In Seoul

Here are my photographs and writings of my travels in Seoul, South Korea. Check here often for updates.

Nov 26, 2009 9:39am

We ended the day by hanging out by the beach. It was the first time I ever saw such a large jellyfish carcass. Trudging through the miniature fishing village and up to yet another bus stop, we ended up running for the bus, and even saw some deer (we think) in the woods. Freezing, we boarded the bus to the terminal, bought bus tickets back to Seoul, wandered around to find a place to eat, ate some sort of bone beef chigae, and boarded the bus to Seoul. I walked through my door at about 11 pm, and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Sigh, what a wonderful day.
Nov 26, 2009 9:25am

How could I not do this? I am refraining from so, so many possible innuendos here.
Nov 26, 2009 9:19am

Amongst the numerous phallus statues, beautiful ocean views filled our lenses. I am omitting most of the photos of my coworker and I being obscene with the statues. Notable, however, were the reactions of the spectating Koreans. Some screamed in shock, some cheered us on, and some tried to explain to us that the short, stubby penis statue resembled an American penis more than a Korean penis. Of course, lots of hearty, confusing laughter over that.
Nov 26, 2009 9:14am

And then we arrived at Penis Park. No information about the park was available in English, but from what my coworker read on the net, the legend goes like this: a virgin drowned in the ocean. All of the fish disappeared. Then, a man came along and, well, masterbated into the ocean. Suddenly, all of the fish came back. Thus, the homage to the penis to keep the fish coming. Also, something about how pregnant women would wish for male babies to keep their households prosperous, so their boys could go work and bring home money.

We got quite a kick out of the place.

Sorry, Mom.
Nov 26, 2009 9:03am

There was a supposed monk that went into this cave and never came out. All I knew was that I tried throwing a coin into his hand and made a wish. The coin bounced out of his hand.
Nov 26, 2009 9:00am

Nov 26, 2009 8:58am

Nov 26, 2009 8:53am
Nov 26, 2009 8:52am
Nov 26, 2009 8:50am
Last Saturday, this is where my and my coworker’s crazy Samcheok trip began. We woke up at 5 am, boarded a 7 am bus, and headed to Samcheok, a 3.5 hr ride away from Seoul. I must mention here that, my birthday being the week before, my coworker brought me an ice cream cake that we planned to eat, well, at some point during the day. I asked her how it would stay cold, and she said the box had dry ice at the bottom to keep it cool. I shrugged and figured it would be okay. Once we arrived at the Samcheok bus station, a Korean lady on the bus helped us find the next bus to the biggest cave in Korea, Hwanseongul Cave. Luckily, we made it just in time to make a bus that only leaves every two hours. We rode to the base of a paved, very steep trail which we hiked (I tied the cake box to my backpack) up for about 25 minutes to the entrance of the cave. I could immediately tell that normally, there were very long lines waiting to get inside and through the cave, based on the roped-off walkways and arrowed signs. Since it was the second week of November, and a little chilly, we practically had the cave to ourselves, and I was more than overjoyed at the thought of beating the crowds. This is something that rarely, rarely happens in Korea. The bus ride to the cave, I will also mention, was windy and so rural. I felt, for the first time in a while, that I was really in a foreign country, that I was really in Korea, and not a westernized, Americanized, capitalized, version of a place that was once Korea. Little farms and tiny houses stood on the edge of drop offs overlooking rivers. Mountains shot up either side of us, the sun yellow and warm and the sky blue. We took about an hour to walk through the cave and must have snapped 100 photos. I was both surprised and unsurprised by how kitschy the cave was, with silly signs that said “Confession Bridge” and “Lover’s Cove,” etc. I yelled out a few times to hear my voice echo. It was the first time I’d ever visited a cave, and it was virtually empty, so I didn’t feel too obnoxious. We even saw a bat fly across the ceiling of the cave, which must have been, in its highest spots, 100 feet above our heads. We decided it was time to hurry back down the path to get the 1:10 bus. We stopped, with about 10 minutes to spare, at a tiny gift shop where my coworker bought tons of gifts for her family in Canada. Suddenly we realized we had less than 1 minute to get to the bus. We began to run, the cake under my arm. Running almost full speed, I heard a thud. The cake box had landed upside down on the concrete. I picked up the box and the ice cream had long scrambled inside the cave and on the hike down. I scooped some of it with my index finger—it was delicious chocolate. My coworker said, “Leave it!” and picked up the box and continued hussling down the path. Box in the garbage can. Needless to say, we ran to the bus as it was pulling away. I frantically gestered and yelled to the bus but it kept going. A Korean guy working at the park began talking to us and gestured to follow him. We ran to him and—Mom, I’d never do this if I were alone—got in his car. He drove us down the mountain to the next bus stop, where I assume the bus was supposed to wait for us. It hadn’t. So, at that bus stop, another kind Korean man offered to give us a ride—to where, we didn’t know. We laughed the entire way down the mountain/hill (the winding riverside roads reminded me of Lincoln, VT), but I felt incredibly guilty that this kind Korean man was being roped into taking us somewhere. At another bus stop, we paid 2000 won to get back to Samcheok on a city bus. We tried to give the man money, but he insisted no. Once back at the Samcheok bus terminal, we attempted to figure out when our next bus, the one to Penis Park, would leave. My coworker looked up the word for “penis” on her Korean-English dictionary on her cell phone, and showed it to a man working at the bus terminal. It wasn’t long before another strange Korean man was gesturing for us to follow him, and we were running through an alley to a city bus that was just pulling away. He yelled at the bus driver our destination, which probably would have been very embarrassing if we could speak Korean. It was about a 40-minute ride to Penis Park, where the second half of our adventure in Samcheok continued.

Last Saturday, this is where my and my coworker’s crazy Samcheok trip began. We woke up at 5 am, boarded a 7 am bus, and headed to Samcheok, a 3.5 hr ride away from Seoul. I must mention here that, my birthday being the week before, my coworker brought me an ice cream cake that we planned to eat, well, at some point during the day. I asked her how it would stay cold, and she said the box had dry ice at the bottom to keep it cool. I shrugged and figured it would be okay.

Once we arrived at the Samcheok bus station, a Korean lady on the bus helped us find the next bus to the biggest cave in Korea, Hwanseongul Cave. Luckily, we made it just in time to make a bus that only leaves every two hours. We rode to the base of a paved, very steep trail which we hiked (I tied the cake box to my backpack) up for about 25 minutes to the entrance of the cave. I could immediately tell that normally, there were very long lines waiting to get inside and through the cave, based on the roped-off walkways and arrowed signs. Since it was the second week of November, and a little chilly, we practically had the cave to ourselves, and I was more than overjoyed at the thought of beating the crowds. This is something that rarely, rarely happens in Korea.

The bus ride to the cave, I will also mention, was windy and so rural. I felt, for the first time in a while, that I was really in a foreign country, that I was really in Korea, and not a westernized, Americanized, capitalized, version of a place that was once Korea. Little farms and tiny houses stood on the edge of drop offs overlooking rivers. Mountains shot up either side of us, the sun yellow and warm and the sky blue.

We took about an hour to walk through the cave and must have snapped 100 photos. I was both surprised and unsurprised by how kitschy the cave was, with silly signs that said “Confession Bridge” and “Lover’s Cove,” etc. I yelled out a few times to hear my voice echo. It was the first time I’d ever visited a cave, and it was virtually empty, so I didn’t feel too obnoxious.

We even saw a bat fly across the ceiling of the cave, which must have been, in its highest spots, 100 feet above our heads.

We decided it was time to hurry back down the path to get the 1:10 bus. We stopped, with about 10 minutes to spare, at a tiny gift shop where my coworker bought tons of gifts for her family in Canada.

Suddenly we realized we had less than 1 minute to get to the bus. We began to run, the cake under my arm. Running almost full speed, I heard a thud. The cake box had landed upside down on the concrete. I picked up the box and the ice cream had long scrambled inside the cave and on the hike down. I scooped some of it with my index finger—it was delicious chocolate. My coworker said, “Leave it!” and picked up the box and continued hussling down the path. Box in the garbage can.

Needless to say, we ran to the bus as it was pulling away. I frantically gestered and yelled to the bus but it kept going. A Korean guy working at the park began talking to us and gestured to follow him. We ran to him and—Mom, I’d never do this if I were alone—got in his car. He drove us down the mountain to the next bus stop, where I assume the bus was supposed to wait for us. It hadn’t. So, at that bus stop, another kind Korean man offered to give us a ride—to where, we didn’t know. We laughed the entire way down the mountain/hill (the winding riverside roads reminded me of Lincoln, VT), but I felt incredibly guilty that this kind Korean man was being roped into taking us somewhere.

At another bus stop, we paid 2000 won to get back to Samcheok on a city bus. We tried to give the man money, but he insisted no. Once back at the Samcheok bus terminal, we attempted to figure out when our next bus, the one to Penis Park, would leave. My coworker looked up the word for “penis” on her Korean-English dictionary on her cell phone, and showed it to a man working at the bus terminal. It wasn’t long before another strange Korean man was gesturing for us to follow him, and we were running through an alley to a city bus that was just pulling away. He yelled at the bus driver our destination, which probably would have been very embarrassing if we could speak Korean.

It was about a 40-minute ride to Penis Park, where the second half of our adventure in Samcheok continued.
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