Cheongdo ― scenic town of persimmon, spa

By Roger Dix

South of Daegu just off Highway 55 and southwest of Gyeongju along route 20 sits the town of Cheungdo, North Gyeongsang Province.

Cheongdo along with its surrounding countryside is well known by Korean people as one of the many agricultural regions of the country, and although Cheongdo is familiar to many Koreans for its harvests of peaches and pears (in late summer to early fall) and the home of traditional Korean style bullfighting (which is held every spring around March and is another travel story), it is the bright golden orange persimmon that brings attention to Cheongdo about the middle of autumn each year. If you like fruit then Cheongdo is the place to visit during the months of August through early November.

For those who like traveling from point A to point B directly, Highway 55 from Daegu is certainly the fastest way to drive to Cheongdo. But for those who like to stop along the way to “smell the roses” and take in the countryside, I suggest approaching Cheongdo along route 20 from Gyeongju in the east or route 69 to route 20 by way of Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, from the south. These two roadways traverse some very scenically beautiful topography and landscapes, especially along the Unmun Lake area.

Route 20 from Gyeongju winds and turns for about forty-some kilometers through farmland and mountains up through the lake region before descending down into Cheongdo Valley and its expanse of persimmon fields and orchards. Unmun Lake isn’t truly a lake but a massive reservoir of fresh water that sits in a cauldron of earth surrounded on all sides by mountains.

Whether approached on a bright sunny day or when a gray, cloudy sky covers all, Unmun Lake still maintains its scenic beauty. Route 69 coming from Anyang ― the town famous for its “hanwoo” (Korean beef) ― skirts Unmun Lake omitting the mountain vistas but allowing for some very scenic spots none-the-less. It is also from route 69 that travelers can turn off onto the road that leads to Unmunsa, a temple well known as one of the few temples in Korea for women only ― nuns (bigouni in Korean).

The persimmon, it is believed, is indigenous to China and was brought to Korea and Japan in earlier times. The types of persimmons grown around Cheongdo are both the soft persimmon and the more firm-to-hard persimmon. Both types are well liked by Korean people. One persimmon, nutrition tables read, contains about 50 percent Vitamin A; about 20 percent Vitamin C; has Calcium and Iron in small amounts, and is said to be a good source of fiber. So these nutritious facts make persimmons not only favorable to eat but healthy besides.

Descending from the Unmun Lake area along route 20 into Cheongdo, travelers can witness persimmon fields after persimmon fields after persimmon fields as far as the eye can see, one orchard after another all the way into town. And all along that road just before entering the outskirts of town, travelers can purchase persimmons from families selling both varieties of the fruit from makeshift roadside vending stands. Persimmons can also be purchased at farm cooperatives in town or the co-op just past the route 20/25 junction heading towards Yongam Valley and its hotel and spa. (The spa, by the way, is an excellent place to relax after a day of traveling around the Cheungdo region. It is one of the better hot-spring spas I have been to _ very well maintained, very clean, and the personnel are friendly and helpful. There are pools of water laced with ginseng, pools scented with pine, natural clear pools, hot pools and cold water pools. There are also two outdoor pools ― one hot, one cold. Like many hot-spring spas in Korea, the mineral waters that are fed into the spa come from deep below the earth ―1400 meters below the surface at Yongam Spa _ and hold steady at a natural temperature of about 43 degrees Celsius).

While in the Cheongdo region, just off of route 69, travelers might like to visit Unmunsa, the temple for nuns only as it is interesting to experience such an environment in that there seems to be a different spirit about the place than there is when visiting temples maintained by monks. Or maybe it is just my feeling of the place. However, my feelings aside, Unmunsa is a large complex of worship halls, nuns’ quarters, study and meditating buildings and special temple shrine structures all about the grounds, plus the necessary utilitarian buildings. Unmunsa is quietly nestled in a bowl of a valley surrounded by hills and some very steep, very high mountains. I have been to Unmunsa both in autumn and in winter and both seasons lend a landscape that is more than worth seeing ― the meditative colors of autumn’s light reflecting the preparedness about the place for the winter cold and snows yet to come, and the white of winter bringing an air of calming peace to everything it falls upon, Unmunsa is certainly a beautiful place.

For a relaxing and interesting “sightseeing” way to spend a Saturday or Sunday or both, take a jaunt out to Cheongdo Valley and look around. You might just be surprised that all that’s good about Korea isn’t just in Seoul.