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Start
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Sunrise Park
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Apricot Flower Festival
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Hadong Hwagae Jangteo
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House of Choe Champan
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Guesthouse
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Unjoru
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Ssanggyesa Temple
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Hwaeom Temple
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Finish
Sunrise Park View on Geumo Mountaintop in Hadong
For starters, I'm going to show you the great view on the mountaintop of Geumo Mountain on my trip to Hadong, Gwangyang and Gurye. The weather was okay but I couldn't see clearly because of clouds or dusts. Well… Geumo Mountain is a range of Jiri Mountain stretching to southeast that is 849m high. You can easily get to the top by car. People were not allowed to come up to the top because it used to be a military base but most of the facilities were removed so you can see most of the area except a few places.
Canon EOS 550D | f/9.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 11:36:29 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 24mm
I searched for 'Geumo Mountain Sunrise Park' so many times on my navigator but it doesn't come up. I guess it's not the official name so there are two ways. First, you can search for 'Geumosan(Geumo Mountain)' and you can choose the Geumo mountaintop in Hadong, or, search for 'Geumseongsa', when you see that crossroad you can go to the right to Geumo mountaintop. If you go to the left, Geumseongsa(temple) would show up. From that crossroad, it is 6km long to the mountaintop so if you're walking, you HAVE TO hitchhike.
Canon EOS 550D | f/10.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:06:49 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
My car is older than 10 years so when I got to the top, it smelled like tires burning. lol On the top, the broadcasting antennas and a part of military base still remained. It doesn't mean you are not allowed to go in there so you can park your car where you like and take a look around.
Canon EOS 550D | f/9.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:02:54 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
The sunrise park has the safe deck floor. The ocean far away is the southern sea and the islands belong to Namhae-gun. This whole area is within Hallyeohaesang National Marine Park.
Canon EOS 550D | f/9.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:02:35 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
I would've shown you better views if the weather was a little bit better, it's pity. But if you actually look at it, you'll feel the fresh air deep inside you.
Canon EOS 550D | f/10.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:06:18 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
What do you think is that foggy stuff? Is it fine dust or… just fog…? anyways under the mountain, I saw the downtown of Hadong and even Sacheon of Gyeongsangnamdo and Samcheonpo far away.
Canon EOS 550D | f/10.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:07:12 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 30mm
To the right, I saw the industrial complex of Galsa bay in Hadong and even further, Gwangyang Steel Mill. We must've come up really high I guess.
Canon EOS 550D | f/10.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:05:14 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
Geumo Mountain is a stone pit that's made of unique shaped stones. Next to the observatory, the stones were flowing like water.
Canon EOS 550D | f/10.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:09:56 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
I took a closer look and it looked like somebody put those rocks on purpose, but they were actually flowing down the mountain from the top. It looks amazing that somebody drove a truck to move all the rocks a thousand times and pour them here.
Canon EOS 550D | f/10.0 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 12:10:59 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
I don't know how it's possible but I felt like I was watching rock falls falling from the sky. It's not a good place to eat here because there's no restaurant or accommodations but if you're expecting something important in your life, you should go there and get good spirits of Geumo Mountain. Oh, there's a toilet on the mountaintop! That's one of the best things about Korea!
+ Address : 825-1, Jungpyeong-ri, Geumnam-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do
Properly Spicy Stir-fried Octopus in Hadong Gorae Sikdang
Hadong gets more famous in spring because it holds festivals when the spring flowers bloom including cherry blossoms and apricot flowers along the beautiful Seomjin River. The tourists normally see the flowers along the Seomjin River and eat meals at big restaurants on the main streets. It would be romantic to have meal watching the river but I went to Gorae Sikdang that is famous for simple yet delicious food. It's in the village and not famous among tourists.
Canon EOS 550D | f/5.6 | iso 100 | 2015:03:17 13:10:20 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
Gorae Sikdang is a restaurant, older than 30 years, in Hadong-eup that is quitefar away from Seomjin River area full of tourists. It's not so famous among tourists because most of the clients are residents in Hadong-eup.
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.5 | iso 400 | 2015:03:17 13:11:06 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 38mm
Gorae Sikdang had Korean traditional meals, meats, seafoods and main dishes, and the best thing about the restaurant is that the prices were not high. We wanted to eat something spicy so we ordered stir-fried octopus for two. It costs 9,000 won for one.
Canon EOS 550D | f/5.0 | iso 400 | 2015:03:17 13:20:09 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
After a while, we had 10 different common dishes and stir-fried octopus for two people. They gave us one big bowl to mix rice with fried sauce.
We tasted the common dish first. Mostly they were not salty nor bland, they were perfect, and especially acorn jello was soft with strong scent since they put so much acorn powder. Pickled vegetable made of apricot, the special product of Hadong, was sweet and sour as well.
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 1000 | 2015:03:17 13:20:28 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
The main dish, stir-fried octopus. Normally only octopus is seasoned and fried with gochujang(red pepper paste) sauce but this one had vegetables and cellophane noodles as well.
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 2000 | 2015:03:17 13:20:58 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 50mm
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 2000 | 2015:03:17 13:21:57 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 50mm
Normally it made my tongue burn in the restaurants in Seoul but this sauce is properly spicy and even if I eat it constantly, it doesn't disgust me, it rather made my stomach comfortable. Probably because sweet vegetables like carrots, onions and cabbages, it made me want to eat it constantly.
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 500 | 2015:03:17 13:22:24 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 25mm
Another special thing about stir-fried octopus is bibimbap. Put a bowl of rice with octopus and sauce, you'll finish one bowl before you notice it.
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 800 | 2015:03:17 13:22:54 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 47mm
So if the rice is old or too dry or too sticky, it's not good, but the rice at the restaurant was perfect so I had to eat two bowls.
Apricot flowers started to bloom in Hadong and soon when it is be covered with cherry blossoms, the city will be crowded with cars and people, so why don't you have a home-made meal at Gorae Sikdang in quiet Hadong-eup?
+ Address : 265-25, Eupnae-ri, Hadong-eup, Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do
+ Telephone : 055-882-4177
