Today I am going to visit a few locations, Yeoncheon, Paju and Incheon.
But, of course, the very first destination before the long trip is a restaurant with delicious food. It is a restaurant nearby Soyosan Mountain, if I m not mistaken I will visit it at least one more time the next year.
Yeoncheon is an ordinary county with a population of 43,824 people, but its location makes this place very special – boder with North Korea. That is what I am going to explore here.
A conspicuous feature can be observed there, the hills on the North Korean side are almost empty, while on the South Korean side it is covered by forest. I was taking photos of that scene, but a soldier approached my friend and nicely asked to delete the photos I took. Also, as I remember, I passed my passport to a serviceman on a checkpoint to be allowed entering that area. Very serious control, and very special experience.
A temple on the territory of the observatory. There is a room made for meetings of soldiers with their visitors, I guess. Some photos hanging on the walls show moments of life out there.
After having a doze of mixed feeling observing North Korea so close, I am going to relax at a peaceful park. So, the next destination is Imjingak Pyeonghwa-Nuri Park in Paju.
This park yearly in November hosts Paju Jangdan Bean Festival, however, this year, 2020, it is cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The cultivation of the beans came from Manchuria to the Korean Peninsula, nowadays the beans are produced all over Korea and it is as important as rice in Korean cuisine. The name of beans – Jangdan -is not referred to a specific bean species but to the area, it is grown – Jangdan myeon in Paju City. Since I am visiting this park in July, I do not have a chance to attent to this festival, but I can visit at exhibition of soybean processing. This place was quite empty that time, all the people were attracted to other spots.
The park contain a huge bowl like area where people can have a picnic, lie down and dream for a while away from the busy life (however, Seoul is just about 60 km away from here). Many happy families arrived here, just look at the crowd at the parking, to fly kites with thier children here. There are many spots with interesting decorations for good photos.
Having some coffee on a pond covered with green so tightly that it looks like a swamp. And move on!
The next destination is seaside near the Yeongjong bridge, Incheon.
It was the time a had to lear new word such as “ebb” and “tide”. Here it became clear for me why washing powder brand is called Tide, and the “ebb” appeared wierd to me so it stock in my head for a while. So, here I saw the real ebb, before, I noticed changes of water level in the Black Sea, but here it was so dramatic that the bottom of the sea showed up during the ebb, fantastic show for me. Later, I saw a scene in a drama where an personage was digged in the mud so only his head was out and he ate a living crab which passed by, so I was cognizant enough to understand where one could find so many muds and the man could die during the tide.
I like tasting various drinks in Korea, in Ukraine we do not have such a varyity and popularity of tastes, so every time I am very excited to buy a small can with an unusual drink for me, here it was plum. Also wirth to mention, this place have a map suggesting spots for good photos.
And more relax time is coming in evening after such a long ride.
And even more, at home. Bokbunja ( black raspberry, I guess the same is grown at my village in Ukraine) alcohol drink, which seemed to be a kind of medicine, as I remember it was too sweet and I did not enjoy it, but I love Korean melon.
More trips ahead!
Try to Enter 