This was my sister's last weekend in Korea, so we went on a little day trip to the Bosung Tea Fields. We went with one of those Korean tour buses that have purple Arabian-style curtains and that come with a guide. Strangely, the bus driver was more entertaining than the tour guide. Anyway, we woke up at the crack of dawn (4:30am) to meet the tour bus at 6:30am. It was a beautiful day and after a long ride, we arrived at the fields, ate 'green tea bibimbab' for lunch and then hiked up the tea hills. You can see the 'green tea rice' in this pic:
The view was gorgeous, ridiculously green, and unlike anything I've ever seen. The plantation goes up all along the side of a hill, and the rows of tea bushes show off the contours of the hill. Plus, if you're willing to work up a sweat and make it to the top, you can see the sea in the far distance!
After the hike, there's a giftshop where you can buy all sorts of green tea souvenirs, teabags, and snacks. Too bad none of the food items (like the green tea ice cream my sister and mum had) were vegan. But I did buy a container of dried green tea powder. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I'm excited for all the experimentation that will take place. This stop was far and away the highlight of the whole trip. I really wish our dad could've been there too, but he's out of the country getting his PhD (congratulations Abba! I'm so proud of you!!).
Next, the tour bus took us to a bamboo forest. Although the bamboo was cool to see, there were too many people to really enjoy it. But they did have a greenhouse that was selling a bunch of funky plants.
I even found one cactus plant that has the same name as me! (The tag in the picture says 'Mi Pa' in Korean characters.) So ofcourse, I had to buy it. I actually bought three different little cactus plants for a total of 5000won. I hope I don't kill them, especially the 'Mi Pa.'
The last stop on our tour was just a pretty road that was lined with tall trees. This last stop wasn't anything spectacular, but I'm happy to look at trees anyday.
It was a long, awesome day, but it was also twinged with a bit of sadness. At around 9:20am, all of us on the bus found out that former president Roh Moo Hyun committed suicide by leaping off a cliff. We were all in complete shock and spent parts of the bus ride just watching the news. Although he should've known better than to do what he did, his death is just tragic. I hope future Korean leaders can learn from his mistake and that everyone can be a little more compassionate towards eachother.
Oh, PS. On our drive through the countryside, we saw what looks like giant marshmallows rolling around in fields. They're so cute!
