) detour to Cheongpung Land where the tallest Bungee Jump in South Korea is located! There were also 2 additional rides called 'The Big Swing' and 'The Ejection Chair' - self explanatory (see pictures). In the past I'd always scorned it (I'm an absolute wimp) but after witnessing some friends doing the Bungee Jump I couldn't help but want to as well. Luckily had a good excuse - was wearing a dress and and thus unable to participate. However, I now can't get the idea out of my head and am planning to do one in the near future....!

Cheongpung Land

The Ejection Chair

The Big Swing

Eventually made it up to the actual festival - to be honest, it wasn't as lively as I thought it was going to be. Perhaps this was due to the fact it was gone 5pm by that point! Almost all of the stands/tents sold food, a few sold clothing/accessories or knick knacks. We walked around and took some more pictures of the blossoms and surroundings. Looking at all of the food was making me hungry but I thought it would be nice to wait for some of our friends who were still making their way to the festival. Unfortunately for them, it ended up taking over 3 hours to get to Cheongpung (they got off much earlier to walk the rest of the way)! The food we eventually got was ok but expensive for what it was (I'd be warned). By crazy luck managed to get a lift back home - only took the suggested 30 minutes this time round! Felt bad as the others were still waiting for the bus but couldn't wait to wash the day's grime off.

Ddok

Dinner...

Practical stuff: We took a No.953 bus from the inter-city bus terminal opposite Dunkin Donuts (strangest breakfast bagel ever, not recommended) but a No.982 or 961 also goes to Cheongpungho. Due to the festival (I assume) there was a slightly different schedule but there should be a bus every 20 minutes or so and it should in theory only take 30 minutes, but obviously that wasn't the case here. Be prepared take snap everything in sight, drink a ton of liquids (alcoholic or non) and, if you're anything like me, eat lots of ice cream! All in all it was a pretty amazing day - even with the tortuous bus journey!