Jinhae, a city located just 1 hr from Busan and about 3-4hrs away from Seoul in Gyeongsangnam-do, is a well known port famous for its world's largest number of cherry blossoms trees or botkkot 벚꽃 that lined every street of the city. Every year in early April, the trees will come into full bloom and covered the whole city in a color of pinkish white. During this period, a naval port festival, Jinhae Gunhangjae 군항제 is held to honor Korea's naval hero, Admiral Yi Sun-shin. Most people however, are more drawn towards the cherry blossoms. Every year this festival attracts more than 1 million Koreans and tourists who would come to witness the beauty of these flowers. The festival usually last slightly more than a week as cherry blossoms, despite its beauty, only last for a week or so before it starts to wither. I was really looking forward to the festival and also hearing some Saturi (korean dialect) in Jinhae.
To get to Jinhae from Seoul, you can either choose to take an express bus or train. I choose to get there by KTX train as that's the fastest. Take KTX from Seoul station and transfer at Miryang to reach Jinhae directly. While transfering at Miryang, my train was schedule to arrive at 1.06pm. Korea trains are very on time by the way, so make sure you arrive strainght on time to avoid missing your train. A train arrived at 1.06pm but it was not my train. In fact this train that came in was actually a train that had been delayed due to technical glitches. From the audio broadcast, I know there was a delayed train but did not know this was the one. Without checking properly, I went to board this train thinking this was the train going to Jinhae. And the rest was history. I was suppose to arrive at Jinhae at 2.06pm if I have taken the right train. I only realise I boarded the wrong one when I heard the announcement broadcast in the train in korean (let me translate):
"The next stop is Masan. This is the last station. All passengers please alight."
For a moment, I thought I heard wrongly. I checked my watch...it was not even 2.06pm yet...so how could this be the last station. The last station should be Jinhae. But because the word "last station" in korean, 마지막 역 (ma-ji-mak yeok), is very distinct, so I'm sure I didn't hear wrongly. When the train reached Masan, I went to check with someone and realised then that I have boarded the wrong train. Oh no...I immediately alighted and went to check with the conductor how I can get back to Jinhae. I was quite amazed by my grasp of korean language here. I was able to converse although not in full sentences with the conductor and also able to understand what she was saying. For your information, the train schedule to Jinhae and from Jinhae back to Seoul is not very frequent. The next train will probably be a few hours later which means if I wait for the next train, I will probably won't have much time to see around and might also miss my train back to Seoul later in the evening. Knowing Masan is not that far from Jinhae, I checked with the lady if there's any bus which i can take from Masan to Jinhae. She in turn directed me to a local there who eventually brought me to take the bus to Jinhae. Thank God! But it has been an interesting encounter for me to interact with the Koreans. I took the bus 760 from Masan which brings me right to Jinhae. The journey was about 30min and the bus was totally crowded with people who were all going down to Jinhae for the festival.
After 30min, I finally reached and was amazed by the cherry blossoms that lined every street of the city. Everywhere you go, you will see cherry blossoms
P.S - the photos are quite large so give it some time to load if you can't see anything yet
P.S - the photos are quite large so give it some time to load if you can't see anything yet
city of Jinhae
the 48th Jinhae Gunhang festival
Cherry Blosssoms!!!!
Many couples were at the festival
the central atrium
this is a korean childhood snack - first melt the sugar
Second, add baking soda and keep stirring until it rises
Third, smack the sugar out of the little pan
Fourth, press the shape before it hardens
Lastly, use a needle to poke the shape out without breaking it - the kid succeeded
Many stalls were set up for the festival
an ahjussi selling cuttlefish
caricature
cherry blossom bread - many people were queuing for it
Roast pig
I'm not sure what this is, some kind of seafood
korean snacks
stuffed squids
this was the bus I took from Masan -760
the streets of Jinhae are littered with petals
Will continue the rest of the trip in part 2....
11 comments:
Hi,
Is the KTX train referring to KoRail?
please do reply me through my e-mail;
lim-yufeng@hotmail.com
Thank You :)
regards,
yufeng
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