The Spring Trip 2013: Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

It always happen this way. I tend to blog during exams preparation week. Honestly, I don't care really much about getting good results as I believe taking lectures should be more about learning than regurgitating facts during exams. 

Where is my Rose? (Me alone? ahhh!!!)

Nevertheless, I want to achieve well. Unlike in the past where my goals were to get excellent results and obtain admission to good university, now, I work hard solely to learn as much as I can and indirectly, achieving my small set of short-term goals.

"Little Moments" fashion mag~

These days, I felt my time in Korea passes by so fast because in less than a year, I will be graduating and then, a new dilemma begins: What's next for me. So instead of worrying about the next phase in life, I began an adventure of travelling to places I missed during my past four years in Korea. I started off at Jinhae.

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Jinhae (진해) is a beautiful port town located in the south of Korea. Travelling there is not a problem especially during non-peak months but come spring, you will come across huge crowds of visitors to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival (진해군항제). This festival is usually held on early April for a week. This is also the time where you can see traders increasing their prices on every goods/food they sell.

Jinhae 2013

I am very kiamsiap (stingy) when it comes to paying for below-average food. I don't mind paying good money for a haute cuisine but if you asked me to pay double for a kimbap with so little ingredients, I wouldn't like paying for that crap. 

It happened when I was outside the Changwon station buying a cheese kimbap (a plain roll of kimbap: rice and seaweed with some garnishing, topped with only a slice of cheap cheese), it was 3,000 Won! Damn! I can get bulgogi kimbap for less than 2,000 Won at the nearby convenience store.  

Changwon Station, out from the train

Getting to Jinhae from Seoul/Daegu: Just take a train (KTX or Mugunghwa, the slow train) to Changwon (창원) and transfer to Jinhae using the Mugunghwa. Going back is the same. However, if you prefer to visit more places, you can travel to Masan, 마산 (most Koreans do it anyway if they found out that train tickets were all sold out) from Jinhae and take an express bus or train back. 

Going there: Dongdaegu - Changwon (KTX) - Jinhae (Mugunghwa)

From Masan to Daegu/Seoul by bus, you need to walk to 마산시외버스터미널 or the Masan Inter City Bus Terminal (around 1000 m from the station). It costs less than 7,000 Won, from Masan to Daegu/Dongdaegu Station by either bus or train.

Jinhae to Masan (you can get a ticket to Changwon too...)

Masan to Daegu (but we took off at Dongdaegu Station)

The key attraction spot in Jinhae during spring is the Yeojwa Stream (여좌천). This is where most travel brochures and flyers prominently display this place as a "must-visit" place. Fear not the countless touts waiting for you outside the Jinhae station telling you they are willing to fetch you there, you can, in fact, walk there by yourself! 

Outside the Jinhae station, walk a little further up until you reach the road and turn to your right. Keep walking until you can see an underpass on your right. This is it. You are already there.

As we walked pass the stream, flower petals were showering down on us whenever the wind gusted. Instead of snow during winter, this was petal showers during spring. Wouldn't it be nice if we can have two seasons in Malaysia, spring and autumn? 

My only complain was the overpriced food sold around the area. I really have serious issue with the food price here. There were a lot of kebab stalls (each is 4,000 Won) operated by Turkish and since I am bringing my Muslim friends, the vendors hesitated when I asked them whether they were halal or not. They simply said that the meat was halal, whether to believe or not, I don't know. I chose not to believe...   

Most snacks were above the 3,000 Won price range. You can get more delicious, cheaper and better alternatives in Seoul (especially in Itaewon for the Kebab), Daegu or anywhere else. If you come for food, I would not recommend it at all. This is also true for photography if you are there on weekends. I intentionally traveled to Jinhae on a weekday (Wednesday) just to avoid the crowds. And I don't have classes on Wed. Even better!

Side Trip: Jinhae Tower

Lovely.

As Jinhae is also the home of Korea's naval academy, they will be military parades during this festival (exact time not sure). According to a Korean I met over there, he said that the Yeojwa Stream looks better at night as the whole will be colorfully lit up.

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Say "Gangnam"!

With over a year left, I intend to travel to as many places (yet to be visited by me) as I can in Korea. It's quite amusing to see people studying over five years in Korea but have yet to visit Busan or Gyeongju (경주). My next trip would most probably be Busan, it is so near to Daegu. Happy weekend.