[Eye Plus] Autumn in full bloom

The crisp cool breeze of fall brings out the colors of nature.

Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, is famous for the demilitarized zone that bisects the Korean Peninsula, and heavy snow in the winter, but at a slightly warmer time of the year, beds of cosmos fill the tension-filled border lands.
 

Through joint effort of Cheorwon County and its residents, the Cheorwon Cosmos 10-ri Road was born three years ago, on a strip of land that used to serve as an old military camp. “Ri” is a traditional Korean unit of distance and 10 ri is about 4 kilometers. 

A group of scarecrows greet visitors with open arms amid beds of cosmos, as if embodying Cheorwon residents’ hopes to turn their once war-ravaged hometown into a more peaceful community.

About 50 kilometers southwest of Cheorwon, the Globe Amaranth Festival in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, lures families and friends to take a dive in a sea of purple amaranth flowers. The unique flower is most commonly associated with everlasting or unchanging love.
 

A number of photo zones are installed, helping tourists further enjoy their time. 

For those who missed out on witnessing the beauty of lavender flowers in the summer, a glance at a field full of the globe amaranth will provide a similar ethereal experience.

For busy Seoulites who can’t carve out time to leave the city, canola flowers have bloomed in a virgin white at the tiny island of Seoraeseom near Banpo Hangang Park, allowing for a walk along the Han River with scent of canola flowers in the air.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)