Hadong, in South Gyeongsang's far western corner, is where Korean tea began, or so the story goes. In the ninth century, according to the old chronicles, an envoy named Daeryeom brought tea seeds back from Tang China, and King Heungdeok ordered them planted on the slopes of Jirisan, the great mountain that rises above the town. The wild tea terraces of Hwagae, in the hills north of Hadong, are still tended, and spring brings the first harvest, an event the area celebrates with a tea festival.
The Seomjin River, one of the cleanest in the country, runs through a broad, sunlit valley below, with white sand banks, pine groves and clam beds. The river is famous for its freshwater clams, served in soup, and for its spring cherry blossom: the road from Hwagae to the temple of Ssanggyesa, lined with thousands of cherry trees, is known as the ten-ri cherry blossom road, and in early April the petals fall like snow. Ssanggyesa, a temple in the mountain forest, is one of the oldest in the country, its stone paths shaded by tall trees.
The rider's interest is the mountain road. The roads through the Hwagae valley climb the slopes of Jirisan in a series of bends, with views over the river and farmland, and the road toward Gurye and Namwon passes through forested valleys. The surface is mostly good, but the roads are narrow, with guardrails and tight blind curves. At cherry-blossom time, traffic is heavy and slow, and on spring weekends the river road can be gridlocked. The park roads at high elevation are closed in winter.
Hadong has fuel and food, with Hwagae a village with a market of tea shops, restaurants and bakeries, while Gwangyang, about eighteen kilometers south, has the bigger supermarkets and stations. Novelist Park Kyung-ni set her epic novel Toji in the nearby village of Pyeongsa-ri, and the house used in the television drama is now a tourist site. The best months are April for blossom and tea, and October for the mountains' color, while the rainy season in July can cause landslides.