THE sun has arrived in Korea! The weather is becoming deliciously warm and that means trips. Upon seeing photos, one half of the parental unit declared that I was on a permanent holiday – I like to see it as living in a place where the sun actually shines when it’s suppose to, and where it’s not too expensive to have an impromptu day or weekend trip!
We’ve had a spate of long weekends and one of those weekends took the Jeju crew to Boseong and Yeosu. Get ready for maaaany photos!
Getting There
Boseong is located in Korea’s South Jeolla province and is famous for it’s green tea fields and is considered the tea capital of Korea. It’s a tricky place to get too at the best of times, We hired a car, but your other options are to keep an eye out for Enjoy Korea events on facebook, or use the good old public transport.
From my home, that would mean the following – assuming the good old world wide web is accurate (with many thanks to those bloggers who have posts of bus timetables on their blogs, in English or Korean!). For the record, the only thing I am sure of in the following are the Changwon and Masan bus times!
Changwon/Masan <—> Gwangju/Boesong/Yeosu
Changwon bus terminal: 9.20, 10.20, 11.50, 13.40, 14.20, 16.50, 19.10 (journey time 2 hours 50 mins, fare ₩19,900).
Masan Gosok bus terminal: 7.05, 8.20, 9.40, 11.05, 12.20, 13.40, 15.05, 16.20, 17.40, 19.05 (journey time 2 hours 25 mins, fare ₩19,400).
From Gwangju, get a second bus from there to Boseong (every 30-60 minutes, journey time 1 hour 30 mins, fare ₩7,800).
Buses from Gwangju also go to Yeosu (every 30 minutes, journey time 1 hour 20 mins, fare ₩9,900 / ₩11,000 at night).
From Yeosu you can get buses back to Chagwon bus terminal (10.10, 13.30, 18.21) or Masan Shiwae bus terminal (7.25, 910, 11.15, 12.10, 15.49, 16.37, 19.09, journey time 3 hours, ₩13,300). It is most likely that the three buses for Changwon make a stop at Masan first.
This makes 4-4.5 hours of travelling each way if you go to Boseong along, making a journey cost ₩55,400 per person. If you throw Yeosu into the mix – and as you’re over that way, silly not to make a weekend of it – the cost comes up to ₩59,800. You then have to book a place to stay on top of that, bringing the combined total to c. ₩65,000.
Between the four of us, hiring a car came to about ₩33,000 per person, petrol was about ₩10,000 per person, and we found a place to stay for ₩15,000. Totaling ₩58,000 for all the above, quicker traveling times and freedom of choice, it was a winner!
PHEW! Now we have that out of the way, let’s get into it!
BOSEONG
We grabbed a map on our way into the tea fields, and walked around the plantation, up over the top of the “Ocean View” peak and then down through the woods. It was worth the walk, though the Ocean View isn’t all that, and the Waterfall marked on the map on the way down from the Ocean View is… underwhelming… The trees are lovely though!
A decent pair of shoes is recommended for the Tea Fields!
YEOSU
For most of us, this was a second trip to Yeosu, but there was a fair amount missed the first time round! After we’d checked into our hostels, we headed for the cable cars, only to discovers Self Cafe. This is such a brilliant concept that operates on a system of such absolute trust that I can’t see it working in very many places at all.
THE counter has a coffee machine, take out cups, regular cups and glasses, a sink for washing them up in, and a range of juices, teas and snacks in the green and yellow boxes (cubbyholes, cupboards… I don’t know, but they’re cool!) There’s even an ice machine for your iced drink needs and behind my friends there’s ice cream!!!
PRICES are on the board above the juices and behind Jasmine is a drop box where you put your money.
THIS is one of the most awesome coffee shops I’ve seen, concept wise. The trust put in the so delightfully refreshing!
YEOSU is one of my favourite places in Korea! Having lived in Hong Kong, you would have thought Busan would be the obvious choice, but Busan isn’t really for me! It’s spread out and it’s beach rather than harbour (Victoria Harbour spoils a person, for sure!)
YEOSU has all the things I loved about Hong Kong. It has a chilled atmosphere, a harbour and lights, It’s bustling whilst not being a metropolis. For all it’s busyness, because of it’s size, Hong Kong isn’t really overwhelming! Yeosu shares that!
If you get the chance to visit either of these places, grab it! I highly recommend both!
