Jeju- Seogwipo city- Canola Flowers

Yellow denotes brightness. Yellow denotes happiness. Yellow denotes positivity. Yellow denotes sunshine. Yellow denotes spring.

Last week we have celebrated Vijaydashami in India and tied fresh Marigold strings to the entrance of our home. The vibrant Yellow and Saffron Orange color of Marigold is very energetic. That yellow reminded me of some place where I could see the beautiful Yellow as far as my eyes could reach. 

The place was the Jeju Island of South Korea. South Korea is blessed with stunningly beautiful nature's wonders. Jeju is the Crowning glory of South Korea's natural wonders. 

Jeju had various names in the past. The Gods own country, Korea's Hawaii. But the most appropriate was Samdado which means that it has three things in abundance. Which are those three things? Rock, Wind and Women. 

Being a volcanic island, you can see Basalt rocks everywhere in Jeju. Jeju being an isolated island in the sea, has to face unusually strong winds through out the year. It is also called the street corner of the storms. At some point of time, Jeju had semi matriarchal family system. Women have toiled really hard to cultivate the barren lands of Jeju. There are the famous diver women Haenyo in Jeju, who dived deep in sea without any diving gears and brought the catch of abalones and mollusks. 

I have told you that the bright Yellow and Orange of Marigold had reminded me of Jeju. The Yellow in Jeju was due to Canola flowers and Orange was the due to the Gamgyul oranges which grow in abundance in Jeju. 

They are similar to Mandarin Oranges or Tangerines. You can see the orange gardens even on both sides of the road. The dwarf trees or shrubs are bearing many fruits, even many of the fruits keep on dropping on the ground. But no one picks them as municipality owns them. This proves that the ancient name of Jeju was true. The name was Sammoodo which means absence of three things. Which were those three things? Beggars, thieves and gates of houses! There was no need of having gates to the houses as there were no thieves and beggars. 

Jeju's economy was primarily based on industry, agriculture and fishing. But now tourism has superseded all these. Jeju is one of the most sought after destinations in South Korea. Hundreds and thousands of the South Korean mainlanders and Chinese tourist visit Jeju every year. Jeju is famous for many natural wonders. 

The increasing number of Chinese tourists is not welcome by locals, because though the Chinese spend money in Jeju, they spend money only in hotels owned by Chinese. The number of Chinese land owners has been increased many folds. 

Then came the ban on travel to South Korea by China due to the Thadd- terminal high altitude area defense system in South Korea. The tourism industry could have been shaken due to the ban. But surprisingly, the number of tourists increased after the ban, as other people started coming in larger numbers when Chinese were not visiting the island. 

The day started like this..
 a bit cloudy day.

Now back to our Canola flowers!! What is Canola? Canola is an oil seeds plant which is derived from a variety of Rapseed. Canola oil is better than Rapeseed oil due to it's low acidic content and is said to have antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties. This was invented by Canada. So Can stands for Canada and ola is oil seeds. They are from the mustard family. It's known as Yuche in Korean language. 

Spring arrives in Jeju in Mid March. The speciality of this region is that you can see the glory of Cherry blossoms ( Beojkkoch - Beotkkot in Korean language) and Yuche at the same time!! This has made Jeju, one of the best Spring destinations. 

 Glimpses of what was coming our way 

Cherry blossom and Canola petals scattered on the roadside.

 

Last of the cherry Blossom Bloom

 

Cherry Blossom- Beotkkot

Canola Flowers

Bunch of Yuche Flowers

 Everything for which Seogwipo is famous!

Horses, Cherry blossoms and Canola Flowers

Yuche and Beotkkot

The vast canvas is filled with light pink of Beotkkot and bright yellow of Yuche. The Beotkkot trees are higher in height where as Yellow Yuche are growing on shrubs. The red soil, the Yellow Yuche, pink Beotkkot, black volcanic basalt mountains and deep blue skies gives a magical palate of colours and dimensions to the region.

Both the blossoms are short lived, so you have to plan your trip according to it. We visited Jeju in April 2019 and were lucky to witness this beautiful magic of nature.

The Seogwipo city of Jeju is growing canola on large scale since 1960. When the villagers saw the tourism opportunities due to the beauty of yellow blossoms of Yuche, the village councils started cultivating more and more of Yuche. 

The Gasi Ri village is famous for Yuche flowers. It is one of the areas having largest volume of Canola flowers. There is one Yuche festival- Jeju Canola Flower Festival every year in April. It is held in Gasi ri. The festival showcases many photo spots, cultural programs, delicious food, canola flower parade, cutest baby contests, Canola Souvenirs and so on! This festival attracts more than 160,000 tourists every year. 

There is a beautiful 10 km road called Noksan-ro. It is one of the best roads in South Korea. Why so? Because it is lined with Cherry blossoms and Canolas!! The first sight of the road itself leaves you awestruck. It is surely one of the most picturesque roads in the world!

Noksan Ri 

While travelling on the Noksan -ro, you obviously get down many times to take pictures!! You surely can't stop. But one has to be careful of the vehicles coming from opposite side and with high speed. 

On Noksan Ri - One of the most beautiful Roads!

After this travel or rather along this journey, you reach the farms near Gas ri Wind power stations. From the main road when the car turned inside, in front of us was a boring, warehouse like wall. I could never understand why the driver has brought us here. He just said, you go inside. We obeyed him and then came, a once in lifetime sight. 

Where ever my eyes could go, there were these bright yellow, small, delicate and beautiful flowers waving with the wind. I won't forget the sight in my lifetime. It's magical. It's out of this world. It's tranquil. Though it's so near to highway, no noise of vehicles disturbs you. The windmills and the mountains are standing there as if they are looking over the playing Canola kids. The sky is a spectator to your rush of wonderful emotions. It's surely an spiritual experience. 

We are lost in the sea of flowers.

The bewildering ecstasy engulfing us.

Lost is the Sense of place, time and years. 

As if you belong to the place eternally

You become one with the nature

The enchantment takes your hold. 

Now you don't feel happiness

you are The Happiness.. 

There are no fences, so you can go near to the flowers, you can actually walk between the plants. It's left up to you to be careful. There are no watchmen or security guards. But everyone knows that how you behave when no one is watching you, shows your culture!! Surely there are few, who like to pluck the flowers or in their haste, trample the flowering plants. But majority of the tourists, take care while moving through the fields. 

We were in Jeju in April 2019. I was curious about this year's Jeju Canola Flower Festival 2020. South Korea was successful in handling the Corona efficiently and having very less number of patients in March 2020 itself. 

What I got to read about Canola Festival was shocking. Though the local government was advising people to refrain from visiting Jeju, keeping social distance to stop the spread of Corona, the hotels and airlines were giving huge discount to domestic Tourists. Many people from mainland Korea started to visit Jeju. As many countries have halted the flights, all the people who could not go overseas started coming to Jeju. 

After some cases of spread of infection due to tourists, the residents of the island expressed their concern. Due to the rising fear of Corona infection, the Seogwipo City council had to take a really brutal decision. They ploughed all the canola farms along the Noksan ro. The city officials utilized four tractors to clear up all flowers. The management declared that for stopping the influx of tourists in the region, they had to take this decision. As many elderly people were living in the adjoining villages, the management was taking this caution. You can still read the news on net and watch the clipping on this link. 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7t6qhk

When I read the news and saw this clipping, I felt really very sad. Because human beings can't stop their greed and whims and fancies, the flowers had to be wiped out. You can't control human beings, eradicating flowers is easy. Flowers were grown to boost the number of tourists in the area, they were wiped out to stop people coming there. A full circle has been travelled. 

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