Naejangsan National Park & Jeongeup

First, let me preface this post by saying that I will be unashamedly using it as an opportunity to bombard you with pictures of stunning fall foliage and whimsical light displays.

If that sounds like a terrible way to spend 10 minutes then you are free to exit gracefully now.

One of the most popular places to visit in South Korea every fall is Naejangsan National Park. It is well-known for its vibrant fall colors and thousands of people flock there every year to see the leaves change.

Myself included.

The nearest city to Naejangsan is Jeongeup. So after a three hour bus ride to Jeongeup, we found out just how popular this national park really is. There was a line of cars to get into the park that was easily several miles long. We had taken a taxi from the bus station, and when we saw the line of cars, we just told our taxi driver to drop us off and we walked the 2 miles to the entrance.

Best decision ever.

There are absolutely no filters on these pictures, so you can imagine just how insane these colors were in real life.

The park has many smaller trail loops, recreational areas, and art displays located around the foot of the mountains. Many of these areas have trees that were specifically planted to look spectacular in the fall.

Mission accomplished.

After walking through some of the trails we circled back to a sky walk that we had seen a little earlier.

It provided an excellent overview of the main sculpture garden. My favorite sculpture was the oversized violin.

Once the sun had set behind the mountains we decided to start our trek back out of the park. It was a lovely walk around the perimeter of a nearby lake.

When we returned to the outskirts of Jeongeup and were greeted by a strange event.

That's right. Just a random concert in the middle of a plaza - complete with a fountain show. This is becoming a REGULAR occurance for me in Korea. If I had a dollar for every random event I've stumbled upon, it would fully pay for all my traveling adventures. And, honestly, I love it.

While we are on the topic of random events in Korea, I forgot to mention earlier that while we were on our way to the national park, we drove past a stretch of river where we could see some string lights hung up. We decided once we finished looking at the leaves we would try and circle back around to check it out.

Back to the present.

Now that it is practically dark outside, we decide to catch a taxi back to the river. And we were TOTALLY unprepared for the absolute extravaganza of lights we encountered.

This is literally a FRACTION of all the light diplays that were set up along the banks of the river. All in all, we probably walked over a mile - stopping here and there to take pictures of the lights.

But lights weren't the only thing to see.

Yes. That is a larger-than-life, inflatable moon.

Korea sure knows how to shoot for the stars.

There were also interactive light up displays, including these circle swings and a seesaw!

I could have gone back every night for a week and still not have seen my fill.

In fact, we were having such a great time we lost track of time and missed one of our buses back home. So we didn't get home till close to midnight. But I wouldn't change a thing.

Korea has this way of surprising me in the most unexpected ways. We had NO idea that there was going to be a beautiful light display in Jeongeup, and were just lucky enough to glimpse some of the set-up on our drive to see the leaves. And, in my opinion, it ended up being the best part of trip.

It reinforces to me a personal philosophy that I've always had regarding traveling. Sometimes the best adventures and the craziest stories happen when you have no plan at all. Just follow your heart, take a leap of faith, and don't worry about the rest.

'Til next time!