Daewangam Pine Forest

On the 6th of February it was a beautiful, sunny winter's day and I decided to take a bus to Ilsan Beach to snap a few photos of the Daewangam Pine Forest. I went there once before in the summer but my camera's batteries died so I couldn't take any pictures. So, with fresh batteries in the camera I was on my way. It takes 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the traffic and the mood of the busdriver, to get there. Luckily the busdriver I got was in the mood to put pedal to the metal so I was there in no time. The busstop is two blocks from the beach and from there it's about a 400 meter walk to the park. To get to the park from the beach you have to climb a neverending staircase. Once at the top there are a few routes to take to see the whole park, but I had a specific part of the park in mind and took the shortest route to get there. At the other end of the park is the Ulgi Lighthouse and the Daewangam Rock. That is where I wanted to be and it only took a few minutes to get there. 

Daewangam Rock

The rock got it's name from an old legend: "King Munmu, the 30th King of the Silla Dynasty, achieved the Unification of the Countries of the Korean peninsula in AD 668. King Munmu used to express his desire to become a dragon after his death that would protect his kingdom from enemies. When the king died he was buried under a great rock in the East Sea in accordance with his will and sublimated into the guardian dragon of the kingdom. People, therefore, call the rock 'Dae-wang Am', which means The Rock of the Great King and it is located in Yangbuk-myun, Gyeongju.

Meanwhile, the spirit of the Queen also became a guardian dragon of the kingdom after she died since she could not forget her husband's noble will. Later the dragon flew to Ulsan and submerged herself under this rock right here to protect the East Sea. People also began to call this rock 'Dae-wang Am' and it is told that seaweed does not grow around this rock because of the dragon."

The industrial complex in the background is part of Hyundai Heavy
Industries.

View if the Ulgi Lighthouse from the rock.

It was getting dark and I decided to head back home. As I was walking back past the lighthouse I turned around for some reason and saw that the lights on the bright had just been turned on. Of course I had to go back to snap some more photos. The two below were the best ones. I had to position the camera on a rock so that it could be steady for taking pictures with a slow shutter speed.



It took about 15 seconds to take each photo. The stripes lights in the
 background are boats that passed while I was taking the pictures.

After about another 15 minutes of snapping I was on my way. It was totally dark when I left and when I reached the inevitable staircase I knew that snapping time wasn't over yet. It was my first time at Ilsan Beach at night and the lights were absolutely beautiful.

Half way down the stairs I snapped this one.

This is a stitch I made with four photos. Not the best one ever, but still nice.

Before I went back to the bus stop I made a quick pit stop at Dunkin' Donuts in HomePlus to get some much needed supplies and then it was time to go home. I have a feeling I will be returning to visit the dragon soon. It's hard not to with a place so beautiful.

Jinha Beach

A month or so ago there was a conference for all the hagwon teachers in Ulsan. We were told that we didn't have to go, because most of it was going to be in Korean. There was going to be only one presentation for foreigners and we decided to give it a shot and maybe pick up some useful tips on how to handle little demon spawns in class. It was only an hour long and to say the least, a total waste of time. Afterwards Jean, Lindie and I were starving and decided to go and look for a place to eat. We found a little Korean restaurant that sells super cheap hamburger sets - burger, chips and a coke. To our surprise it was really good.

After we ate we split up again and Jean and I headed back to Mugeodong, got my camera and a map and then hit the road again. Destination: Jinha Beach. Jean had been there before on an exploring trip with Lindie, but we still weren't sure where exactly to get off. And just as it happened with Jean and Lindie, we missed the stop where we were supposed to get off and went way past the beach. We got off at the next stop and decided to walk back, taking the same path they did the previous time, walking down the same steep hill, through a dumpsite, past a lonely grave in the middle of nowhere and through the most disgusting little river filled with plastic bottles, garden chairs, suitcases and an old deflated rubber boat. It took us a while, because neither of us wanted to set foot in the water. It looked like it was filled with chemical waste and we were not in the mood of getting infected and growing new body parts.

Eventually we made it and we were on the beach. About a hundred meters or so there is a little island in the ocean. When it is swimming season and we go there again, I planned on swimming to it, and will probably be chased by Koreans, because they have a thing abouth swimming in the ocean. If it just looks like you can't stand anymore then you are too deep and the lifeguards start to go ape-shi... uhm, crazy and put up a huge scene.

The little island.

Next to the beach is a bridge that goes over the river to another village. It is not just any bridge, it has an elevator that takes you up to the top so that you don't have to take the spiraling staircase, probably for those who goes shopping in Jinha and then goes back to their village on the other side of the river. We obviously wanted to cross the river, and we totally took the stairs... Unfortunately I don't have any photos to prove it. Mind you, the view from the elevator was quite nice.

I tried to take a photo of us by balancing the camera on the bag, and

a very friendly Korean guy came up to us and offered to take the photo.

Beautiful lights on the beach.

The whole bridge: On the the sides you can see the stairs we took to the
and in the middle of the spirals are the elevators, the ones we didn't take.

After some fun on the bridge we decided to head back home and after we eventually found the busstop we waited for what felt like a month for the bus. Always an adventure in South Korea.