Boriam Temple

The last destination of our Namhae (남해) road trip was Boriam Temple in Geumsan Mountain (금산 보리암). The temple is located at the top of Geumsan Mountain so there was a little bit of hiking (and a short bus ride) involved for us to get there. The mountain is surrounded by small islands that spread across the Namhae sea which make the view from the top really beautiful. It's no mystery as to why there were lots of locals presence in this place. Most of them are older people with their full hiking attire, but I swear, I think they like come here everyday or something cos all of them looked like they're walking up the hiking trail like it was nothing and they all walked faster than me (shame on me, I know).

Ken, Noah and Hannah decided to do a little bit more hiking to the higher part of the mountain. But since we got there pretty late in the afternoon plus it looked like it's gonna rain soon, I opted to wait for them in the temple area since I was the slowest amongst all of us and didn't want to hold the group back. And I thought it'd be cool if I could get a shot of them from this side of the mountain. They made their way up in no time and back to the temple right when the rain started to fall and a couple of minutes before closing time.

Although we left the park right when the park was closed, we did miss the last bus down the mountain and had to call for a cab. But then, when we were waiting around under the drizzling rain for our taxi in the parking lot, a nice lady saw us and offered a ride down the mountain in her husband's car. We gladly took her offer, cancelled our cab, and four of us squished at the back of their sedan. And luckily we did, cos 5 minutes after we got in, the rain started to pour heavily. The husband was really nice too. He made conversations and asked us questions on our short ride down. We said our thank you when they dropped us off right at our car and scrambling to get into the car to avoid getting drenched by the rain. And with that, our adventure at Namhae came to an end. 

p.s: to the nice ahjumma and ahjussi who gave us a lift down the mountain, 감사합니다! :)

Read the previous parts of this series here:
Boseong (pt.1), Beach Break (pt.2), Damyang (pt.3), Field of Tulips (pt.4), Making Memories (pt.5), Dumo Village (pt.6).

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Special thanks to Noah who drove us around during the whole road trip, to Ken who introduced us to all these places, and to Hannah who has been a great company (and always made sure that I'm okay :P) during this two-day trip. This will forever be my favorite road trip in South Korea :) (until our next epic one at least :P)

Check out their instagram cos they take amazing photos:
@seoul_stateofmind | @noahskim | @hannahmuhh

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Dumo Village

After the two unscheduled pit stops that we had (1st pit stop & 2nd pit stop), we finally arrived at the location that is actually on our itinerary, Dumo Village (두모마을). This place was my favorite location during our road trip. Apart from being a little bit cloudy, the weather was perfect, and with a view like this, how could anybody complain, really. The canola field was really beautiful and everything was in full bloom. You can see rows and rows of this beautiful flower growing on the terraced paddy field.

Up to this point, I've had my fair share of traveling, moving around, living in different cities, and meeting lots of people from all over the world. I can say for sure that the best and most memorable experiences I've had were usually because of the people whom I shared those moments with. The people factor can really make or break an experience. It might sounds cliché, but it's true and finding the right people is something that is not easy to do. Having friends who have similar interests, passions, life principles with you AND with whom you can connect and be real with is like winning the lottery. And at that moment, I felt like I've won three. Plus, we actually got a chance to travel together and shoot together. That's just a big bonus. 

We didn't do anything particularly special at the village, but just the fact that I could share this experience with these three amazing individuals—having fun shooting together, talking and being inspired—was really something that I'm grateful for. This trip is one of my favorite moments during my stay in South Korea and I gotta say, I probably wouldn't enjoyed the view as much as I did without these guys—Hannah, Noah, and Ken. 

(Also, check out Ken's snaps and post on the trip here.)

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Making Memories

After our stop at the tulips field, we passed by a small charming cafe on the way and decided to take another pit stop to check out the place. As we entered the cafe, we noticed that there were lots of wooden decorations all over the room. After we ordered our drinks and talked to the owner for a bit, we found out that the place is owned by a husband and wife team. The husband carves wood sculpture for a living and the wife paints (she painted the purple trees mural pictured below). Pretty awesome really. As we took a look around the cafe, we noticed that there were lots of post-it notes pinned onto the wooden pillars of the cafe. People who happened to stopped by this place wrote down short notes commemorating their visit to this place and stuck them to the pillars. So then we thought we should too, since we were on our first road trip together as a group. Ken and Hannah wrote two different piece of notes and pinned them up. Maybe someday we'll come back to this place, see those notes and once again reminded of the memories we made during this trip. 

(p.s: thank you to the husband owner of the cafe who took our group picture)

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Field of Tulips at Namhae

The next day after our Boseong (보성) & Damyang (담양) visits, our next destination is Namhae (남해), also known as Korea's treasure island. Ken (@seoul_stateofmind) joined us for this trip and after we picked him up, we resumed our road trip. So, kickin' off the first series of Namhae adventure, our first (unofficial) stop was this field of tulips that we just happened to pass by on the way. The tulips were just so pretty so we decided to stop for a bit and chek it out. The weather was really nice, lots of families were around, and ahjummas & ahjussis were taking pictures of the tulips and endless selfies, of course. That day was apparently the festival day, thus the crowd and they also have tents and booths set up on the other side of the road. Definitely glad we stopped by this place.

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Beach Break

Growing up, family trips were part of my annual school break activity that my family always did. Living a couple of hours away from the sea, I've spent a good couple of summers just hanging out in a cottage by the beach with family and friends, spending our day playing in the sand, soaking up the sunshine and swimming in the sea. No worries. No stress. Just enjoying the summer days before school starts again. Life feels so much simpler on those days. 

This day felt a little bit like those old summer days. After we left Bosoeng Plantation, we just happened to found this quite beach around the area and decided to took a pit stop there. Took blankets with us and laid one on the shaded area on the beach and we just sat there snuggling under the other blanket to keep us warm. Noah has been driving for hours and didn't get much sleep, so after a couple of minutes he dozed off for his much needed rest. Hannah and I did more talking while looking at the calm sea. Nothing much was really going on around us. Saw ahjummas and ahjussiss bending down, working on something on the beach, three women walking back and forth with their dogs, and group of older people having a picnic a couple of meters away from where we were sitting. It's not necessarily an interesting beach, but it's a perfect place to just relax, chill and let your mind wanders. Plus having great companies really makes a difference. 

We talked for about two hours without realizing it. About our lives in South Korea, our faith, our future, our past experiences. Time flew when you are enjoying each other's company, really. After Noah woke up, we took a stroll on the beach, stretched our bodies and left for lunch. It was a fine relaxing late morning at the beach. 

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