Haenam is the southernmost county of Korea's mainland. As I've mentioned, there are always islands further south, but this is as far as you can go without hopping in a boat or crossing a bridge. The county also boasts the 4th highest peak in Korea, and beautiful 360 degree views from the top. To get there, as we were not up for the rather strenuous hike, we took a 10 minute cable car ride from the base of the mountain. As a side note, Korean's enthusiasm is easily encouraged, and, at each tower that the cable car passed, a slight swing would set the passengers oohing and aahing which we found adorably amusing. From the top of the cable car, there was about a 15 minute climb up a pretty impressive and steep staircase to reach the platform at the highest point of the mountain. The temperature difference between the base and the peak was pretty drastic. We were really cold at first, but the climb up the stairs to the lookout warmed us up quickly. And what a view!
Aside from the amazing view, the circular platform at the top also had a couple neat features, such as a directional arrow approximately every 15 degrees around the circle that showed what countries were in that direction. There was also a measuring stick that let you know just how tall you were at this height. I was about 642.5 meters tall that day. Pretty nifty!
There were multiple lookout points, each offering what I assume were inspirational quotes or phrases in Korean, made out of rebar. When we finally cooled off again and headed back down to the cable car, we were pretty windblown and tired.
At this point I should backtrack a little. I believe I forgot to mention that this whole trip was with a church I have been attending for the past month or so. It is an English speaking service in Suncheon that draws a crowd from the US, South Africa, and the Philippines mostly. Every season, this group of about 30, rents a bus and travels around for a day. So our next, and final stop on the tour with this church group was Mihwangsa Temple. Mihwangsa is an absolutely beautiful and incredibly expansive temple grounds that is open now as a tourist attraction. We didn't have long to spend there, though I would have happily speant a few hours at least.
There were also a number of really interesting memorial (maybe grave?) sites on the temple grounds. I apologize for the rough quality of the pictures, but it was starting to get dark at that point in the day and my phone's camera doesn't handle low light well.
So that was our trip to Haenam. The fall colors hadn't really broken out yet since the weather wasn't being all that cold regularly yet. Recently however, the temperatures have dropped quite a bit and the colors, especially here in Goheung have really popped. This is a picture I took just today as Jamie and I went for a walk up the mountain to get a little exercise.
In general, fall here is beautiful. The weather has cooled off and we do have to use the heat at home sometimes. But autumn here is crisp and cloudless for the most part, so it's been hard to lament the chill. A note on heating in Korean homes - most places use 온돌 which is a style of heating that uses the same heater that heats your water for a shower. This heater then pumps the heat beneath the flooring such that the floors heat up in this really cozy, luxurious way. I've been known to get a bit chilly sitting on the bed, and crawl down onto the floor to lay down and warm up. It's very different, but we really like it. We're definitely making a note of it for any potential future homes back stateside.
That's all for this post. I hope everyone back home is having a nice autumn (though I hear there are some bad fires out east). Stay safe and have a great upcoming week.
-K
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