My Top 10 Experiences in Korea - Part 2

It's crazy to think that my time in Korea is quickly coming to an end.  Time goes so fast and I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity.  Here are the final 5 things that have made the past year an extremely memorable one.
6. Goryeosan Azalea Festival
     I've since realized that Korea has a lot of azalea festivals but this one was easy enough to get to and a nice day trip from Seoul.  It's located in north Incheon and was breathtaking.  It looked like God threw up azaleas on the side of the mountain because it was completely covered and absolutely beautiful.

7. Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival
     Like the azalea festival, Korea has hundreds of cherry blossom festivals.  Honestly, you don't really have to go anywhere to see cherry blossoms because they are everywhere.  But, we figured that if we'd visit a cherry blossom festival, it might as well be the biggest in Korea down in Jinhae.  It rained on us the first day and unfortunately, a lot of the cherry blossoms had fallen off the trees, but there were still enough left to show why this was the biggest and most popular in Korea.

8. Jeju Island

     We did a lot of fun things in Jeju and I could probably do a top 10 of Jeju itself.  Jeju was amazing and was the last trip we took to make our journey around Korea complete.  Even in January/February, the weather was surprisingly warm.  We hiked the tallest mountain in Korea, saw some lava tubes, women divers, lava cliffs, waterfalls, rode in a submarine and went to Love Land.  I see why Jeju surpassed Hawaii this year with it's number of visiting tourists.  I can only imagine how beautiful the island is in the spring, summer and fall!

9. Gyeongju

     The old capital of Korea during the Silla dynasty and full of history.  It's too bad that I only had a few hours there before I had to leave, but I heard the hiking around the area has a bunch of stone carved buddhas and nice views of the city.  I did get to do a temple stay at a Buddhist Temple for Korean Martial Arts which was pretty cool but I could've spent another day visiting the area.

10. Gwangju/Damyang

     I'm sure there is a lot more to see in Gwangju than I was able to see but the fact that I was able to see the city where my dad's family came from was priceless.  What made it better was that I went with my dad!  I saw my grandfather's and great grandparents grave sites and the city where my dad was born.  It was a special moment while in Korea and was one of my main reasons for coming.