Hallyeohaesang National Park

February was a rough month in a lot of ways, but with March finally upon us, Mike and I went on a weekend adventure to Tongyeong. This is a city in Hallyeohaesang National Marine Park, which is on the coast. The city is quick and easy to get to from Jinju - the bus ride from Jinju to Tongyeong was under an hour. Since Mike lives in Jinju, it was very convenient. Another reason to go, its small size and readily available cabs make a quick to get around, much more so than nearby Geoje-do!

On Saturday, we took a commuter boat to Hansando, one of the larger islands in the park. To get there, go to the Tongyeong Ferry Terminal, which is near to the Hansan Hotel and Seoho Traditional Market.

Here's the boat! Lots of cars were aboard, which was worrisome, since we didn't know how we would get around Hansando, but they dropped us off right at Sogopo Ferry Terminal. This is a short walk to Jeseungdang Shrine.

Geobuk Lighthouse

The walk to the shrine is around the coast, where you can see lots of men and women digging for oysters.

After watching everyone dig for oysters, we had to try the local delicacy. It was a little surprising, that they brought out a big plate of raw oysters with a dipping sauce. It was a deal though, all that for 10,000 won (about 9 USD).

I was very brave, managing to eat three before giving up and having Mike down the rest. The raw texture with no other contributing texture or flavors was a bit much.

We rewarded our bravery with a giant dinner of lamb. It was fantastic - easily in my top ten meals in Korea.

On Sunday we went to the Tongyeong Excursion Boats Terminal, and took the Happy King to Jangsado Sea Park. The boat drops passengers off at one wharf, and has you walk through a set course to the other end of the island where you board again about 2 or 3 hours later. The island has beautiful sights of the neighboring mountains and islands, and lots of statues and sculptures.

This boat ride was significantly more expensive, about 30,000 Won each, but it was significantly farther from Tongyeong and included the return trip. The boat ride itself was about an hour long each way, plenty of time to enjoy the sights.

The major downside is the crowded pathways, as the entire boat empties with tourists at once.

Mike and I

Sculptures around the outdoor concert hall. There was also a gallery featuring the work of Kang Jong-Yeol, who had done a series featuring the island. It was for sure worth the look around!

Although there wasn't a lot of restaurants on the island, there were coffee shops and a little shop on the Happy King Ship.

Back on the boat, returning home.

For more information, look at Korea's National Park site on Hallyeohaesang.

For those who may be interested, Mike took most of the these pictures, as I forgot my camera.

Mom's Visit to Korea!

This past month my mom came to see me! We had a great time. We ate a ton of food and drank lots of cheap Korean beer. Here are some pictures from her visit.

We went to Seoul , so of course we had to go to the cat cafe in Hongdae.

My co-teacher let my mom come to school for the day. It was fun to see the kids interact with her and let her see what I do.

I took her downtown for some traditional Korean drinks - like tequila in a glorified zip-lock!

We spent a day in Gyeongju getting some culture.

It was a fantastic trip; I wish I had taken more pictures!

Vietnam - Dalat to Mui Ne

After spending the day with the Easy Riders around Dalat, we elected to stay in a hotel and have our guides drive us from Dalat to Mui Ne the next day. Although a sleeper bus was available, another late night bus speeding down the highway system truly did not interest us. The intimate experience through the mountain roads with local guides stopping at beautiful locations was much more appealing.

One of the first stops was to an ethnic minority village, famous for this giant statue. The story is that a long time ago a girl and boy were in love, but his parents wanted her to prove how capable a wife she would be by going into the forest and finding a chicken with perfect feet. In the end, she is unable to produce the chicken and they cannot be together.

This is a school funded by the government. I saw many more children outside than inside the school house, so I suspect it isn't mandatory.

Rice paddies

Mushroom farms

This bridge was destroyed by American troops during the war to stop supplies from getting to the north. Since then, a new one has been built next to it.

This is a brick factory. At the moment, the production was at a stand still, because the coffee bean prices had gotten very high and the employees were helping their families and neighbors finish the coffee production. It literally looked as though in one moment every employee stopped - tubes of bricks sliding down the conveyor belt were hardening before they were ever cut and mix was half sifted together.

These bricks are drying in the heat.

These have finished drying, been baked in an oven, and are set out to be sold.

I am not sure if you can tell from the size of this picture, but that is actually a refridgerator on the back of a motorbike.

I wanted to include a snipet of the actual mountain roads. The infrastructure was well maintained and roads were twisted, but smooth.

We went off the main roads at time, which was mildly terribying and very exhilerating.

Li Liang is an ethnic minority group, we stopped at a waterfall they allow tourists to frequent. We grabbed a picnic lunch in the market beforehand and ate at the falls.

This is another ethnic minority village. They are drying out coffee beans on plastic sheets in their front lawns.

Raking the coffee beans to rotate them while drying.

The closer we got to Mui Ne, the more often we had to drive through herds of livestock. It was an adventure, to say the least.

I wish I had taken a video through the first herd, this was one of the last times (and therefore the least scary).

We stopped by a dragonfruit farm! The plants are as funny looking as the fruit.

Dragon fruit stand - we went and ate about 5 each. It was delicioius.

Finally arriving in Mui Ne, we stopped to look at the fishing village.

We snuck into a resort to shower, hung out by the ocean in Mui Ne, then got an enormous meal. Then we waited around for the night sleeper bus - which was only 2 hours late. We arrived early back in Ho Chi Minh City, and I spent the day shopping, eating as much amazing Vietnamese food as I could handle, and getting one last massage.