Gwangju International Center

2014 March Jangseong GIC Tour

Written by Chad LaRoche

Saturday morning.  My “Walk in the Forest” alarm melody, a foreshadow to the day’s events, lifts me into a new day.  A quick fast forward through time and I’m standing in the brand spanking new GIC building with a room full of eager adventurers awaiting departure for the big day ahead. 

The destination: Jangseong County, located in northern Jeollanam-do. The participants: 28 curiosity driven experience seekers from all corners of the globe. Our guide and tour mastermind: Mr. Warren Parsons with his passion for sharing Korea’s gems his cornucopia of knowledge.

The group makes its way outside into the chilly morning air of downtown Gwangju.  Filing onto the bus, we head out to our first destination in Jangseong: Naejang Mountain Park, where the Maple Tree Water Festival awaits. Maple tree water, or Goroswae, is just as you might imagine.  Slightly sweetened by nature, this water accumulates inside of thirsty maple trees, passes through a spigot and is collected in a clear plastic bag where it’s eventually gathered by even thirstier humans.

A huge, rock wall serves as the festival’s backdrop as we find ourselves at the bottom of a valley. Roaming the various tents, admiring the local goods and sampling delicious treats is a good start, but it’s only an appetizer to this tour’s four-course meal; it’s time to seek out the Goroswae.  We carry on to the trailhead where I’m met with deep, forest green cypress trees.  After months of a color deprived Korean winter, these living trees are a welcomed sight.  The path we now trod winds along a pristinely kept (the park prohibits smoking and swimming in its waters) and increasingly distant river as we climb higher in elevation.  A friendly group of Korean picnickers hijack a friend and me along the way, sending us off with a stack of rice cake and a healthy cupful of makkoli.

The hunt for Goroswae begins as we’re divided into groups of six, armed with empty 9-liter bottles and unleashed onto the steep hill side of maple trees.  From the path below, we’re able to scan the hill for the water filled bags.  Like little white, glistening beacons, the locations of the bags are betrayed by the noonday sun.  My group makes our way up and up through the crisp, dead leaves of winter below, emptying what we can find of the sweet water into our jug.  As I traverse the hill a loud noise spins me around in time to see a large, startled brown owl as it abandons it’s tree hole only two meters from my head and sweeps through the forest trees.  My jaw still on the floor, I take a peek at the nest and lone egg the owl left behind.

The rest of the day progresses seamlessly with a tasty vegetarian lunch at Jayeon Bapsang, a sort of Mecca for mindful eaters.  Comfortably full, we carry on to the Pilam Confucian School where I happily spend most of my time lazing in the sun, watching a few of the children on the trip chasing each other around a small building and across the yard, lassoing the smallest and most helpless of the bunch with a piece of rope and giggling like mad.

The day ends like all days should end: making soap.  At a wood workshop located at Chukryeong Mountain Cypress Forest, we are seated in groups.  Where I sit, I’m faced with two choices of soap molds: two fat teddy bears in love complete with hearts and a bouquet of flowers hidden behind the male bear’s back, or a car.  Turned off by the idea of bathing with metal and motor oil, I go with the bears.

Upstairs from the soap making workshop and at a hilly intersection, the sun is lowering closer to the mountainous horizon as the evening glow of amber sunlight mixes attractively with the growing shadows.  While I admire the quiet flow of life set amidst this especially natural environment, Warren informs me of all the great hiking available in the area.  I knew then that I would return. Check out Chukryeong Mountain Cypress Forest for yourself by taking the 30-45 minute bus ride from U-Square to Jangseong Bus Station where you can hop a bus to Moam and hike the connecting trail to Chuam, where the soap workshop is located.