Penises and Caves

November 10th (Saturday)

Last night we finally managed to go on a work outing with everybody from Chungdahm. We just went downtown for dinner and some drinks but it was so much fun getting to hang out with them outside of work.

Got home and went to bed a little after 2. After three hours it was time to get up and head out to Samcheok for Deanna's birthday. This was one of the longest days yet. After a 5 hours bus ride we arrived, looked at a map, determined our destination was not that far away, and proceeded to hop into a cab.

30,000w ($30) later we alighted at our stop, Haesindang Park (해신당 공원) or better known as Penis Park. 

The amusing factor was definitely high. As the story goes  a young maiden that was on a small island and was washed away by the sea. She drowned before her fiance could save her. As a result the fish dwindled until there was none left. One day a young fisherman relieved himself in the sea and the next day the fish were plenty. They said that the young virgin was happy that she was showed a penis and brought back all of the fish. 

 The park was erected to keep her satisfied. There are many phallus statues of various sizes, colors, shapes, and expressions. 

 Although the park was hilarious the best part of it was the location and the weather. It was a beautiful day along the coast with all of the trees changing colors for fall. Being from Florida and having flat beaches and no colors on the trees I was in complete fascination. 

When we had our fill of the sights we called a cab to come take us to a cave. As this really wasn't a day trip and we didn't know the bus systems we thought taking a taxi would be smarter and quicker. Definitely quicker! Daegeumgu was the cave and the last entry time was 4:30. As the cave was much farther away than anticipated the cab driver drove 180km (112mph) almost the whole way!! He was also blaring English music. He was  awesome! The fare was only $32 and I was surprised...until he hit the 60% gratuity button. Haha. But then he said he would wait for us at the bottom until we finished exploring the cave.

 There was a short, but steep, hike up to the cave. Daegeumgu cave is known for the amount of water that flows through it. It has many waterfalls and underground lakes. It also had a bridge of confessions where you are supposed to throw away your sins. It had a closed off cavern for bats, but we didn't see any. When we thought to check to see when the last bus left for home we only had a little more than an hour to get the station so we rushed through the rest of the cave.

We got to the bottom and our ninja hero cabdriver was waiting for us. Took us the bus station and asked us where we were going? Language barrier made it unable for him to tell us that there was not a bus going home to Daejeon, but after calling a translator, the wonderful Tina, we found out. Through lots of phone switching we discovered that we could go to the express bus terminal and get a bus to Seoul, then from Seoul, home. The cab driver waited the entire time, drove us around the corner to the other terminal, didn't charge us for the trip, and then waited around until we got on the bus to Seoul. Amazing, amazing man! Some bus changes and five hours later we were finally back home. Went out for a couple of hours with some great friends and finally called it a night. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEANNA!