I’ve been wanting to check out the Boseong tea fields, and this past weekend, I did just that. Ras and I met Jenay in Daejeon, then the three of us drove down about four hours to Boseong in Jeollanam-do. Jenay had already reserved a pension, but when we arrived, it was already too late to start a fire a fire for the barbecue. Instead, we had some salmon that night.
[Sunflower House Pension: our room was 70,000 won for two people, and each additional person was 10,000 won, with a maximum of four people. It was really nice with a great patio area. We stayed in the Dandelion Room.]
All pictures can be viewed in my Flickr album.
The next day, we woke up and went to the tea fields, even though it was a little rainy. The walk up to the plantation itself was really beautiful. It’s not often I see fern in Korea.
We were there for only half an hour before it started to pour, so we had to end our trip early. As I’ve read from others, and experienced for myself, the fields are more picturesque when it’s a little misty/rainy.
By this time, we had to change pensions because there was already a reservation for our room on Saturday. We found another nice place near the ocean, for only 50,000 won. There was nobody else in the other three units, so we had the place to ourselves.
Of course, we had to barbecue and roast marshmallows.
At one point, the pension owner came and chatted with us. Actually, it was more like us listening as he talked… A LOT. He even brought out his accordion and keyboard. After he finished playing, he shoved the accordion in my hands and suggested I play something. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Tell Me” by the Wondergirls. Really! Well, I attempted to play for about five seconds.
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 2:46 am
Love the new theme!
What lens are you using right now? Still the 10-22mm? I love your pics by the way…just awesome. What kind of PP are you using, if any?
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 6:32 am
Yes, it’s still the 10-22mm for landscapes, and 50mm for anything I can walk up to.
What do you mean by PP?
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 6:41 am
PP=Post processing…do you use Photoshop much?
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 8:30 am
I haven’t been using Photoshop all since I found Adobe Lightroom. My post processing involves cropping, “fill light” for dark photos, and some color boost (which you can see in the second tea field photo) if needed.
I find I don’t have to do much work with the 50mm photos - they’re really warm and sharp already.
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 9:45 am
[...] just got back from a trip to the Boseong Tea Fields, and the pictures she took, along with an anecdote or two, are worth a [...]
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 10:39 am
Yeah, definately beautiful photos that do justice to the beauty of the area.
Nice to see a fern, indeed. It’s the official national symbol of New Zealand, ‘cos the silver fern is the largest in the world. (The kiwi bird is only the unofficial symbol of New Zealand, ‘cos it’s so lazy that it doesn’t fly, which puts it in the same category of intelligence as the moa and the dodo!)
Hey, you have any more details available on where that second pension was? It looks fine, and sounds like a fair price, and I’d love to get down to the beach there one day.
j.w.
May 28th, 2008 at May 28, 2008 - 10:55 am
The second place is small and family run - there’s no website. If you look at the sign in the picture below, you can see the name and phone numbers for the place. If you have a GPS unit, you can plug in the number in and it’ll pop up on the map (hopefully).
http://flickr.com/photos/lao-ocean/2526724050/in/set-72157605284415889/
May 30th, 2008 at May 30, 2008 - 4:41 pm
Really beautiful place, and you’ve captured it well. Reminds me a lot of Java, actually.
June 10th, 2008 at June 10, 2008 - 1:04 pm
Very beautiful and well-captured pictures !
-David
August 21st, 2008 at August 21, 2008 - 8:01 am
Nice photos. i am coming over to South Korea in September and was hoping to make it down to the tea plantations. I’d really like to book some accommodation down there before I leave but don’t speak Korean. I was just wondering how you booked yours or if you know how someone who does speak Korean would be able to do this.
RetroG
August 21st, 2008 at August 21, 2008 - 8:02 am
sorry someone who doesnt speak korean would be able to do this.
August 22nd, 2008 at August 22, 2008 - 4:39 pm
When we were down there, we had made a reservation for one night, since the following day, the pension was fully booked. (Actually, the Sunflower House Pension is close to the tea fields.) We called tourist information (spoke English) and they looked for places in town, called them to check availability, then called us back on our cell phone to give us a status. The phone number for tourist information in Korea is always (area code of the city where you want information +1330). For example, in Seoul it’s 02-1330. In Boseong, it’s 061-1330. If calling from outside Korea, it’s +82-61-1330 (drop the zero). Hope that help. If nothing else, call the Seoul office.