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.