Summer is very hot and humid in Korea and the best place to get some respite is to head to the mountains or the sea. Usually, I head to both, but travelling with an infant is difficult. However, there are some ways to make things fun and easy for everyone.
I bought a new prime lens the sony 35mm F1.8 for my A6000. I wanted to test out how it performs for landscape shots.
Daedunsan Provincial Park is located in North Jeolla Province. The views from the top of the mountain are spectacular. I stopped by Daedunsan because it was about halfway between my house and where I was going (Jinju). I don't really feel like driving for more than 2 hours or so in a single strech with an infant in the car.
This photo was taken with my phone (Galaxy A31), you can see the top of the cable car house which looks like Hanok, Korean traditional roofing.
We stayed at the modern hotel which is at the base of the cable car. We decided to take the cable car up because my wife hates climbing mountains and I wasn't too keen on carrying my son up in 32C, 90% humidity weather. The weather up top was cooler and there was a nice breeze. I felt refreshed when I arrived at the top which is usually the opposite of how I feel when I climb.
I find it interesting to experiment with the different optics of the prime lens compared to the phone. It's definitely not a one-size fits all lens.
I really like all the layers of mountains and peaks. Backgrounds of backgrounds. Background inception. It reminds me of old-style sidescrolling videogames. The clouds sort of do the same too, although the effect isn't as obvious. We really enjoyed taking in the view, even if we earned it the smart way instead of the hard way.
I'll admit I didn't take this photo. But prime lenses do make letting others take photos simple, set it up and tell them where to stand and point.
My wife was more afraid of the cloud bridge than my 6-month-old son and I. Fortunately, she didn't mind taking a few photos once she was safely across. The Daedunsan Cloud Bridge has been around since the 1970s. This is version 3.0 which was just replaced last year. We weren't in the clouds this time which is fortunate because being in the clouds is like being in fog (once is enough), you can't really enjoy the view.
There are a lot of steep rocky cliffs, you can't really appreciate how spectacular it is from this angle.
The bridge was only a 5-minute walk up from where the cable car station is. I really wanted to climb up to the peak of the mountain, but it's difficult and dangerous to climb up and down steep steps with a kid strapped to your chest. I didn't feel like going anywhere there weren't handrailings and they stop past the bridge. Besides, family comes first on a family vacation.
I noticed ropes going up the steep cliffs, but I didn't see any rock climbers, probably because it was a little wet and windy.
I'm not sure if this picture or the next one was my favourite. In any case, after looking at them, I'm impressed with how this lens performed.
Just before we arrived, it was raining a little, we were a little worried the clouds wouldn't break and the view would suck. Fortunately, it stopped raining just when we arrived. Everyone enjoyed the view, even my son. He kept throwing his arms up and making noises. He also liked the wind and how the bridge sways and shakes.
The sky wasn't perfectly clear, there were definitely bands of fog and rain in the distance, but the effect it creates is so neat, it's hard to be disappointed.
Last year, I climbed mountains near my home every weekend. However, this year, I've had only 2 chances. Well, I guess this was my third. I'd never been to Daedunsan before, but I think I will visit again. In case you are wondering, yeah, I'll take the cable car again, too.
You can actually see Daedunsan looking up from the bottom. It's actually not that far up to the cable car house.
The hotel we stayed at is the main tourist hotel, but there were a few other smaller hotels at the bottom. We went to a nice restaurant for dinner. Everywhere sells mountain roots and vegetables. We got Deodeon Cheongshik which is a meal of BBQ roots that comes with like 20 side dishes. I'm not sure if it's vegan, but it was vegetarian.
I took this photo as the sun was setting after dinner. I haven't used the lens much in low light, but with 1.8F, it's definitely more versatile in different lighting conditions than the kit lens.
This has been one of my favourite trips in a while, probably because we had no expectations. It was really just an extended highway stop. The atmosphere was incredible. The dinner was great. The hotel room was fine. The bathing was amazing. The breakfast was decent. But if you are looking for a party, go somewhere else (obviously).
Actually, I went to the bathhouse/sauna twice, once before dinner and once in the morning. If you are in Korea and you like bathing check out a sauna.
I also took this photo with my phone. It's difficult to get anything in the foreground without a blurry background using my SLR camera and 35mm lens.
If you are in central South Korea, near Daejeon, Daedunsan Provincial Park is definitely worth a visit. Actually, I think I will go there again, but probably during a different season. Maybe I'll go back in the fall one time, perhaps to visit the ginseng festival in the nearby town of Geumsan.
