Roadtrippin'

This weekend was a glorious busy one that reminded me of how awesome my friends are and how beautiful it is to drive through Jeollanamdo.


On Friday night, Nicola and I went to JP's for supper (bean burritos - all made from scratch - yay JP), then headed to a jimjilbang (think, naked sauna). It had been a while since I'd been in one (the sauna in Taiwan was co-ed, so we had to wear bathing suits and - eeek - swimming caps), and it was great to be back in the water and the steam, and to hang out in such a uniquely Korean way.

We were up bright and early the next day to head off with a gang of 15 folks in total on a "Photo Roadtrip" that Stu had organized. Now, a lot of the people on the trip were hardcore photo types with expensive cameras, tripods, lenses out to here.... I admit that I was coming along purely for the social aspect.




Every so often, as we made our way from Mokpo through Daewonsa to Yeosu, we would stop, everyone would pile out of the two vans, and the shutterbugging would begin. It was great fun, and a wonderful reminder of just how lovely Korea is. The colours may not be as vibrant as Canada or New England, but there were enough bright patches to satisfy us. And, I got a chance to see some of the southern coast of Yeosu (new for me), and the rugged cliffs and rolling ocean - yay.

The highlight for me was definitely going back to Daewonsa (again). It was my fourth time there - I've seen it in every season but winter.... we'll see if I'm good enough to brave the cold and head out there this year, since I would love to see it under a layer of snow. Here are some of my favourite shots from Daewonsa:





The climate inside our van (me, Stu, Nicola, Zephyr, Jen and Garrett) was definitely festive and noisy:



Anyway, once in Yeosu, I ditched the rest of the gang and made my way to Suncheon to see Nina. She is probably going to meet up with me in Bali/Lombok, and we wanted to chat a bit about it all. However, when I arrived at her place, I was thoroughly exhausted so I gave her my guidebook and just sat down in front of her TV with some homemade soup.

I left early-ish on Sunday, and did a quick bit of shopping in Gwangju (how awesome is it that the girls at Aveda know me -- I will always love that) and bumped into JP, which gave me someone to chat with on the bus ride back to Mokpo.

Anyway.... more photos are available on Facebook and on Flickr, so go take a look.

p.s. The Gap is coming in December to the Shinsegae department store in Gwangju!! This will put Starbuck's, Aveda and The Gap conveniently under one roof for me!