Our last stop for the day trip was the Garden of Morning Calm, a park that has a number of thematic gardens. From the park notes, the garden is home to a collection of more than 5,000 plant speciies, including 300 that are native to Baekdusan Mountain. The garden is reportedly one of South Korea’s most beautful.
Unfortunately, we didn’t really get to compare the garden to the best Japanese equivalents: because by the time we got to this last stop, it was 6PM and already pitch dark. There were winter night illuminations of course. But while the lighting was done up well enough for us to easily tell the objects that the lighting arrangements were creating, we couldn’t see the landscapped garden itself. In short, it was largely an exercise in navigating through relative darkness, looking at objects whose outlines are illuminated by LED lights with little reference point, in cold 1 degree celsius temperature, amidst crowds, and trying not to lose balance as the ground was fairly slippery from snowfall.
If you’re heading here as part of a group tour and to observe the night illumination, then you don’t have much control over what time you arrive. But I reckon the best time to visit is early evening right when the lights come on. This way, there should still be enough ambient light for you to make out the landscapping features of the park. Either way, we were given just over an hour to visit this place: it was sufficient, but only because as pretty as the lighting was, there was little for me to see otherwise.
We keep thinking of our similar experience last year: our visit to Enoshima Island to observe their winter lightups, and our trip is blogged here. I’d rate the Enoshima illumination a 10/10, and the one at this Garden of Morning Calm a 5/10 at best. In short, this place was a disappointment for me.
Footnote: the wife said that she thought the place was a 8/10, and insisted I add in this note to provide a “more balanced opinion”. LOL.
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That’s a wrap for our Day 10 day tour. We got back to Hongik University station in Seoul at around 8:30PM. It’s a free and easy day of our own exploration tomorrow, so more notes of our wandering around Seoul city to come!