A road trip to Taean-gun I embarked on during one summer in Korea is a remembrance brimful of fun experiences and is also marked as my first visit to Chungcheongnam-do or the South Chungcheong Province in the southwest region.
Hearing about the opportunity of returning to the area again gives me a great exhilaration. And this time I get to reap memories with geotagging photos on my phone from another gun(county) of the Chungcheongnam-do that is as charming, also known to be the hometown to Korea’s notable cooking TV personnel Baek Jong-won, Yesan County. Gratefully, I accepted the chance which was offered by Trazy; an English friendly tour booking website, to participate in a hassle-free one day trip to Yesan organized by K Story.
In this post, I am going to enumerate all the sights and exposures I received during the journey I partook with Trazy and K Story Tour over the weekend. Hopefully, this will help paint some pictures of Yesan onto your mind and show you how convenient traveling outside of Seoul can be when it is catered by professionals.
1. Plunging into the beauty and tranquility of Sudeoksa Temple
No more or less than two hours, that’s the time our group tour spent on the road traveling from Seoul City Hall to the parking area of Sudeoksa Temple in Yesan city by a bus. Our agile tour guide, Dony, spoke fondly about the temple and the city; which we had learnt as soon as we arrived, happened to be the place he was born into, as he escorted us to the Main Buddha Hall located uphill.
We were explained that numerous items and structures within the temple’s wall are designated as National Treasure including the Main Hall. If you have ever visited temples in Korea, you might have gotten some ideas that as much as they are built to reflect Buddhism influence, they also represent art and Korean culture.
They offer visitors a sense of tranquility, complete with splendid Hanok style designed structures and flamboyant pillar gates, to which there is no exception here in Sudeoksa Temple.
Nonetheless, what struck me other than the beauty of the Korean traditional architecture and the sacredness was how densely the temple is packed with deciduous trees. Although our time of visit could be considered a tad late for the fall leaves viewing in Korea, evidently, it is still impeccable in Yesan City, or at least at Sudeoksa Temple.
The eye-catching scene of halls after halls dappling with brilliant shades of crimson, orange, and golden yellow was the most impressive sight to begin the day with!
2. Dipping in natural hot spring water at Splas Resom
About 10 minutes drive northeast from the Sudeoksa Temple, Splas Resom is a recreational ground known for its water park and spa. It is one of the Resoms, the holiday destinations operated by Hoban Hotel & Resort. And what makes Splas Resom different from its sibling resorts is that the water supplied to all establishments is drawn from Deoksan natural hot springs.
The resort provides spacious indoor and outdoor water play facilities enticing friends and families to come enjoy their leisure time all year round. For the courting couples, it is also equipped with secluded spaces; such as Couple Spa, Wine Spa, and Hinoki Spa in the Cave Zone.
I spent a good hour in the Torrent River Zone, the area that is filled with more quirky themed spas: Classic Spa, Gayageum Spa, Jazz Spa, Romantic Spa, Secret Spa, Vital Spa lI, Germanium Sauna, and Bungalow Village. Submerging my sprained torso in a jetted water tub with a gushing temperature of forty-something degrees was such a perfect way to spend the last day of the weekend.
We were given roughly three hours to enjoy the water park. However, I opted to spare an hour for a later walk around the resort ground where I found that there were a handful of pretty photo spots located nearby.
3. Walking on Deoksan metasequoia trees road
Stretching beautifully from Deoksan Oncheon Road (덕산온천로), only fifteen-minute walk away from the Splas Resom entrance, the gleaming brownish metasequoia trees path was the reason why I had to extort an extra hour out of my healing fun time.
Not only that I noticed the stripe of the road instantly as our tour bus was approaching Daepsariwon park located before our destination resort, the path already gets featured on the Splas Resom website as one of the recommended attractions that is worth a swing by when visit Splas Resom during autumn months. Scroll down to see pictures of the five hundreds meters long metasequoia road at its peak and your skepticism shall be volatile.
It is relatively noticeable that the bright red post box installed midway makes the road look even more appealing. It is dubbed ‘메타세콰이어 사랑의 우체통’ which is translated as ‘metasequoia mailbox of love’ and there is a stack of free postcards placed in front of the box for visitors to convey their warm love to their loved ones. It is such a clever way to captivate bypassers’ attention.
4. Checking in at Yedangho Suspension Bridge
Yesan City is also home to the largest reservoir in Korea, Yedang Lake. It comes with the equally pristine entity to its size and name, Yedangho Suspension Bridge; the last destination in our one-day tour package. The bridge is adorned with thousands of colorful LED lights that will illuminate after sunset making it the perfect ending for our one day tour from Seoul.
Overall, my Sunday was very well spent: I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Although I didn’t mention earlier, this is my first time being on a tour in Korea and it’s gonna be difficult to compare what will come later to from now on. The program was excellently organized. Every offering was nicely executed as planned and scheduled (e.g. the course timing). Every selected destination was a fine representation for Yesan. From the city’s heritage site – Sudeoksa Temple, renowned hot spring water park – Splas Resom, to the longest walkable suspension structure in Korea – Yedangho Suspension Bridge, the course was cooked up for the best! Besides the good location picks, Dony, the tour leader, was delightful. He was very caring and informative. With his handy tips and suggestions, you will learn how to travel like the locals.
Would you like to get on board and have fun experiences in Yesan? Visit Trazy and book ‘[K Story Tour] Yesan Hot Spring Spa + Sudeoksa Temple 1 Day/ 2D1N Tour – from Seoul’. Enjoy Korea! You are in good hands!
Places Mentioned in This Post
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