Just Your Average Day
Easter Sunday. Sun shining. No clouds. The first sign of Spring and a glimpse at warmer weather. Meg calls me, “Let’s hit the beach!”
On our quest to get to the beach (which should be easy to get to) we always manage to go to the wrong bus stop or get on the wrong bus. So, when a nice older Korean man saw us as an opprotunity for some quick & free English lessons and invited us in his taxi we figured ‘why not?!’ We got to the beach in 15 minutes instead of the long hour it takes on the bus.
I love the beach. Walking on the sand, mesmerized by the ocean stretching on forever… it was only slightly jaded by the huge apartment blocks and industry buildings that lined the streets parallel to Jinha Beach. It’s Korea, there is no escaping the concrete numbered buildings– even at the beach.
Piggy Back Rides Across the Sand Bar
Turns out it was our lucky day. Free ride to the beach and once we got there we saw the tide was so low we could walk across a sand bar to an island just 100 feet off the coast. Apparently, the tide is only this low once a year and it happened to be our lucky day. It was funny watching the woman freak out at one point where the tide came up just over the sand bar. The gals all lined up and the guys took turns giving piggy back rides over the ankle deep ‘puddle’.
As we were making our way back over to the beach, we saw our new taxi friend waving at us to come over and meet his friend. Here is where everything gets strange. We got whisked away to a cafe, they even cleaned Meg’s sandy feet for her, we had some killer Kiwi shakes, and next thing we knew we were in a car on the coastal road driving to the infamous Gangelot Lighthouse. The two men were SO HAPPY to speak English. They shuffled through all of their cd’s until they came across the perfect song to impress us. Driving with the windows down, beautiful day, two Koreans who stumbled through English conversation, but all four of us singing along to every word of ‘Play that Funky Music Whiteboy’. Believe it, even I couldn’t make up something that ridiculous!
Spring & Sunshine!
Ulsan's Beloved Gangelot Lighthouse
We made it to Gangelot Lighthouse and had a big photo session. It’s the place where the sun rises first in Korea. It provides gorgeous views of the jagged coast line with the beautiful white lighthouse towering high above. I was loving the sun, the water… but apparently our new self-proclaimed tour guides decided it was time to move on to our next stop on our Free Tour of Ulsan. Back in the car and chauffeured to the next stop = dinner time. Duck bulgoggi & bipimbap, my two favorites!
Ok, ok so 2 strangers, 2 young girls –yayayayaya– I know you’re rolling eyes & think we’re crazy. But.. one thing I’ve learned is you got to know how to say yes. Use your intuition, if it seems okay, chances are it is. Korea is not the Western World, things are different, people are always waving/saying/yelling, “HELLO!” and bombarding foreigners with questions. They love the chance to use their English-eee.
We ate dinner overlooking the Taewha River at a great place I’d have never noticed otherwise. I couldn’t stop laughing at their attempts to talk to us, ‘I like mountain’ = ‘I like hiking’ or ‘He has big head & hope big head come back in’. So, our english lessons weren’t really helping much.
I love the adventure everyday proves to be here. A stroll to the beach turned into an all day guided tour of Ulsan, dinner included. -Nicky-
2 Nomads. 1 Narrative. 
I really enjoy reading about all your experiences and stories! Keep’em comin’! Im your biggest fan!
ms. clark- you are in fact our biggest fan & for this we both applaud you. your trophy should be coming in the mail soon.
p.s. get your butt out here backpacking with us this fall!?!!