Jeollanam/Jeollabuk | GRRRL TRAVELER

Photo Essay: Nature walk in Muju

Filed under Great Outdoors, Jeollanam/Jeollabuk by Christine Ka'aloa on November 27, 2010 at 6:47 pm {3 comments}

Muju, South Korea.

Walking through a forest with the autumn leaves in fall and life transitions into hibernation, I walk in silence, with my camera. Life is tinged with a trails of abandon and death. From burial grounds to hunter’s markings, everywhere I turn, I’m reminded of how man continually exerts its boundaries within nature.

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Korean Love Motels: Suncheon & Korean Porn

Filed under * Korea tips & stays, Crazy Korea by Christine Ka'aloa on October 4, 2010 at 11:51 am {10 comments}

It was another weekend romp with my new travel BFF, Chance and we were on back on the Korean Love Motel Tour. Again. On our way back from a misty day at Boseong Tea Fields and the green tea saltwater spa at Yulpo, we decided to sleepover in Suncheon. We arrived in Suncheon bus terminal at 11PM, headed straight for the flourescent lights and the first cheesy-sounding motel.
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Love motels are one word… fun!

First stop: Motel BMW.

The front desk clerk tried convincing us that being a Saturday night, all the rooms in town were sold out and he had the last one. That’s the first time I’ve met a hustling Korean! There were several motels in the neighboring radius; and I didn’t believe Suncheon would be that sex-crazed a city to warrant each pad fully booked. And it wasn’t… (more…)

10 Memories of Suncheon Bay

Filed under Jeollanam/Jeollabuk, Photo Essays by Christine Ka'aloa on October 3, 2010 at 9:33 am {4 comments}

I remember…

I saw a framed photo of Suncheon Bay during my love motel tour in Suncheon (Jeolla region), and it instantly became my new itinerary! Of course the following day, travel BFF and I, spent half our time confused by bus routes and directions; hence ensuring it was the “only” thing on our itinerary.

Korean hype & the reality

Suncheon Bay heralds itself as an ecological park. Ecological? Sometimes with Korean hype, you never know how far the English word stretches or how deep its meaning runs. Living in Korea, I’ve gotten skeptical of the way this country (more…)

Finding my Fountain of Youth in Yulpo’s Green Tea Saltwater Bathhouse.

Filed under Glam Around the World, Jeollanam/Jeollabuk by Christine Ka'aloa on September 23, 2010 at 11:42 am {5 comments}

Yulpo Seawater Green Tea Spa

Yulpo Beach is 10-minute bus ride south of the Boesang Tea plantations and an excellent stopover after a day of trodding around tea farms, but today the weather was a dreary, overcast and the sleepy town didn’t rouse much life. It is fall and summer resort season in Yulpo has ended and the nearby water park looked as dry as the town’s streets. An eerie calm prevailed over a light scent of rotting fish corpses. Quiet seaside towns make me nervous when they get this quiet.

Fortunately, the Yulpo Seawater Green Tea Spa was inviting and warm, defying the town’s ghost town demeanor. A relaxing soak in a rejuvenating bath of green tea was just what my friend, Chance and I needed! We wanted pampering and needed time to figure out our next move. Dare we find a minbak (Korean guesthouse) in this ghost town? I don’t think so… Bed down in Boseong? Or cut our losses and head out to Suncheon to makeup for sightseeing at the crack of dawn tomorrow?… This took meditative measure.

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Getting to Boseong Tea Fields: From Daegu, Gwangju,..

Filed under Jeollanam/Jeollabuk, Korea by Christine Ka'aloa on September 22, 2010 at 6:03 am {12 comments}

GETTING TO BOSEONG TEA PLANTATION

While the transportation system is easy and convenient to take, Korea doesn’t make route information very easy at times and it takes internet research and effort to find your routes to places. Nevertheless, with persistence you will find it. Plotting my way to Boseong Tea Fields out of Daegu took a bit of effort to research.

There are no Daegu direct buses or trains to Boseong. There are two routes from Daegu ( Gwangju and Suncheon– both transfer cities offer a wealth of goodness if you choose to explore it along the way!) There are Korail stations in each city but I chose the bus route path. If you want a train, please research your findings and leave your trail in the comments section so others can benefit from your research.

All the info here, I found online and modified with my own findings:
To Readers: if you appreciate the information below, please comment as it took a lot of work.
To Unknown Contributors: If you find some of your info copied & pasted here, but your work uncredited please let (more…)

4 Tea-Inspired Tips for Weary Travelers

Filed under Glam Around the World, Inspiration by Christine Ka'aloa on September 21, 2010 at 6:06 am {7 comments}

Raining. I waited the summer to see Boseong Tea Fields’ tea-inspired glory and what happened when I finally got there?… It rained. I rattled off some quick shots before the downpour of rain, snuck in some quality tea-bathing time (I’ll talk about it in my next blog) and came up with 4 great nokcha- inspired travel reflections, which I will list here!

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Photo Essay: Boseong Tea Fields on a Rainy Day

Filed under Jeollanam/Jeollabuk, Korea by Christine Ka'aloa on September 21, 2010 at 1:00 am {no comments}

Photos: Boseong Tea Plantation on a Rainy Day

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Jeonju & the Love I might have let get away…

Filed under Jeollanam/Jeollabuk, Vegetarian Life by Christine Ka'aloa on July 13, 2010 at 11:53 am {14 comments}

I seldom seek regret when it comes to the cities I’ve chosen to live in, except for now… It’s no secret that I’ve been making every effort to travel on the weekends. Aside from my inexpressible gasping-for-air-need to get out of Daegu, brought on by the culture shock I underwent my first months here, I actually think Daegu is-

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Bewitched by the Seonyudo Islands

Filed under Jeollanam/Jeollabuk, Korea by Christine Ka'aloa on July 10, 2010 at 11:32 am {6 comments}

Just off of Gunsan (a port city in the Jeolla-buk region), you’ll find the Seonyudo Islands, a popular tourist spot and a cute chain of some 20 islands. It’s name means “islands so beautiful that God admires it”, and this in the summer’s morning mist at first glance, seems like it would be true. But maybe I just wasn’t doing it right…