geographically located on the Eastern end of the Asian Continent, South Korea enjoys distinct four Season throughout the year .
- beautiful Fall or Autumn representing the most Korean Season with maturely colored leaves and traditional ThanksGiving with family-gathering and gift-exchange ritual (much encompassing corporate bribes)
- freezing Winters with several snow and down to -10C. in extreme colds, where snow-boarding is the latest trend for a country now well-off
- hopeful Spring when scholastic calendar starts as with most of Asia, with much campus festivities,
- hot Summer when the latest intelligent high-rise buildings are air-conditioned, with the long-time Korean tell-tale of how it is hazardous to your body keeping all from shutting-down of overt power usage and vacation exodus ensues
thus in South Korean Summer : three calalysts mingle to thrust you joy as well as implanting a dreadful nightmare into your life .
[ Rainy Monsoon Season ]
although it does rain casually throughout the Korean year, it starts coming in days-groupings early July . imagine raining straight for a Week and then two . great for a rain-lover like me but ..
while South Korea still has Monthly civil-defense exercise on the 15th at 2pm where sirens go off and cars has to park road-side as well as people moving inside – although much laxed after the military dictatorship which used this for anti-North propaganda,
now-and-then a region (or the nation, for the Korean Peninsula is small) is alerted of over-rain . this mostly effects poorer neighborhoods in low altitudes as well as vacationers dwelling onto Korea’s streams between rocky mountains .
recovering from war-torn days a population massed in a tiny Peninsula have opted to dwell in (supposedly modern and cleaner) apartment buildings – some a decade after the Millennium rose to super-modern high-rises – so much that many have formed huge complexes an awe for traveling strangers . and when it rains for more than a Week, older buildings say built more than 20 years ago would show leakage and some underground garage sewage halt to work .
and ofcourse while a portion of the nation is almost drowning the fashionable more frequently wear Aigle rain boots – a new phenomenon a Decade post-Millennium, for the old notion were for menial workers .
[ Summer Vacation ]
as the rain stops around July 25th, an annual exodus begins in joy, as Korean business has most vacations on similar dates for best coordination on a national operation . as life regained from the war HaeUnDae Beach on the second Korean city of then Pusan, now Busan (all official spelling adjusted over the 1988 Seoul Olympics) was THE place to head to, forming this time : tourist jam – imagine a beach where you cannot see water but packed with people 0o0
KOREAN SHORES :
- Busan is a major port city on the South-Eastern tip of the Korean Peninsula, with three popular beaches (from West-to-East)
- further South-West of Busan Train Station : Song Do Beach is now muddle with tanker residue and deemed by locals not suitable for swimming, still many go there for raw fish dishes
- then East of downtown NanPoDong and the more recent SeoMyon : on a cozy KwangAn Beach crossed end-to-end by the spectacular double-tiered KwangAn Bridge, lined with trendy cafes visited by student in the Weekend,
- next beach East is the mentioned HaeUnDae Beach, this time lined with condos and deluxe hotels
- and over DalMadHi Hill where foreign expatriates especially les Francaises have taken residency and get-away houses for Seoulites, you come down to SongJung Beach prefered by locals thus with modest atmostphere
- the East Coast sits besides a vertical North-South mountain range thus apt for romantic driveways, and beaches dotting were developed in 1990s, with the most popular KyungPoDae over the mountain strips of KangReung far East . visitors from the American East Coast would find familiar atmosphere here, with beach-front bungalows .
& for those seeking a pure Korean experience : a unique train station right-on-the-beach at JungDongJin ! here, small houses are transformed into inns for visitors arriving to see sun-rise .
- in contrast the Southern and Western Coast are irregular dotted with islands that a straight road is much in-land, and only a few tourist sites are developed in an over-rated bridge at NamHae and Korea’s own land’s-end village literally translated TtangKkootMaeul at the South-Western tip of the Peninsula
still in the Summer of 2012, HaeUnDae Beach is the measuring concensus of vacationer migration .
add to this, the Southern island of Jeju was developed just prior to the Millenium with a deluxe hotel resort form South-West at JoongMoon, but since everything has to be flown here with considerable airfare, people opt for better bargains in SouthEast Asia
and with the influx of internet as with South Korea’s fastest connection on the planet, Koreans have gathered much information on destination as well as airfare and route, thus traveling even far to Eastern Europe a decade past the Millenium //
[ Typhoon Storm ]
nope we are not done yet, for nature does not seem to like the notion of human paradise forever – as in the classic movie, and on a few live-updated weather sites you can witness Asia’s own tropical storm forming as Typhoons every other Week . some just go round-and-round to disperse, while some come up North to do much damage in the Orient .
this happens anytime between July and October, while more to the latter with new phenomenon dubbed by forecasters as Guerilla Storm for they appear out of nowhere, to disappear in the same manner ! this will still have a day’s warning while others will have ample time to evacuate .
for those curious as to what this really is :
- it does accompany some extent of rain,
- with prinominent thunders sounding afar,
- and as the Eye of the Storm closes, you won’t be able to walk for the wind will start to take you into their direction
- usually strong enough but not as to over-turn an automobile, perhaps short of sliding it into muddy waters
- passage of the core of Storm usually last three days – where on KwangAnRi Beache above : surfers head-out as soon as the Eye have just passed
– Korea Expat BLog, early July 2012 –
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