[Chungnam-do, Korea] Fun @ Farm

Having lived in a city-island throughout my farm, there is hardly land for farms in Singapore.  It felt good to be close to nature when I had the chance to visit the Agroland Tae Shin Farm (아그로랜드 태신목장) located in Chungnam-do in autumn last year.  The air was cool & fresh.  The land was huge and I felt a sense of carefree just by watching the animals roaming around freely.

The farm is also an ideal place for family with young children to experience being up close and personal with animals.  Real ones and fake ones.

The young kids come here for excursions too!  Truly, this is a child-friendly place.

There are opportunities to get close to cows and goats and they are friendly!

You can even try making some cheese!  Freshly made cheese!

Getting to the farm from Seoul can be quite a hassle as it will take more than 4 hours by public transport.  My suggestions are:

1.  Rent a car from Seoul and drive to the farm; or

2.  Travel from Seoul to Suwon and explore the areas such as Hwaseong.  The Suwon Hwaseong Fortress has been names the UNESCO World Heritage.  It is an impressive structure built in the Joseon Dynasty.  It takes about 30 mins to get there from Seoul.  You can consider staying a night over in Suwon before travelling southwards.  Explore taking the public transport to the farm;

3.  Travel to Cheonan and then to Asan.  Asan is beautiful in autumn especially along the Asan Gingko Tree Road.  Explore taking the public transport to the farm

[Chungcheongnam-do, Korea] Autumn Series: Shell-fish dinner at the Mysterious Muchanpo Beach

Introducing this clear blue sea with beauty that was beyond imagination.  The faraway horizon that made me wonder who was at the other end of the horizon and whether they were admiring the same blue sea as I was.

Located in Boryeong in Chungcheongnam-do, Muchangpo Beach is one of the first man-made beaches along the western coastline in Korea.  During the tides at the summer season (on 15th and 30th during the 7th lunar month), one may witness the mysterious parting of the sea that will reveal the 1.5km sea road from the Muchangpo Beach to Seokdaedo Island.

I was there during autumn and had just the magnificent sea part view.  Nonetheless, the view was exceptionally beautiful during sunset.  The short-lived sunset lasted only about 20 minutes.

Next to the Muchangpo Beache Palance (spa hotel) was a restaurant that specialised in grilled shell-fish.  It had a small tentage for diners who prepared a different experience.  The tentage was warm as it was equipped with a heater as well as the heat from our cooking, but the chill was a little unbearable the moment we walked out from the tentage.

I had my first experience in grilling shell-fishes and scallops.  It was really exciting as we had to watch out for the popping moments from the shell-fishes.  The moment it "popped", it's shell opened up to 90 degrees and it was cooked.  And we had to quickly moved them away from the grill before it got overcooked! Grilling scallops were much easier though as we could see with our naked eye if they were cooked.

The staple of that dinner was this big pot of kalguksu noodles with seafood and vegetables.  The freshly-cut noodles was slightly chewy and delicious.  Totally appetizing and it warmed the body and prepared us before we braved through the cold wind to return back to the hotel after dinner.

Getting to Muchangpo:

Train
Yongsan Station (Subway Line 1) or Yeongdeungpo Station (Subway Line 2)
Take a train to Ungcheon (Janghang line) to Ungcheon Station.
From the train station, take the Muchangpo Bus (no number, only '무창포').
Get off at Muchangpo Beach.

*Train - travel time: about 3hrs.
*Bus - travel time: 10-20 min


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