Day 246: Desperate For Tourism Much?

We woke up this morning today around 10amish at our little love motel in Inje and got ready for our big day out in the beautiful mountains. We hopped in the car and drove into the town to have some brunch. We went to this really small Korean restaurant where the lady owner was super nice to us. She didn't have tuna to make chamchi kimchi chigae like I asked so she actually went out to a store *down the street* just go to and get tuna so she could make my dish. Wow, that's so nice!

We then went and drove along the highway that skirts the northern edge of Sorakhsan National Park. The scenery was absolutely spectacular! Majestic jagged mountain peaks and thick colourful forests under the bluest of blue skies. The funny thing was how much the foliage varied... In some spots the fall colours were 'just okay' but then you'd turn a corner or go down into another valley and it would suddenly look as if the trees were exploding in reds and yellows. Amazing! We spent a good part of the early afternoon just hanging out in river beds playing with rocks and wandering around sparkling streams, soaking up the sunshine and breathing in all that fresh air. We all acted like 12 year old kids released on recess and took tons of pics with all the bright-coloured leaves. It was the epitome of classic, perfect autumn adventures.

After that we drove up and over the ridge and descended down into the east coast of Korea. Our original plan was to hang around Sokcho but it was still earlyish in the day and we were still feeling adventurous, so we decided to just keep on driving down the coast and see where we end up. The east coast of Korea is very beautiful. It has a raw and rugged beauty to it - small rocky coves, precarious cliffs, fragile sandy beaches, and green-blue waters crashing into giant waves pounding the jagged shoreline. It has elements to it that actually remind me a bit of the Lake Superior coastline back home.

We then came to the strangest of towns where, once we arrived, decided that we HAD to spend the night there. This town must have been absolutely desperate for tourism at one time because they've built all these STRANGE attractions just to try and draw in tourists. And it certainly has been a successful venture, judging by all the tour busses of Korean tourists lined up. In this one town, they have a South Korean warship that's been pulled up on land so you can wander through it, as well as a rogue North Korean submarine that was captured a while back when it was spying on the South Side, which you could also explore through (not for the claustophobic!) And this town also features the world's largest....hourglass...? Alrighty!

The funniest/oddest thing in this town is a giant cruise ship that's located *up on top of a hill*, next to a cliff overlooking the town and the ocean. It was truly a strange sight when we rounded the corner into town and saw this giant vessel looming up on top of the hill. The ship is actually not a ship at all, but a giant hotel that's been built to look exactly like a cruise ship. We drove up to it and went in hoping for vacancy. And boy do they ever hype up the whole nautical theme here. The ship is surrounded by giant palm trees, and a large moat so you sorta feel like it is/could be in water, and everywhere are life preservers, ships in bottles, those nautical ship steering wheels, tanks full of fish, and all the staff are dressed as sailors! And all the floors have names like they do on real cruise ships. Too funny!

After a bit of negotation/playing the waiting game we managed to score ourselves a room at a really good deal. Normally 210,000 Won a night, the hotel clerk gave it to us for 150,000 a night instead - awesome! The room, up on the Fiesta Deck, was really nice and clean, and with a breathtaking view of the ocean and the beach. Magnificent!! And our room even had a full Western-style bathroom! SO WORTH paying all that extra money for this expensive room!

We went out for dinner to this really shitty chicken restaurant, and then went to a norabang for a while (small, individual karoake rooms!) I don't sing, but it was fun to watch Addie and Michael belt it out to such classics as Hotel California, Livin' On A Prayer, and the Bay City Rollers' S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y Night! We then went back to our room to play Scrabble on the big bed while watching soft porn on the TV. What more could we ask for? We went to sleep that night with the balcony doors open so we could hear the waves pounding on the rocks far down below...ahhhh blissful....