[Jinhae] - Jehwangsan Park (제황산공원)

Lucky that the taxi driver waited for us at Korea Naval Academy, else we might have problem to get a taxi back from there. 

We asked him to drop us here because supposedly we wanted to take the Jinhae City Tour Bus from   Stream.

 Jehwangsan Park (제황산공원) Monorail Station.

Another option to go to the park which is climbing the stairs.

If our taxi driver didn't tell us that there are 365 steps flight of stairs, we might not know that it's endless stairs. Yes, just thinking of it is already causing me to sweat!!!

With the information, we didn't want to climb half way and
change our mind as it's about 90 m to the top of the mountain.

 Ok, let's just take Monorail since it's just KRW 3,000 for round trip.

Wow... it's quite steep and kinda scary especially I'm facing down but
luckily it only took around 2 minutes to reach the summit!

First you'll notice when you reach the park is 9-storey Jinhae Tower.

This 28m tower looks like Korean Naval Warship was built in 1967
which symbolized Jinhae as Naval Port on the Southwest Coast of  Korea.

Originally, the Japanese erected a monument in 1927 at this place to commemorate their victory in Rusia - Japan war. It was removed when Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

On the 1st and 2nd floor of the tower, you can find Jinhae City Museum,
exhibiting artifacts and cultural assets, relics excavated from Jinhae.

Photo on the left was Yeojwacheon Stream in 1930 before facelift.
And on the right is the current lively and populat tourist attraction

after the area was planted with cherry blossom trees.

  The Tower also have the observation deck allowing you to have
360 degree of bird's eye view of downtown Jinhae.

 Perfect pictureaque photo with sunray bathing the sea!

Can you see the rotary at the middle of the town? 

We walked back from here to Yeojwacheon Stream.

 Jehwangsan Park (제황산공원)

Add: 54, Jungwondong-ro, Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea 
Hours of operation: Summer (9:00~20:00), Winter(9:00~18:00),
Gunhangje Festival (9:00~22:00) 

It was the last day of Cherry Blossom Festival in 2018.

Annyeong my pretty cherry flowers~!^^

There are a lot of stalls selling food and other items

during the Gunhangje Festival.

Too spoilt with choices until we didn't know what to eat.

 Booths providing Wheelchair and Baby Stroller,

sign language translation and tourist information 

are scatter around! Excellent!

We had early dinner as we didn't have proper lunch. 

Korean Fried Chiken (Original + Yangnyeom)

Supposed to be Chimaek (Chicken + Maekju), but we had soju instead.

곰배 (Gombae / Cheers)~!!!

After dinner, we strolled back to Yeojwacheon because it's never enough 

seeing the flowing petals and another reason was it's illuminated at night~! 

Must be very beautiful and romantic, right?

[Tongyeong] - Yi Sun Sin Park (이순신공원)

With sleepy faces, we arrived at Changwon Bus Terminal at 6.30 am. We needed to reach Tongyeong by 8.30 am to join the city tour.

 Changwon Bus Terminal

 Changwon => Tongyeong bus fare KRW 8,700.

Glad that we arrived on time,we sat at the Tourist Information Centre

and waited for the booth to open. 

However, I suddenly remembered that we should go to Ferry Terminal insted of bus terminal. We quickly took a taxi to the terminal and the taxi driver kindly called the tour guide for us. But unfortunately, we were too late as the ferry had left already... 

Thankfully, I did plan my own itinerary before deciding to join the tour. Or else, we'd really not know where to go. We told the taxi to drive us to the guesthouse, but he offered to drive us to the places we wanted to go... I have forgotten the exact amount for 3 hours taxi tour, but actually we took 30 - 45 minutes more, but he told us it was "service" for us. Mr Lee (HP: 010-9307-4545) is very friendly and kind Kisanim.

 Yi Sun-Sin Park (이순신공원)

Previously, it was Hansan Battle Memorial Park and changed to Yi Sun Sin Park in 2008.

From here you can see Hansan-do Island. 

 

This park was built to celebrate the patriotic spirit of  Admiral Yi, 

a heroic Korean Navy during Joseon Dynasty.

 The bronze statue of Admiral Yi is standing tall with much dignity 

and authority with his hand pointing far to the sea.

Thank you for protecting this beautiful southern coast and
your beloved country Korea~!

The park is located at the foot of Mangilbong Peak.

 The park has wooden promenade along the seafront...
Geoje and Jangsado is just opposite from here according to Mr Lee.


 The park is actually quite big and you can follow
the walking trail to the Observation deck...

resting place and Hagikjeong Pavilion.

There's a cannon facing the sea and...

The famous Admiral Yi's calligraphy which engraved on the monument.
You can find the calligraphy scroll displayed at Korea Naval Acedemy in Jinhae.

His famous quote: "必死卽生, 必生卽死" meaning 

"The soldier who fights to death never dies, but the soldier 

who fights for existence never truly exists."

You can find some arts installation at the park too.

These kinetic sculptures represent the meeting point of the 

sky, sea, land and man. Vertical stainless steel plates

reflected beautiful optical effects as you turn around. 

 And something like long spagetthi.

 Annyeong peaceful port city and stunning sea of Tongyeong~!

Turtle ship from Yi Sun Sin Park...
True to his quote, he's now forever living in people's hearts and minds.

205, Mendehaean-gil, Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do 

경상남도 통영시 멘데해안길 205 (정량동)