Damyang Bamboo Forest

When we moved to South Korea I started making a list of cool places to see.  My list kept getting longer and longer as people recommended locations.  With only a month left and with Talia here, I decided to try to see as much as possible before we left.  The Damming Bamboo Forest has been on my list since day one, so we decided to go check it out today and invited the Walkers to join us on our adventure.  It was a bit of a drive so we had to leave early in the morning to get there at a decent time.

  

In my mind, I thought this was just going to be a small walking trail in a bamboo forest, but I was so extremely wrong.  The entire park was huge and the trails were long.  Our GPS had us park at the back end of the park.  We paid our admission fee and were greeted by a beautiful lake with a fountain and nice chairs to relax in.

We took a look at our map and realized right away that this was going to be a ton of walking.  It was super hot, so we started walking.  There were so many hill to climb, I was really proud of the kids and their endurance.  Of course, that's why we do cool stuff with friends, because the kids will last longer.  Friends and the bribe of ice cream is the secret to long hot walks and crazy adventures.

We found a playground, so while the kids played we took a lunch break.  They enjoyed a few bites of their sandwiches and running around on the equipment.  They really enjoyed the playground.

The forest had cute stops all along the trail.  One stop had cute bamboo chairs and was near a waterfall.  I'm pretty positive the waterfall is man made, but it was a good one.  We enjoyed the little mist that we got from the falls.

The bamboo was beautiful.  I was surprised at how high they grew. I was also surprised at how thick some of the bamboo were.  It was pretty neat to be completely surrounded by bamboo.  We were all talking about this, and we couldn't figure out if bamboo had started here and then was planted more by humans, or if the entire thing was man planted.  I mean, there isn't many places that have natural bamboo growing in South Korea, but to have it thrive so well here, we couldn't help but wonder if it is native to Damyang.

While out exploring in the forest, we found this crazy reflective cube.  It was just stuck on the side of the path, fashionably Korea randomness.  The kids had fun looking at their distorted reflection in the cube.

All around the Bamboo Forest were some awesome lanterns.  Each lantern was different and was made out of a bamboo pole.  They were sporadically placed around the forest, so it became a treasure hunt to find the lanterns.  The kids tried to be the first to find one and point it at.

We enjoyed our walks and hikes throughout the forest.  It was a beautiful way to spend the morning.  It was especially fun to spend it with such great friends. I am glad that we got to share this with Talia.

We ended our day back where we started.  We took time to walk around the little lake and cross over the bridges.  The kids loved the fountain in the middle of the lake, and they really loved seeing all the fish in the water.