East Coast Adventure

Monday May 26th – We started our latest adventure by taking the Interstate through the mountains and valleys over to Donghae on the east coast then following the coast down to the south stopping at a few beaches. I counted seven tunnels on the Interstate part of the drive and lost count after that. The longest tunnel was 2.1 miles long. The highlight of the drive, besides the scenery, was a roadside construction traffic manikin that mechanically waved a caution wand up and down. From a distance, it was just real and odd enough to be a bit scary looking but once I knew what it was it just made me laugh. The drive over was beautiful and once we got off the Interstate and on the road right along the rocky coastline the views were splendid. The first beach we stopped at was Maengbang. It was time for us all to get out of the car after four hours of driving and enjoy the beach. We have now been to the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan (or East Sea as it’s known in Korea). Andrew and I started a new collection of sea glass to go with our shell collection. Mark and Daddy had fun digging in the sand. I thought it seemed unusual that we did not see any seagulls either at the Yellow Sea or the Sea of Japan. Maengbang beach was a bit dirty so we did not stay that long. It reminded Joseph of the beaches in Brazil growing up. The next beach we stopped at was Bunam. The area we walked through to get to Bunam beach was not only dramatic it was also very rural and what Korea used to be more like before all the high-rises. It was so nice to get away from cities, traffic and people. The only disappointment of the whole trip was once we got down to one amazing secluded beach, we found it was all fenced off by barbed wire – yuck! There was a military post nearby and our best guess is this was one of the ways the Koreans are trying to protect themselves from North Korea. So, back to our little road along the coast to the next beach called Gungchon, but we could not figure out how to get to it and drew attention driving down a dead end road in a little sea side town – sorry for the disruption from the silly Westerners! So, we just moved on to the next beach called Munam. The barbed wire fence ended right where this beached started, lucky for us! The beach was not as dirty as the first beach. Andrew and I walked the whole beach collecting shells and sea glass. We also climbed the big rocks at the edge of the water. Mark and Daddy ran up and down a small sand dune. We took some pictures of the Munam beach mireuksa Temple. Afterwards, we drove through a nearby tunnel and discovered it was the start/finish line of the 1988 Summer Seoul Olympics’ Marathon route. It was a bit faded from the years but still neat to see. By then, it was getting late and time to make the drive back up the small coastal road to Samcheok to find a motel and dinner. We found a motel without any problems but finding food was a bit more difficult. None of the restaurants near our motel were open at 8:30pm on a Monday. So, we ended up having Dominos pizza because it was the only place open nearby. After, dinner we all went to bed.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 – We started off the day by eating some food we had brought with us – there are no IHOP’s in Korea! The Koreans do not have different foods for different meals like we do. They eat Kimchee at all meals for example. After breakfast, we left the motel on our way to find Hwanseondonggul (limestone cave) near Samcheok. Along the drive we saw the most remarkable Korean building we’d seen yet, so without knowing what it was we just had to stop. It turned out to be the Gangwon Comprehensive Museum and well worth the time. Andrew was less than excited about the museum until he saw the dinosaur bones, the “caves” and rock/crystal exhibits, and the outdoor waterfalls and rock garden. Mark thought the bones of the ancient “Bear Cave” (as it was labeled) were neat, and he really liked the caves too (pronouncing it “Caay!”). Before leaving the museum we all had an ice cream. Throughout the visit the kids attracted a lot of attention as always. After the museum, the rest of the drive to the cave was a lovely one through a gorgeous valley. Once we arrived, we walked to the ticket booth and purchased our tickets, then made the uphill climb to the cave entrance. It was a hot but outstanding walk up. The Hwanseongul cave looked like what you would expect a limestone cave to look like – big, dripping, and lots of rock formations. It was a cool, relaxing walk with lots of water flowing out of several streams and waterfalls inside the cave. The names of some of the places inside the cave were entertaining: Palace of Dreams, Fountain of Life, Bridge of Love and Bridge of Confessions. After leaving the cave, the walk back down the hill was tough work at the beginning because a bunch of tour buses had arrived with a lot of students (over 1000?). We felt like fish swimming up stream on the narrow trail. Plus, many of the students wanted to practice their English. So, it was a bit overwhelming. Once we finally made our way back to the car we started the four hour drive home but this time we took a different and more scenic route through the mountains and valleys on a smaller highway. It was a spectacular drive home through a part of Korea that seemed time had left behind, which was just the thing for us. There were a few modern cities with all the high-rises and traffic but most of the drive was just untouched natural beauty. We did have to get back on the Interstate for the last part of the drive which was good because by then Mark was “done.” So, we sang a lot of “The Wheels on the Bus” which was the only thing that seemed to console him. All told, it was another marvelous trip together.