鎭海진해

Photo courtesy of Chee Min

Finally, after numerous discussion, I finally set foot on Jinhae, the city of cherry blossom. Just an hour bus ride from Sasang Terminal for ₩4200, the whole group of 15 students from China and Malaysia happily snapping pictures all the way. I met our nice 韓警備 (Gosh, what was his full name again?) inside the lift, he was asking where were I going on such an early Sunday morning. After telling my destination, he told me he was once a marine at Jinhae as well, and it was a nice place for flower viewing.

How nice is nice you ask? Here is my best photograph shot. A super famous spot which you have to rush for a chance to take it there. You'll be the judge whether it's nice or not.

First stop after arriving at bus terminal was 제황산공원(帝皇山公園), which has Jinhae Tower 진해탑(鎭海塔) on top of the hill, a prominent landmark and a good point of reference. You can walk up to the hill via 365 steps stairs. Apparently, it symbolises the number of days in a year. It reminds me of a Chinese proverb, 一年之计在于春, which is appropriate as it was spring when we were there.

The park and the view from the tower was rather nice. There is also a nice little museum on 2nd floor, but again, Korean only. You can see Jinhae city and Jinhae Bay from here. Cherry blossom was planted everywhere in Jinhae.

Photo courtesy of Li Chun

Out of a sudden, we saw something flying by. It was a blimp by South Gyeongsang Province Election Committee urging people to vote on 9 April for National Assembly Election. Probably it was a good chance to put on this campaign as the crowd was huge and good way to catch attention.

Photo courtesy of Chee Min

There were carnival stalls nearby which was rather commercialised. Probably it was the only chance of the year for local people to earn tourist money, thus price was inflated. We should have listened to our kind security guard to pack our own food, as he told us food price was going to be expensive. Anyhow, here are some photos.

Just right behind the stall we went, it was one of the historic landmark of Jinhae, the Jinhae Post Office. Looks like I'm the only one interested in this. There after, we walked to another prominent landmark of Jinhae, the statue of Admiral Lee Sun-Shin, alongside with a model of his famous turtle ship. One fun observation; if you look closely at the photo, you can see a smiley face instead of the boat. Nice eh?

The main highlight of the day is none other than Yeojwacheon Bridge area, as shown on the 2nd picture above. It was so crowded owing to the fact that it was really beautiful. If I'm not wrong, the place that was photographed most using our cameras was here. So enjoy there following pictures.

Sakura Drop courtesy of Li Chun

We had a great day as the weather was good, the view was stunning. So here are some of the photos, which I do not know how to describe it in words. Just too bad the final place at the Navy Academy, the railway track was out of bound, and only pre-defined pedestrian walk path was opened to visitors.

Photo courtesy of Cherry

What surprise me at the end of the trip when heading to the bus terminal, was the super long queue. Busan seemed to be the best transit point for visitors from elsewhere. This was not the ticket queue, but the boarding queue, and picture show was only half of the queue.

Fun Section

Also, it was a lovely day, wasn't it? For those of you who has seen the original, you are lucky. For those who missed it, never fear, you can ask around. There was a similarity of theme when you look closely at the photos. Here is my list:

The 'L' Finger Duo

Photo courtesy of Li Chun

The V Finger Duo

Photo courtesy of Cherry

The Positive/Negative Vibe Duo

The Flowery Duo

Photo courtesy of Cherry & Ting Ting

The Necklace Duo

Photo courtesy of Rui Ting & Seong Yee

The Camera Duo

Photo courtesy of Rui Ting