Information Brochure for Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

I only learnt about the existence of this brochure when I made my way to Jinhae in 2007. There’s an electronic version which you can download the brochure for the Jinhae Festival at this website. Click here.

1. The 2010 schedule for the 48th Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival has yet to be uploaded. A great pity for the non-Korean visitors who want to visit Jinhae this year. Timing is everything and one hopes the person responsible for the Jinhae City webpage can put up the detailed schedule for this year’s festival VERY soon. It would also be useful for foreign visitors to know which activities or events are suitable for them because some of these events or exhibitions may only be accessible to those who understand or can read Korean.

2. A more detailed map would be useful particularly to highlight bus-stops or shuttle bus routes.

3. The brochure could also include the bus schedule for the locations which are further away from the town centre. It’s not exactly a small town where everything is within walking distance and though there are shuttle buses, there’s little information about these as well in the brochure.

Here then are the websites for transportation to and around Jinhae:
Local buses http://eng.jinhae.go.kr/02/08_05.asp
Intercity buses http://eng.jinhae.go.kr/02/08_06.asp
Express buses http://eng.jinhae.go.kr/02/08_07.asp
Trains  http://eng.jinhae.go.kr/02/08_04.asp

source:
http://eng.jinhae.go.kr/

Maehwa Festival

There are three places in South Korea where you have your fill of plum or apricot blossoms ( maehwa). Top of the list is  the Gwangyang Festival in the southern province of Jeollanam-do. it will be held between the 13th and the 21st of March this year.

Reason to head south to Maehwa Village a.k.a. Seomjin Village near Gwangyang City? It has the reputation of possessing the highest number of Japanese apricot trees ( more than 100,000 trees apparently).

 It's hard to imagine what life in this quiet village by the Seomjin River was like before Kim Ocheon brought the saplings from Japan to transplant them on the mountain slopes here around 1940. Other villagers soon caught the maehwa fever, continued his good work and now they can share the fruits ( literally and figuratively) with the rest of their countrypeople as well as tourists from around the world. We can now enjoy organic maekwa fruits as well as other related food and drink items made from the green variety known as Cheong-maesil.

If you have a car, take the scenic road which runs alongside National Road No. 19, with the Seomjingang River on its left. Don't forget to pack lots of film and batteries for your cameras as you're bound to get trigger happy capturing shot after shot of maehwa in all its pastel glory.

If you don't fancy sharing the joys of springtime with crowds of visitors, check out the second place which also has Japanese apricots at Bohae-maehwa (Japanese apricot) Farm in Yejeong-ri, Sani-myeon Haenam-gun, also in Jeollanam-do. It's the property of the Bohae Distillery Company  with around 14,000 Japanese apricot trees and you're advised to phone the farm beforehand (☎061-532-4959) to check when exactly is the best time to visit.

It may be too late already to catch the blossoming of these flowers in Jeju Island but you may make a note to be there next year at Hueree Nature Farm which also has a mini maehwa fest. If the timing is off, at least you have a great picnic and enjoy the pastoral setting complete with farm animals.
Sources:
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=700154
http://www.gwangyang.go.kr/maehwa/