Morning came, and we were up early, eager to make the most out of our last day on the road. Chris didn't tell me where we're going, and I was sleepy so I wasn't paying much attention to the road. Then his face lit up and he blurted "look to the left!", it was then I saw this vast flower field exploding with the cutest shade of yellow and orange.
The flower field didn't come nearly as cute when you're standing right in front of it, than seeing it from afar. The first thing I noticed was the smell. There's a minty-grassy smell coming from the leaves, and a sweet subtle potpourri smell from the flowers percolating in the air. I felt like Mary Poppins standing in the middle of all those beautiful flowers.
A friend of Chris recommended we visit Hwang Nam Bbang Bakeshop and try their famous Gyeongju bread. So we bought a box for 12,000 won. It was good, and it reminded me a lot of "Hopia" (a bean filled pastry I used to eat when I was young).
On our way to Pohang, we passed by a random isolated beach. Chris wanted to get some air, so we parked somewhere and walked along the shore. There are a lot of better beaches in Pohang, but we wanted a quiet and serene place like this.
Then we came to Homigot Beach ~ one of the easternmost point of the Korean peninsula with land jutting out into the East Sea. Thousands of people travel here during the Annual Sunrise Festival to witness the year's first sunrise. We came during the afternoon when the heat is almost unbearable. I can't stop myself from pitying this unresponsive horse who looked like he's on the verge of having a heat stroke.
Another important thing about Homigot are the sculptures called "The Hand of Harmony", the left hand stands on the land, while the right stands on the water.
This sculpture is best appreciated during sunrise when the hand looks like it's holding the sun.
We used the sea-road driving course that goes all the way to Yeongduk. It was a long drive and we were three hours late for lunch. I can't really complain as we saw a lot of scenic viewpoints and amazing spots worthy to be in postcards along the way.
Yeongduk isn't famous for sight-seeing, but people come here to get a taste of the most delicious crab in all of Korea.
It's definitely worth the long drive and all the excruciating hunger pangs. Every mouthful of their insanely delicious King Crab is pure ecstasy.
There's an ajumma that cuts it all up so you could easily eat it. Right after we finished all the four crabs, she served this. I know the picture doesn't look appetizing but let me tell you, the taste will blow you away!
Just before we said goodbye to Yeongduk, Chris took a picture of me while standing at the sea wall. The clear skies turned gray and it was all cloudy and dark again.
With the sky as dark as that, the rain couldn't be far behind so we decided to hit the road again. This time, we were headed to Cheongseong, a small, quiet county that takes pride on it's pristine river, cute hills and mountains perpetually covered in fog, bountiful apple farms, lakes, and other things we weren't able to discover.
Everywhere I look, there were apple trees thick with the sweet-smelling fruit. While walking, Chris had to stop me from picking one. I don't know, the apples looked so inviting... And sometimes, my craving gets in the way of my thinking.. I threw a fit when he didn't let me pick one, it's harvest time anyway and nobody would recognize that one's missing from thousands of apples there. Like a true gentleman, he offered to buy me a bucket of apples from the farmers selling it on the street. But I wanted the real thing, I wanted to get it from the tree with my bare hands. Well, what can I say.. I'm ludicrously high maintenance...
We walked towards the entrance of the lake park, and the view along the way is anything but the ordinary.
Blame it on the weather, there were only a handful of people at that time. Chris and I had one of our most romantic walks in this place.
We were losing the sun fast, so we hiked as fast as we could till we reached the lake. Kings and other royals from ancient dynasties spent time here, and I'm sure they gasped the way we did at the first sight of this lake.
Here's Chris walking towards a more secluded spot of the lake. The dark area there seemed like a cave, but nobody could go there without a boat.
And as always, I had to get my picture taken before we leave the place.
On the way down, Chris was busy 'hunting' for creatures and insects and he caught one strange looking frog.
From Cheongseong, we went directly to Andong to visit Hahoe Village. Along the way, the rain poured so it was hell traversing the mountain road going there. We reached the place at half past 8 in the evening. Since it was raining, we just drove around the village. It was dark and most people there were already asleep, except for this one halmmoni (grandmother) who stopped us to offer minbak (a place to stay). It was late and there wasn't much to see so we decided to go home. Chris was dead tired from driving that we had to stop at some resting place. We accidentally fell asleep there for a good two hours.
Both of us could barely walk when we reached home, but we couldn't stop talking about how wonderful the trip had been.
Both of us could barely walk when we reached home, but we couldn't stop talking about how wonderful the trip had been.
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