Straight to the Seoul

See what I did there with the title? Anyway, here's the promised article. I had an amazing time with Karen and there is noone better to travel with in all honesty. This one is to you :)

Jeongdongjin

We were driven across Seoul to Jeongdongjin overnight by dear friends, arriving at the beach close to 5am in the morning. The night was chilly but bearable through the skins of my sweater, tickling my throat and leaving it with a salty, refreshing aftertaste. The sand was fine but sticky underneath my feet, leaving my shoes surprising clean and unfazed. The moon was still up and the waves were rolling in with a bit of temper, in contrast to the calm ocean air. We took forwent the idea of the sparkler for a nap, waking up shortly after 6am for a much anticipated sunrise. Already we could see color in the sky and the clouds forming in a distance, revealing the Sun Cruise Resort & Yacht majestically perched over the cliff overlooking the East Sea. We eagerly wrapped ourselves in blankets and hopped down to the beach. Tourists have already gathered armed with tripods and cameras of all makes. The air continued to brighten and now birds were streaming across the sky in flocks. Troops stationed at the town marched past us in their morning patrol, kicking up sand and adding further excitement to the impending brilliance of the sunrise. Minutes went on and everyone went quiet and stayed quiet. Fingers on the shutter trigger, eyes wide open, breaths held, and…nothing. The sun rose through the blind of the morning mist and hid from everyone’s gaze. The sky turned a bright blue and we did a little too. However, being in this magical little town absolves everyone of any sense of regret or disappointment. As the sun polished the train station over with a new shimmering coat and warmed the sand to a toasty crumble, we left the beach with the biggest smiles of the trip.

Seoraksan

Through the morning fog, we were taken to the peak of the mountain via the cable car. As we make our ascend, the splotchy autumn colors at the foot of the mountain began to merge and evolved to become a brilliant patchwork of red, orange and yellow. The morning vapor enveloped the vegetation, making us feel like we were entering a celestial realm. We got to the plateaued landing at the top of the mountain on foot after the cable car drop off and lingered joyously in the mist. The view was indeed breathtaking.

When we got back to the foot of the mountain, we chose to explore one of the trails leading to the Biryeong waterfall. The wooded path shaded us from the morning sun and led us across bridges that lay on the valley currently dried out from the season. Green foliage occasionally gave way to the autumn shades. Accompanied by small streams and pebbled banks, we found our way to the foot of the waterfall, where we decided to turn back. Looking from one end of the bridge where the track ascends into stairs carved out of rocks, we took in a deep breath of the sweet scent of fall and immersed ourselves in the season of bright red wonder.