One with Nature.

By no means could I call myself a decent photographer. First, I don't own a decent camera. The one I've been using is ancient and very much abused. Second, I drink way too much coffee, and perpetual tremor goes hand in hand with that. Third, I'm simply bad with angles. But even with all these reasons, I still love taking photographs.

I once considered buying a DSLR and turn this hobby into a full-blown vocation. I did save up for it, but then I changed my mind. I keep on thinking, I should buy one only when I'm absolutely sure that I could earn from it. But given the three reasons I enumerated above, that's highly unlikely.

When I went on a trip the last time, I got to commune with nature. I saw some pretty interesting things, and I thought it would be nice to post the pictures here (just don't mind the angles, and the fact that I obviously lack the talent).

Of Skittish Saturday Evening.

It's Saturday and I'm home alone. Chris is spending the night at his house in Song-do, and I'll be joining him tomorrow to see the festival there. Before I could even begin to imagine what lies in that festivity he's bugging me to see, I have to deal with the fact that I'll be alone for the next 24 hours. The house is so empty without him, and for the first time ever, I began to miss him right after he closed the door and left. I just finished a tall cup of Iced Americano, my 2nd serving today, and I could definitely feel the caffeine kicking in with jitters and all. Something tells me that I wont be spending a huge chunk of that 24 hours sleeping...

So what is there to do when you're alone on a Saturday evening? Well I got a bag of popcorn ready to be microwaved later, beer chilling in the fridge, and a few more episodes of my favorite TV show to be downloaded, then I'm all set to pull an all-nighter or at least till the caffeine wears off.

You know you have too much caffeine when you're anxious and jittery for no reason, and that's exactly what I'm feeling right now. I hope dimming the lights while drinking this cup of peppermint tea would relax me as I'm writing this. Got a couple of songs playing, and they sound pretty great with the speaker volume on high. If you wanna know what I'm talking about, help yourself by clicking the links. I swear it'll do wonders to your restless, caffeine-troubled soul..

One Republic - Come Home

Carolina Liar - Beautiful World

White Apple Tree - Snowflake

Finger Eleven - I'll Keep Your Memory Vague

Death Cab for a Cutie - The Ice is Getting Thinner

Angels and Airwaves - The Gift

Travel Diary: Saving the Best for Last.

The weather was unpredictable that night in Gyeongju. As soon as we left Anapji, the rain ceased and practically stayed that way the whole night. I wish we could have stayed longer and took more pictures.

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.

Travel Diary: Then came the rain.

The 3rd night was spent eating chips and drinking wine at the balcony of the motel. The view there at night was pretty great and it looked a little something like this.




We didn't close the balcony door before we slept, I thought the breeze would help put me to sleep. I woke up the next day with the sound of the waves turbulently crashing through the shore. It was so strong I barely heard the sound of the alarm clock. When I went to the balcony, all I saw was this one giant haze and rain. We knew we were in the middle of the storm, and it got both of us worried. The huge downpour didn't come as a surprise, it was all over the news even before we departed. But being right in the middle of it was still terrifying, and we almost considered 'sleeping it off' in the motel. But we already made plans of visiting Roh Mu Hyun's hometown in Bong-ha, and I know how important it is to Chris so I rescinded the idea of sleeping till the storm wears off.


Bong-ha is about 2 hours away from where we slept in Namhae, but that's in a good weather. With the fog and the rain, it was longer. We had to stop at a resting place to get coffee and snacks. I took some pictures while we're there.

I guess you can call us lucky cause as soon as we arrived at Bong-ha, the rain halted to barely a drizzle. The first thing I saw right after we arrived was this huge portrait of the ex-president who died last May 23rd. I know how much Chris loved the ex-president, and I saw how sad he became right after he saw it.

As the skies momentarily clear, as if giving us one last chance to mourn and pay our respects properly, the parking lot started to fill. I didn't mind that I was the only foreigner then, and the only one carrying this.

The air turned eerie and tensed with people whose emotions were being poured at the sight of his tomb. It was a sad, sad day for everyone including me. There was never a man more worthy to be called a President than him, and it's just so sad that everything turned out the way it did.

Chris went to climb Bong-ha san, the mountain where Roh Mu Hyun allegedly committed suicide. I stayed behind, it was too much for me to handle. I waited for him under a Persimmon tree while he climbed to the very same spot where Roh Mu Hyun allegedly jumped to his death. I know that it's inappropriate to post this picture, I just want to give everyone a feel how it's like to be up there. It was scary, the rocks were slippery and dangerous with no barrier for safety, but according to Chris, he never felt closer to the President than when he was up there.

After the emotion-filled morning, we ended our visit to Bong-ha with a trip to this small restaurant. Before Roh Mu Hyun's death, the restaurant's main market were farmers and cattle raisers, so it's something none of the urban-dwellers could expect. Small, dusty, with narrow tables covered in tacky table cloth, and unsteady wooden chairs that squeaks as you move, but it's filled with warm people. We ordered Sokogi Gukbap. After we finished it, we saw a picture of the former President together with farmers eating the same thing we did. We heard he visited the restaurant a lot..

We drove to Gyeongju, a very famous tourist destination located in the north of Gyeongsang province. This city is known for being the capital of Silla Dynasty, the longest sustained dynasty in Asian History that ruled for almost a thousand years.

One of the most significant landmark in Gyeongju is Bulguksa, a Buddhist temple which is a masterpiece of Silla's golden age of Buddhist art. Chris paid in full while I got 1,000 won discount on my ticket. The receptionist thought I was a student (12-18 age bracket) and was asked to pay only 2,000 won. I bought a popsicle with the change. Wearing braces at this age sometimes has it's charm.

There's a beautiful lake inside, and you guys should see how the tree with vertically draped leaves sashays as the wind blows. It's fascinating, but in an eerie kind of way.

This is Seokgatap, a 13 century old stone Pagoda.

This is the largest temple there, and it houses one of the two gilt-bronze statues of Buddha.

Here's Chris posing for a picture before we left the temple.

About 4 kilometers away from Bulguksa, there is a place called Seokguram Grotto. It contains a monumental statue of Buddha carved out of stone inside a cave. It's located on top of a mountain, and the place was entirely covered in fog.

This is the start of the 20 minute climb to go to the top where the famous statue of Buddha is located. We weren't able to take pictures after this, the fog was so thick we could barely see a thing.

Just before the day completely turned into nightfall, we visited Anapji. It's a man-made pond which was part of the palace complex of Silla Dynasty. Of all the beautiful places in Gyeongju, this one takes the cake.

I'd give this place my highest commendation. And if these pictures aren't enough to make you visit the place, I don't know what would.

It was just after twilight then, and sky was perfect, and the whole place was illuminated with a hundred different spotlight. In my 28 years of existence, I've never seen a place more beautiful and enchanting at night than this one.

This is one breathtakingly beautiful view of the pond at night. Trees were lit and splendidly reflected in the water. There were spotlights everywhere that made it all the more magical. It's a place we could only see in our dreams.

Then came the rain again, only this time it was stronger, meaner, and more tenacious than ever. We wanted to stay longer, and wait till the skies become clear again, but the rain just kept getting stronger by the minute so we didn't have a choice but to cut our trip short.

We were more than impressed with Gyeongju that we vowed to see more of what it has to offer the next day.