A Valley in Pocheon

Pocheon is a small town in Gyeonggi province about 3 hours away from Seoul. It happens to be near the border of North and South Korea so you can see a lot of soldiers hanging around the area. Some scenic places are also restricted to be entered by ordinary citizen because they are military 'hot-spots'... well, I just coined that term. The good thing about being near the border is that the town wasn't developed and as a result, the nature is at it's pristine form.

Every summer, I make it a point to go to Pocheon to cool down and breathe some fresh air away from the city. There's this memorable pension house which I really like visiting... It's located in a secluded place just beside a beautiful valley. Unlike many other camping places which is crowded with tourists, the place is quiet and serene. It's different in so many ways, here's why...

When I was about go out from the car after getting my things, I saw a wild rabbit munching on my left-over 'omma-son pie' which I accidentally dropped minutes before. I don't know if the rabbit is wild or owned by the owner but it didn't budge when I went closer, seconds later... the rabbit hopped towards the bushes... Then I saw this small man-made lake where ducks swam freely with some chickens and ostrich looking around. I don't know why they were there but it was fun goofin around with them. If I wasn't mistaken, I even saw a racoon or possibly a beaver near the stream close to the pension but it ran away just when I was about to snap a picture. I saw creatures like grasshoppers, moths, beetles, mantis, dragonflies (and lots of 'em), even frogs... which are rare to find in the city. Korea developed so rapidly that normal teenagers wouldn't even have chance to see or touch these creatures in the city.

We brought meat so we prepared the barbecue grill right away... The meat which is called 'mok-sal' here tasted so much like steak. It was delicious with sangchu, garlic, kimchi, and ssamjjang and the taste was much better than the ones we order at restaurants. We drank beer while we were grilling our meat and enjoying the scenery. There were plenty of stars that night which I almost never see in the city.

The next day, we went to enjoy the water of the stream... We walked a little bit till we reach a nice place to hang around. The water is cool and clean that it's safe to drink it. I found a nice rock to sit, and I drenched my feet in the cool running water of the stream...

I didn't notice the time while I was there. The place was so serene and relaxing that I just wanna stay there the whole day.

Time flew so fast that I hardly noticed that it's time to go. I just love this place so much that I made a promise to myself that next summer, I will be back...