Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival (Part I)

 Well, Jenn and I had such a great time in Jinhae, we decided to break it down into three parts! One will be my experience, then hers (whenever she gets time), and then we're gonna devote a post to the food! We took a bunch of food pictures so it'd be a shame to not spend more time on it.

All the trains to Jinhae straight from Daegu were booked. So we took the train to Masan instead, which is about a 30 minute drive northwest of Jinhae. We left early on Saturday and the train ride was from 7:50 to 9:23. There were no signs on the train telling us we were at Masan, but luckily, the train was exactly on time so we just got off at 9:23. We got a taxi to Jinhae (15$ split between 5!) and were there by 10ish. Jinhae is literally covered in Cherry Blossom trees. It was incredibly beautiful. I could keep trying to describe it, but I'd rather just post pictures!

The taxi driver dropped us off at the edge of Jinhae. 

It was right next to a park that had a lake and it was surrounded by cherry blossoms. It was super scenic and we got there early enough that it wasn't too crowded. After we left the park, we walked down this boardwalk sort of thing. 

You can see the boardwalk in two of the pictures. On the opposite sides was a walkway, and right next to each walkway was the street. The street was lined with food stalls, balloon stands, and more. If you look below, you can see that there was also a little walkway underneath. There is a stream running throughout the whole boardwalk. We walked down there as well because it wasn't as crowded. Plus you could get some really good shots of the trees lining the whole street. After we walked down the length of  boardwalk, we came into this huge circle. In the 

middle of the circle was a big stage for all the performers throughout the day. Branching throughout the circle were alleyways filled with food stands, and all kinds of other stands. There were fair games (pop the balloon, shoot the targets, basketball), mini-restaurant tents, and all kinds of strange sights and smells. They even had Cherry Blossom ice cream, which we had, and it tasted good! In the picture to the above right, you will see some more cherry blossoms lining the street. Follow the sidewalk right next to it for about 20 minutes, and you eventually get to the sea. They have a Naval base near there

and we didn't get the chance to go see it (they were having tours) but we did get the chance to go see some of the huge naval ships by the pier. Maybe Jenn will post some pics of it! They even had a US ship, the John McCain. No one was allowed on it though. And here is another pic of me and Jenn at the boardwalk. You can see the stream at the bottom a little better. In the next pic, we had walked up 365 steps (they were numbered, isn't that cool?!) and we got to Jinhae tower. It was a great way to see the whole city. We got some really good shots, but that was also the moment that my camera chose to run out 

batteries so we just used Jenn's for the rest of the day. Here is a pic of one of the views we had. You can probably make out the big circle with the stage, and all the white blurry things you see are cherry blossoms! We pretty much spent the entire day walking. After we spent about an hour or so relaxing and taking in the views, we decided to walk down a different way. That was when we came into this park area, and they had these huge hula hoops! I totally understand now why you love hula hoops mom! We did them for about 10 minutes and our abs were starting to get really sore! I don't know if you can tell how big the 

hula hoop in my picture is, but Jenn and our other friends couldn't even start spinning in it without my help! It's just one of the things that I love about Korea so far. There are so many outdoor parks/gym areas, and they are always filled with people exercising. It's a great motivation to stay fit and in shape. And when I say outdoor gyms, I mean it. They have ab machines, sit up bars, machines for your legs, and more. I will have to take a picture of one of them sometime. And they are all completely free! After our little hula hoop excursion, we went back down into Jinhae and took in some more of the sights. We saw 

stands that were selling candy, traditional Korean medicines, coconuts, and even a stand that was selling slurpees. I got a coke flavored one and it was delicious. Then I bought another one, because since I never really drink soda here, I forgot how awesome it is. Speaking of which, I've already lost 10 lbs since I got here! Jenn is amazed, and a little jealous, but I really don't know how I've done it. It's probably the smaller portion sizes at every meal? Anyways, the last picture is a group picture of our friends! The two girls next to Jenn (Jackie and Daryle) were the ones that we hung out with all day (Daryle is the one with glasses). We also had another friend named Jamie but she was checking out another part of the festival. The other friends were some more of our fellow EPIK teachers that we usually hang out with on the weekends. We met up for a little bit in Jinhae but then we split up because they hadn't seen the ocean yet and we already had. The day in Jinhae went by so fast. Before we knew it, we were back on a taxi to Masan (very stressful getting a taxi since it was so crowded) and back in Daegu. Jinhae was so...awesome. It was breathtaking. Beautiful. Spectaculous. Incredibelicious. And I would go back and do it all over again if I could. Bye everyone! Miss you and love you all! Send me and Jenn some emails sometime, it always makes our day :)