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We took the train from Seoul to Daejeon, we were on the slow train so the journey took about two hours and we arrived around 10. We exited the station and found our tour bus eventually. The tour bus looked brand new and the seats were covered with vinyl. Once everyone had arrived, we set off and we drove through Daejeon for about half an hour to reach our first destination Ppuri Gongwon or in English Root Park. Ppuri Gongwon was opened on 1st November 1997 and is filed with sculptures and pieces of artwork that remind people of their family ties. In Korea, the same family names are very common, with Park, Kim and Lee being the most prominent, I think. Also the family names have ties to different areas or cities, so if your family name is Lee, you could belong to the Lees from Seoul or Daejeon, for example. I think only the common family names are represented in the park. I was joking that I should look for my family name, doubt I would find it there. On each sculpture there is a history of the family name. The park was really nice and pretty quiet, we
strolled through it for about half an hour. I wish all parks were as peaceful. There were lots of pretty flowers and I especially liked seeming the tulips, as they aren't very common in Korea.
We drove for about an hour to reach Daedunsan Provincial Park. Since it was lunchtime our guide directed us to a restaurant on the strip at the entrance of the park. We ordered Bibimbap, I had the dolseot style, which comes in a stone pot, which is extremely hot and is bubbling and sizzling. I'm not the biggest fan of Bibimbap, but the meal was fine and definitely filled the hole in my tummy. We then head up to the cable car. We didn't have to wait long, I think the cable car come about every twenty minutes. There were about a million people getting out, but we were pretty lucky that it was quite empty going up. The weather was a bit crappy, drizzly and cloudy, normally I'd be sad with this kind of weather, but here it added atmosphere and made Daedunsan look really cool. The cable car climbed higher and higher and we were treated to some great views of the
rugged mountains and the valley below.
Once we exited the cable car we headed out to the suspension bridge. We walked up a lot of steps to get there. I was pretty scared walking across it, looking down far, far below. I definitely couldn't stop in the middle and take photos like others were doing, they are a lot braver than me. Once, I had safely made it to the other side I was happy to be back on solid ground. The scenery was stunning. I had been wanting to visit Daedunsan for many, many years, and I was happy to be finally here. I was relieved that we didn't have to head back over the bridge and we we followed the trail up the mountain. The path up was steep and we passed a restaurant along the way. Next we came to an extremely steep steel ladder that was bolted on to the mountainside. I took a picture from underneath, but it didn't capture the steepness at all. Personally, I found the ladder much better than the bridge. The ladder was longer than it looked, and I made sure that I had a tight hold as we ascended.
However I did turn around and look at the magnificent view. I think this place would be amazing to visit in the autumn when the leaves change colour.
We continued on to reach the peak, it was about 700 metres away. It was quite steep going up and the path was covered with rocks, so I had to be careful. Also the rain had made it a little slippery. We reached the peak and it was a bit of an anticlimax. The cloud cover was pretty bad, so when we looked out we could see nothing, just a sea of white clouds. At least we could laugh at it. I was trying to take some photos of the 'great' view, but since there was nothing to focus on, my camera was very reluctant. I did manage to get some though. We didn't hang out for long at the peak, and made our way back to the cable car. The route back to the cable car was different, so we didn't go by the bridge or the ladder. I can see why they have a one way system as it was pretty busy, in autumn it must be mental. The
trail down was quite difficult, you definitely had to watch where to put your feet. A few people slipped and you could hear them, luckily they were all okay.
We took the cable car back to the bottom of the mountain. We still had about an hour before our tour bus would leave, so we went on a hunt for a cup of coffee. We walked back along the strip. There were a couple of noraebangs and they had their music blasting to entice people in. Hike a mountain and then for go a singing sesh, sounds like a good combo. We found a coffee shop just down from the strip and I had a nice relaxing time with an americano. We then had to walk back along the strip to meet our tour bus, which was parked up in the car park of a hotel. We drove for about an hour, back towards Daejeon, to reach our last stop.
We visited Jangtaesan Recreation Forest. We spent about fifty minutes there. The forest was canny nice and we had a walk around it. We took some photos of the plants, which had raindrops on their leaves. The forest
was so green, I'm not used to being in an area with so much greenery and it was a lovely change. The park was pretty busy with families and courting couples on dates. We drove back to Daejeon, where we did this massive loop around the city to reach the station. I think there must be some kind of one way system in place, as we passed the train station and then drove for ages to turn around and then be dropped off in front of the station. We headed into the market opposite the station to grab some dinner. There wasn't a great selection, but we found a row of sundae stalls and had some of that. Sundae is similar to black pudding and is a popular snack food in Korea. We were served up a plate of sundae, liver, lung and intestines. Sundae and liver I am a fan of, however lungs and intestines, not at all, so I focused on eating the bits I like. Pleasantly full, we headed to the train station for the journey home.
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