Places

The spring scene most visitors never see Korea has famous spring destinations. Jinhae, with its naval port and 360,000 cherry trees. Jeju, with its yellow canola fields. Seoul’s parks. These places are beautiful. They are also, in late March and April, extremely crowded. Mundeok-myeon (문덕면) in Boseong-gun is not famous outside the region. The Korean photographers who know it guard it, in the quiet way people guard places they love — by not talking about it too loudly. The valley fills with day-trippers from Jeonnam during peak blossom, but it has not yet appeared on international itineraries. This will change. For now, it is still possible to arrive on a Tuesday morning in early April and have Juam Lake, the cherry road, and the temple approach largely to yourself. ...

A river that goes its own way Korea’s rivers mostly do what they are expected to do: they head west or south toward the Yellow Sea or the South Sea, draining the mountains in the obvious direction. The Boseong River (보성강, 寶城江) does not. Rising in the mountains of Jangheung-gun (장흥군) in South Jeolla Province, it turns north — and flows for over a hundred kilometres before reaching the Seomjin River (섬진강) at Aprok (압록) in Gokseong-gun (곡성군). The Seomjin itself, one of Korea’s last great clean rivers, eventually meets the sea near Hadong. The Boseong has travelled a long, unusual road to join it. ...

The end of the northward journey The Boseong River has been travelling north for over a hundred kilometres. It has descended from mountain sources in Jangheung, gathered tributaries through Boseong-gun, passed through the mist of Juam Lake and the cherry roads of Mundeok, and moved through valleys where the pace of things is different from anywhere near a highway. It ends — or rather, it is absorbed into something larger — at Aprok (압록) in Gokseong-gun (곡성군), where it meets the Seomjin River (섬진강). ...