We met in Seoul on Monday morning and bought bus tickets to Samcheok, a city straight east of Seoul, along the coast of the East Sea. A four hour bus ride brought us to this quiet fishing town near the water. We found a motel, a love motel no less, and practiced our bargaining skills and got the room for a fantastic rate for the next three nights. We changed clothes and headed straight for the beach to soak up some late afternoon sun. When our stomaches were making noises and the sun was lowering in the sky we went off in search of dinner. There were tons of seafood restaurants all along the beach with tons of fresh seafood swimming and crawling in the tanks outside waiting to be purchased, killed, and cooked. We chose sea scallops and had them grilled right in front of us. They were delicious. We ended the night with a beer on the beach.
There were a couple of sights that we wanted to see and chose to take a trip to the caves the next day. We took a bus to the sight of the Hwanseon and Donggul caves. There was a straight uphill hike to the cave entrance or there was a long line of families waiting for a snail-slow lift, so we chose the hiking route. It was mid-day and super hot, so by the time we arrived at the entrance I was dripping sweat and thanking God for natural places like caves that are very cool inside. The Hwanseon cave is one of the largest limestone caves in all of Asia. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The cave was absolutely huge. Huge. Huge. Huge. There were metal walkways through the entire thing and it took Sam and I over an hour and a half to make the walk. I was constantly amazed by the natural wonders we found inside: rock formations, waterfalls, strange nooks and crannies, etc. It was one of the coolest things I have seen in Korea. We ended the day at the beach.
the huge cave
Sam and I inside the cave
The next day's trip took us south of Samcheok to the little fishing village of Sinnam. This place has an interesting history that will help explain the bizarre finding here. There is a penis park with tons of huge penis sculptures and totem poles of all shapes and sizes. A strange thing to find anywhere in the world, but especially here in Korea where sex is pretty taboo and not talked about openly. Sam and I were in awe of this penis park, it was extensive even boarding on over-load, but it was surrounded by a beautiful rocky coastline and the scenery was gorgeous. Ok, so the story behind the penis-infatuation. Apparently there is a legend in the town that a virgin drowned in the water and her boyfriend tried to save her, but was unable to because of the rough water. The fisherman began having a difficult time catching anything and thought that the girl cursed the waters. One fisherman "heeded the call of nature" towards the water and realized that after he did so, the catch of the day was plentiful. The fisherman followed suite and there was a giant penis sculpture created facing the water in hopes of pleasing the frustrated ghost of the drowned virgin. The penis park sprang up, (no pun intended) and there is even a shrine to the virgin ghost to help bless the fisherman and their catch. Really all I can say about the penis park is that it was a lot of laughs and was definitely a memorable part of my travels here in Korea.
penis park in Sinnam
me and a big penis at the park
the rocky coastline
The rest of our vacation was pretty much spent at the beach, enjoying the sun and trying to work on our tans. I realized that once you begin using SPF 50 instead of lathering on oil, you are officially getting old. If there is anything I learned about Koreans at the beach it's this- they love to bury each other in the sand and they swim with their clothes on. No joke. Clothes on. Some people had bathing suites on underneath their clothes and Lord knows why they didn't wear them, but nope. Some people even swam with shoes, baseball and beach hats, long sleeve button up shirts, sweaters on. I am not kidding. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen at the beach in my life. I don't know if they are paranoid about sunburn, don't wanna show of their skinny bods, or can't afford swim wear... still don't think any of those are the reason. It's a mystery to me. The life guards, however looked like Baywatch Korea with their almost-black skin and tiny little spandex. Sam and I were dying.
Koreans swimming with their clothes on at the beach
My second mini-vacation of my vacation week was awesome and the beach was so relaxing and refreshing. It was great to spend time with Sam and see more of what this country has to offer. Now it's back to the grind for two more weeks until my next (and last) vacation in August.
Namaste
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