Green Tea Garden and Bamboo Forest

Although I vowed never to go down south and come back home on the same day, I had to say yes to this opportunity since I am trying to get as many Korean experiences in before I leave. I am very lucky to have been invited on this Korean Tour, which we got a good deal fore. We only paid $35,000 won, which included transportation and admission fees.  

We left Seoul at 7:00 am and we where in Damyang, which is close to Busan by 11:00 am. Our first stop was the Green Tea Garden. It was refreshing to be out of the city and surrounded by so much green.

Green Tea Garden 

Group Picture

Our last stop was the Bamboo Forest. The Forest was a lager then I had expected, and we could have spent a few hours there. Unfortunately, we only had less then an hour there if we wanted to eat.

 We heard that the rice cooked in bamboo is really good at the restaurants close to the bamboo forest. We went to the location our tour guide always goes to, and we were not disappointed.

Here is my rice. I was able to take my bamboo cup home as a souvenir. 

They make everything out of bamboo. Even the hotteok 

We were on our way back home by 4:00 pm and once we were on the bus we were informed that we would not be making any stops to avoid traffic. We did make great time and stopped an hour away from Seoul. I was back at Express Bus Terminal by 7:45 pm and was able to go back home the same day. 

Everland

Now that the weather is finally nice, I am trying to stay outdoors as much as possible. My sister and I recently took a trip to Everland, which is in Youngin.

It was really fast for me to get to Everland because I took the express bus from Suwon station. The only down side to this is that I had to book my return ticket the same time I purchased my ticket to the theme park. I estimated that I would finish an hour before I actually did and I missed my bus. I had to take the city bus home and it took over an hour and a half just to get to Suwon.

The Entrance

The park was well maintained and it had a bit of a resemblance to Disneyland. My favorite roller coaster was the T-Express. There was really only 4 roller coasters for adults and the rest were for children. The food in the theme park stayed the same throughout the park and was just average.

Just a funny ride they had

So Korean! No one wants to get wet even on a ride

And of course there is a place to dry your clothes

Fans and heaters

We had a great time at Everland. However, it did make us miss the happiest place on earth: Disneyland.

Jeju-do

I have so little time left in Korea and I am trying to do the most with my time. I feel like I have been able to do everything I set out to do in Korea. Jeju Island was definitely on my list. Jeju is one of the 7 wonders  in 2011 and it lived to its expectations.

I was only able to go for a weekend trip, but we did so much with the time we had. Unfortunately, it was raining very hard on Saturday but it was perfect temperature on Sunday.

Jeju is famous for their black pig

O'Sulloc Green Tea Museum 

Eongtto Falls: You can only see it when it rains or after it rains

Our Seafood Feast! Another thing on my list was to try the live octopus 

Sunrise Mountain 

Jeju's Olle trail 7

 

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

Cherry Blossom season started early April. It first started in the south, since it's warmer, and then it moves up. Once the flowers bloom, they only last about a week or two, which is unfortunate since it made everything look so pretty.

I was told that Jinhae is the best place to go to see the cherry blossoms. So we took a bus and with traffic it took us a very long time to get to Jinhae. In retrospect, we should have spent the night.