Fall is unquestionably my favorite time to be in Korea. Anyone who
regularly reads this blog knows about Korea's brisk, icy winters and steamy, dreary summers. Fall finally becomes dry after sweating through
the humid summer and the air, which tends to be excessively smoggy,
finally clears and for a few weeks blue sky can actually be seen.
Late
October and early November see the leaves change colors here. Getting
out of Seoul is assuredly the best way to see autumn's many hues. Last
year I went to Bukhansan and was blown away by the beauty of the
landscape this time of year. This year, I considered a trip to Korea's
most popular destination in fall, Seoraksan, but I wasn't quite up for a
long, traffic-filled trip to a crowded mountain full of old men and
women (ajeoshis and ajummas, for those who know a little Korean).
Instead,
last Sunday I visited Nami Island with a couple of friends that I met
at a Buddhist temple stay in May. The island sits in the middle of a
river east of Seoul and can be reached easily by train. I was warned by a
couple Koreans that Nami is a "couples paradise", which could be
annoying for single folk like myself. As the scene of the famous Korean
TV drama "Winter Sonata" (famous, at least, in Asia), the island is full
of tacky destinations like "A Place of First Kiss". But actually, on
the day we went the island was mostly full of families on weekend
strolls.
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| As she is from Vietnam, she had never seen anything but green leaves in her entire life! |
Nami wasn't so bad, but I did find it a
bit overrated relative to the hype. The leaves were pretty good,
particularly along a ginkgo tree-lined street running through the
center, but I felt like any decent park (at least in the US) would have
leaves of similar quality. As this was in Korea, the island was of
course super crowded (like everything worth seeing here), and with all
of those people the island felt far more like a loud tourist trap than a
peaceful nature retreat. But, I can now check Nami off the Korean "to
see" list.
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| Finishing the day with one of my favorite Korean dishes: dak galbi (popular in the Chuncheon region) |
Yesterday I hiked Bulamsan on the
northeast edge of Seoul. The hike certainly had potential but
unfortunately a chilly rain took away from the foliage
and sights. I saw mostly soggy wet leaves rather than the stunning
vistas that I had been hoping for. Thankfully, even Koreans don't tend
to hike in the rain, and the hike was the calmest I have done in the
(poorly nicknamed) Land of the Morning Calm.
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| The camera mostly stayed in my backpack yesterday |
