Its funny over here in Korea. At the weekend you feel like you’re on your holidays and suddenly become an absolute tourist, and then come Monday, you realise that you still have to wake up and go to work 9 to 5. Therefore the weekends are spent chocker block full of random activities and outings. This weekend I went to a Strawberry Festival in Nonsan - thats right, an entire festival dedicated to Strawberries! Madness! We arrived in Gangnam at about 6.30am. Ready and raring to go we ate a healthy Mcdonald’s breakfast, boarded the wrong coach and then finally waited for the tour guide to retrieve his phone, before eventually setting off (in the right direction) at around 7.30am. It took about 2 hours to get to our first destination, which was...Strawberry picking!
The most colourful strawberry EVER!
As you walk around you can eat as much as you like, but genuinely by the 8th strawberry, I was absolutely stuffed so gave up. Luckily I managed to take some away with me too. Score. Next it was on to the actual Strawberry Festival. There were (on average) about 5 million different stands selling everything from Strawberry Jam to Strawberry flavoured alcohol, and they even had actual strawberries too! YUM! There was a massive stage where several different children’s dance groups performed. One group in particular dressed in head to toe as, yep you’ve guessed it... STRAWBERRIES! There was also a strawberry exhibition/art gallery and some outdoor statues that resembled Aslan from Narnia, Rex from Toy Story, and 2 Kangeroos from, well just from Australia really. So yeah, it was basically like going to Universal Studios...I imagine.
Strawberry Festival!
Even more Strawberries!
After wandering around, having some lunch and taking 5000 photos of strawberries we got back on the coach and set off to the next destination: Daedun Mountain Cloud Bridge. By this point it had began to absolutely tip it down with rain. Great. On the way up to the cloud bridge, the coach speeded around the bends like there was literally no tomorrow. The sheer drop below and the added torrential rain would make anyone fear for their LIFE! Thankfully to my surprise...we all survived! Phew!
When we arrived at the location, we took the cable car up to the top of the mountain and then climbed another 10 flights of stairs to the very top. Seriously, these were some of the steepest and scariest stairs I have ever climbed. You could see through them, it was incredibly slippery and to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite like I wanted to close my eyes and chant ‘There’s no place like home’ in repetition (hoping for the best) so much before. I am definitely not one for heights, so this was genuinely terrifying! Finally we reached the bridge. Absolutely soaked, we walked across it trying not to look down at the drop below. So, what was it like?! It was AMAZING! The view was incredible and although the weather didn’t hold out, this did not dampen our spirits. I can only imagine what it looks like on a clear day though; beautiful.
The Cloud Bridge
Actual Staircase!
So all in all it was totally worth the trip. If you’re thinking about doing it, check out 'Wink Korea' meet up group. We went with them and they were okay. No real dramas despite almost leaving someone behind (which was slightly awkward). They also didn’t do a 'head count’ which I thought was a bit worrying. But I was told by people that had been on trips with them before, that this was very unusual and they are normally a lot more organised, so I will probably try them again...and this time I WILL bring a rain coat!
Arrgh!
No comments:
Post a Comment