John’s Diary – Pt 10 Touring
Yeosu
Only a few days after Shaun and Teena left us, we went to Yeosu, a port city at the very southern tip of the Korean peninsula.
We travelled by bus and, on the way, noted the typical Korean mountain scenery and extensive road networks.
Yeosu is the site of the country’s major oil refinery and, as well as petrol for Korean use, each of fish, rice, silk, and seaweed are exported. Another major industry here (not for export) is of boatbuilding. Its population is about 200,000 (something like that of Geelong).
As with other Korean cities, Yeosu is a mix of the old market places (with some people still carrying burdens on their heads) and the newer, supposedly vehicle-free, western-style shopping malls.
Our room was inexpensive and comfortable enough. That is not a beer I have there, it’s orange juice (with only about 50% Soju). I spent most of 2 days flat on this bed (I knew I was getting something even as we had left home) so Gail went tripping around alone and took numerous snaps, including one of the Yeosu bridge.
Gail was impressed by Korea’s largest wooden building and she enjoyed some grilled fish at a famous (as noted in the Korean Lonely Planet book) restaurant.
The local sites also included the fishing port area, a beach, a “train” ride to an island nearby and the tower-style building which promotes their expected world ocean Expo in 2012.
This Turtle Ship was one of many built in the 16th Century (as I recall) and had all its oars hidden inside the hull and a spiked roof to prevent the Japanese ( the enemy at that time) from boarding. Its inventor was hailed as a military genius.
As always, these early evening lights were an attraction to Gail and we were also interested to see (and hear) the public outdoor aerobics program.
After only 3 nights we returned by standard rail (not the super-fast KTX train) noting lots of waterways, high rise apartment blocks, the blend of rice fields with metropolitan living and another one of the many little off-road driver-training facilities that are scattered throughout Korea.
Summer Vacation – the East Coast
A few days after Jodie departed we set out to that big chunk of Korea that we had not experienced at all – the east coast.
Rural
A Korean school friend of Gail’s drove us (about 5 hours, with his wife and baby daughter) to the midlands rural village where he was raised and where his parents still live – possibly 150 or so people, all with the family name Ahn. Their income is from farming and the land, although mountainous (like 70% of Korea) had lush greens everywhere interspersed with beautiful mountain streams. We stayed overnight and were treated to a BBQ dinner in the evening. The final photo is of the Rose of Sharon.
Gyeongju (We highly recommend this city as a tourist site)
We then made our own way, by bus, to Daegu, one of Korea’s bigger cities, but felt very uncomfortable right from the moment of arrival. So, trusting to instinct, after only about 4 hours, we moved on again, this time by train, to the one-time Korean capital of Gyeongju. This city, near the south eastern tip of the Korean peninsula, has genuine history. The complexity of their civilisation around 2000 years ago (when the city, even then, had a population of over a million) is hard to believe – they even had written civil service entry exams. Contrasting with this history is our (love) hotel and our room – a love hotel is a bit like we would think of as a motel – clean and bright – whereas “ordinary” hotels (those with bars, restaurants, shops), of which there are very few, are quite expensive. Our room here had internet access and a monster TV at approximately Aus $75 per night, peak rates with no discounts.
We arranged to take a day tour of the historical sites around Gyeongju. The tour guide spoke endlessly giving great detail of all we were seeing or about to see – a great service, BUT it was all in Korean which made it just lots of loud “noise” to us. 
On the morning part of the tour we saw statues, tombs, a grotto, Buddhist shrines and pretty views.
After lunch, there was an underwater tomb, an under-populated beach (few people NOT because it was stony but because it was raining), a pagoda, some lovely big trees and a Buddha carved into the rocky face of a mountain.
On our own again we saw a young couple who were showing, with their identical clothes, that they were just married. One park area in the city has 26 grass-mounded tombs which hark back to 100AD. The larger the tomb the more important was the person buried there –they range up to 80 metres in length; most were about 30 metres in diameter.
There is only one excavated tomb that has been opened to the public and inside are the bodily remains and artefacts that have survived for more than 1500 years.
This astronomical observatory, although small and photographed at night, has been standing since ~640AD. We also visited a pretty ancient site which is surrounded by water and the third photo is of Gail exiting an icehouse built almost 2000 years ago.
And, as you might guess, I like taking photos of Gail with flowers. There were many such opportunities.
Pohang, coastal beaches and mountains
We spent only a few hours in Pohang – a major industrial city with a huge company called POSCO dominating a big proportion of the landscape.
Three bus trips travelling up the east coast allowed Gail to take many photos through the bus windows but some were affected by the rain. Here is a sample. Some beaches were really pretty as was the mountain scenery. As we travelled north the use of barbed wire and razor wire became more apparent as a means of fencing off the beaches – this is to stop the illegal entry of North Koreans who might come down by boat.
Sokcho
To be a city of importance in Korea, it seems you must have a tower. Sokcho is the last South Korean city, on the east coast, before you reach the DMZ (demilitarized zone) and North Korea. It considers itself important and, consequently, has a tower to look up to – and down from. It also has a pleasant beach and, like most other vacation spots, it has a fun park to entertain the kids and teenagers whilst emptying their parents’ wallets.
Once again I show you our (love) hotel and our room. Costing around Aus$65 per night at peak holiday rates it was good value. The only disadvantage was that when we removed the key and went out for the day, the fridge went off, so that drinks (eg milk) could not be kept cold.
During our days in Sokcho it rained (lots and lots and……). Our main wish was to go to an observatory overlooking North Korean territory. It was a full day trip (we made our way by bus) with security measures restricting who might go and when. In the drenching (hot, summer) rain we finally made it.
Gail bought a personal “dog-tag” at the top and took photos of North Korea (with a rail line newly linking the long-divided country) and South (with a statue of a Buddha).
At the observatory was a war museum and memorial of the Korean War, between the North and South, that has had only a long-lasting cease-fire since 1953.
Back in Sokcho, we saw a historic Korean village which has been used for a popular Korean TV soap. Koreans do not really live like this any more.
Of course there is always a marketplace but there was also an interesting and unusual do-it-yourself (at least partly DIY) method of crossing this waterway.
Towards home
Having spent the last (well, almost) of our money on a bus fare back to our apartment we would have to live very inexpensively while we waited for Gail’s Korean payday which is always on the 17th of the month. Fortunately at that “home” she had massive amounts of work awaiting her on her Masters of Education so she could not be tempted to travel again, just yet. The trip back meant 5 hours crossing Korea again, via mountains, tunnels, beautiful valleys with pretty streams, raging torrents, bridges and new roadways being built almost everywhere – and seriously BIG rivers that would certainly embarrass the Australian pretenders.
