Korea: Yellow is the new Black

At the end of my first trip to South Korea, I promised myself for coming back here again when it’d bloom with beautiful cherry blossom or when autumn foliage would fully engulf the whole country. Lucky for me, I got the latter on my second time here.

After getting off from the Incheon, as predicted, the air was chill, and the weather barely had double-digit Celsius degree. That super cold weather happened during our five days stay in Seoul. But what made me startled the most was the ravishing of autumn foliage that welcomed me. Those reds, crimsons, and yellows were to end the lovely November.

Since one of my friends brought along her cute two-year baby, the whole trip was rather unambitious for we did not put too many places under our itinerary. Turned out that was the best decision! We were able to enjoy at the fullest those alluring autumn color of every tree, coming to many parks and trying lots and lots of Korean delicacies. We had all the luxury to spend time along the Myeongdong streets stopping at every street food stand and gathering knowledge on the vast selection of Korean skin cares.

Along the streets surrounding Gyeongbokgung palace, the view was even more stunning. Beds of yellow ginkgo leaves were everywhere, furthermore on one of the alleys we passed by, the wind was blowing hard and the rain of yellow leaves coming off from the trees. What a great time!

We chose not to wear ourselves any Hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) for mainly two reasons: we had tried that before on our previous trip here, and we just woke up late and messed up the plan for the day. But that did not hinder us to have less-experience on the majestic palace ground.

It was amazing to see that among the high modern skyscrapers there was standing ancient palace from many centuries ago at the heart of the now-advanced city. The palace was packed with lots of tourists wearing their beautiful and colorful Hanbok. Well, it was also free to enter the palace ground should you wear them. As we neither wore the traditional clothing nor got ourselves any ticket, we mainly strolled around the outer gate. There we found another bliss of autumn.

Among others touristy places in South Korea, Namiseom was considered to be the number one place anyone should go, and we ensured that it did not left out on our list. It all became clear why trip to Nami Island during this November month was packed by tens of tourists’ buses. It was not my first time to come here, but now as if I was on a totally difference place. Along the paths of the half-moon shaped island, all of trees were turning orange and yellow plus the blowing crisp cold air gave you the ultimate experience.

The brochures on the information desk stated that this 400k meter square of island could be explored with selections of transportation mode such tour bus and bicycle. Neither of those came as our choice, we opted for exploring the vast island by foot. We ended up walking on the main area only and the other vast area of the island remain untouched. And yet, just the main area already offered exceptionally beautiful sea of crimson foliage and stunning nature view.

Later from Seoul, I moved to the city of Busan which I wrote on this post.

At last, that one-week trip back to South Korea surely had crossed off another bullet on my bucket list especially of the autumn vibe. Even though I am not particularly a huge fan of Korean pop culture but two trips coming here surely are something to remember and to tell for a long more time.

감사합니다

-R