14th April 2013 - Unexpected surprises at 가천 다랭이마을 ^^

Boarded the bus at 10.55am and reached the village at 11.37am.

I wanted to visit Daraengi Village becos it was one of the 50 beautiful places listed by CNN Travel. If I did not remember wrongly, the village is the last stop on the bus route.  However, it may not be obvious as the last bus stop.  I managed to identify that this is the stop becos some Koreans asked the bus driver whether this is the correct stop to alight.  Moreover, there were many tour buses when I was there. Hence, it was not difficult for me to recognise when to alight.  Hmmm...looking at the numbers of visitors, 가천 다랭이마을 Daraengi Village must be a very popular attraction to the Koreans. 

The signboard - "다랭이마을"  ^^

Saw this shelter across the road when I got off the bus.
 It looks like the bus stop for my returned trip.
Well, not really though...You will see why later on...

God! I am really here!!
I was really there!!
*Pat on my shoulder*
It was difficult to get information in English on how to get to the village but I did not want to give up.
Thanks a lot to KTO who clarified my doubts.

I walked down the village.

The roof and the ground at the same level.
How did they build such houses?

Signboard for directions but not very helpful for people who do not understand Korean..

Yup. That's the Rice Grave.

I was hoping to see a real cow but only saw the statue of a cow ㄱㄱㄱ

Waaa....
I came to here for the terraced rice paddies on the mountain slopes.
So surprised to see the scenery unfold before my eyes!

좋다  ^^
I did not expect to see rapeflowers here as well.

So close to the sea!
I did not expect the village would be next to the sea.
The stunning view really took me by surprise ^^

Yeah!  The refreshing aroma of Rosemary lingered in the air as I walked past the Rosemary plants.

Poor aloe...

I think they were the ones taking care of the Rosemary plants becos they were selling Rosemary products.

There were a few eateries in the village.
Thought of having my lunch here but changed my mind, since I was not sure of the bus timetable.

One of the eateries...
I still regret not eating here...

"食" ?   Sounds like a place where you can have your meal ^^

I walked to another part of the village before getting back to the bus stop.

Nice simple place ^^
너무 좋아!!

My poor rapeflowers ㅠㅠ
What do the villagers intend to do with these?

I was at the pavilion just now ^^

A close up.

Not to worry.  Not all the slopes are as steep as this one ㄱㄱ

Making my way back to the bus stop.
The sky is getting dark.  Looks like it is going to rain.

It took me about 40 mins to tour around the village.
I think it will be good to give yourself about an hour to explore the village at a leisure pace(excluding lunch time).
I reached the bus stop at about 12.40pm.  

가천 마을 Gacheon Village

I tried to find the bus schedule at the bus stop but there wasn't any ㅠㅠ except for this notice about throwing garbage(I think). It started to rain and the weather got really cold. Thank god, it was a sheltered bus stop. I began to worry when there was no sign of the village bus. The bus leaving for Suncheon will depart at 2pm and the next bus will be 6pm!  At 1.33pm, the village bus came along but I knew I will not be able to catch the bus leaving at 2pm ㅠㅠ

The village bus stopped somewhere just before the zebra crossing when I reached the village in the morning. I assumed the sheltered bus stop would be where I need to wait for my bus back to Namhae Bus Terminal.  While waiting anxiously for the bus, I thought of asking the policeman about the bus schedule(in case they happened to know) but I didn't. One kind policeman came to tell me that the bus back to Namhae Bus Terminal had arrived. The bus did not parked at the sheltered bus stop, it parked at the place shown by the yellow arrow.  Gosh! Did I missed the bus then???  Nope. I was pretty sure.  

I thought the village was supposed to be the last stop on the bus route, hence it should drove off in the opposite direction for the returned trip, ie make a U turn. However, when the village bus came and head out for the bus terminal, it did not make a U turn but continued to drive down the road as shown by the blue arrow.

As I was going through my notes that night, I realised I was so stupid becos I actually have the bus timetable with me but I forgotten all about it!!! Really "Long Bia" in Hokkien which means "Bang Wall". Arhhhhh......바보! I should have go for my lunch at the village!! Anyway, I got this timetable from this link but bus schedules could subject to changes. Hmmm....come to think of it, you need to plan your time well since there are only 4 timings for buses from Suncheon to Namhae and vice versa. 

During the entire bus journey, I thought what should I do if there is no other earlier buses back to Suncheon. The bus passed by this place at 2.30pm. It looks like a festival going on. A few 아줌마 got off the bus when they they saw the festival. I was also very tempted to check out the event but I did not, cos I was not sure how far was I from the bus terminal and when the next bus will come along.. 

So this place is known as 초곡 마을 Chogok Village?