Ganghwa island

So with Autumn almost gone and winter almost upon us I managed a couple of trips away recently. Sometimes you don't have to travel all that far to find somewhere very different. Ganghwa island is one of those places, it's very close to Seoul and doesn't take long by bus, maybe 1 hour and a half. It only took me 1 hour from Ilsan (NW, Seoul).

Ganghwa Island

Ganghwa lies very close to the border with North Korea, and you get a good view of the North from the island. It is the 4th largest island in South Korea and it is home to 65,000 people. I went along with my friend Mike and his brother who was over visiting. Mike's first posting was on Ganghwa and he lived there for a year so it was great to see some of his favourite spots.
      
One of the first things you notice when you arrive on the island is it looks very old fashioned, almost like you've gone back in time. the mainstays of any korean town: family mart, 7-11, baskin robbins and lotteria stand out like sore thumbs here amid the traditional markets. Another thing is looking around there are almost no young people in sight, most locals tend to be older, and they look a lot older too, many have worked in the fields for much of their life. This is how I'd imagine many other parts of Korea were like before the recent economic development and gentrification. Sadly my photo's don't really capture this aesthetic, I have never been bold enough to take close-up photo's of locals going about their daily business. Instead I often I take much less intrusive landscape shots.

Not an apartment building in sight.

We found this market in town; pets or food?

Food market this time.

I love the yellow fields that weave their way across the land.

Mountain Bibimbap and Pacheon for lunch.

In the background you can see the largest of the many dolmen (bronze age tombs) dotted all over the island.