Vacation Wrap Up: Tongyeong, cable cars and the ocean

After the heart attack inducing night with the screaming old man, my friends and I set out for the city of Tonyeong. While I tried my hardest to uphold the illusion of a proper night’s rest, I could not maintain the illusion for long. As soon as we bought our bus tickets, we all ended up passing out on the bus. The two hour ride seemed like a blissful period to rest and recover precious hours of sleep rather than a burden of having to wait before heading to a location.  It was the most restful sleep I had ever gotten on a bus.

Once we arrived at the bus station it would be a ten minute taxi ride to our location destination, a cable car ride up to the mountains.  We quickly found a taxi and were able to get a good view of the town on the way. One of the travelers I was traveling with was near fluent in Korean and upon our driver discovering that, decided to have a conversation with her. Naturally I couldn’t completely understand what she was talking about but I could tell from her smiles and tone of voice that she was enjoying the banter she was having, or at the very least, pretending to.

After their conversation was over, she told us the details. She told us how this taxi driver was a representative of a historical figure during Tongyeong’s festival in the fall. He also told a story of the boys who lived in the town and how they conspired to date girls from the big city.

“Boys who live in the country often try to date girls from the city. However, most girls from the city are vain and not interested in dating country boys. So what the boys do is have the girls they are interested in come down to Tonyeong and catch fish for them. They catch the fish, clean them and prepare them as a meal. The fish are so delicious and the girls are so impressed that they end up coming to the town and dating the country boys. So I think, if you want to get a city girl to like you, learn how to fish for her.”

The secrets of love, life and fishing all in a single cab ride.

As we approached the cable car station, the driver told us one last piece of advice before leaving.

“When you go up and down the mountain, be sure to sit on the left side of the car. You can get a good view of the mountains and when you come back it looks like you’re going into the sea. Also, be sure to make a wish once you make it up to the top of the mountain. Be sure it’s only one wish through. Anymore than one would leave the mountain god confused and unable to grant the one you wanted.”

Once we arrived at the cable car station we began our trip up the mountain. The car slowly crawled its way up the mountain. We shared a car with another family, a father, mother and teenage son. As we slowly climbed up the mountain and the trees and building began to become smaller, the car began to slowly rock from side to side. The father in front of us began to close his eyes and bury his head in the palm of his hands. I could hear him mumbling to himself as the mother rubbed his back for encouragement. As we were getting higher, the father was slowly beginning to lose his nerve.  I however was enjoying the sights and the distant view of little buildings and cars nestled close to the coast. It was a view like a postcard, one that I tried to soak into my memories and burn into my brain.

Once we had reached the top, of the mountain we were greeted with a slew of people standing around, taking pictures and enjoying the view. There was an option to go even higher and have a better view of the ocean and surrounding mountains, the same spot where centuries ago famous Korean generals and strategists stood observing the sea battles taking place below them.  We stood silent staring out at the ocean below. I had seen the ocean a total of two times during this trip and it still had not gotten old. Its vastness and relative calm made me feel comfortable.  By being surrounded by the mountains and tress made everything seem at ease. That everything was right with the world and that standing here was a safe place, a place to reflect and marvel at the natural beauty all around you.

Soon it was time to leave. I made a silent wish before leaving for the downward cable car. I made it simple, but poignant. It was personal, but unselfish. It was the best wish I had made in years and it felt completely satisfying, even coming from someone who never really believed in wishes.

After leaving the cable car and heading back to the bus station to hit our next destination, we were lucky enough to have another talkative taxi driver on the way to the bus station. That was one thing I noticed about the taxi drivers and other people living near the coast. Everyone was very welcoming and easy to talk to. Even a foreigner with a limited grasp in Korea could still engage in a short, but friendly conversation. There was a sense of closeness and community that was rare in my town and completely nonexistent in the bigger cities.

The next bus ride took us to a small town not too far from Tonyeong. This small town was where our ferry ride awaited us. I had not yet ventured to a town smaller than my own, so seeing sights like a bus station the size of a small room and ferry station about the size of my apartment was novel and reminded me that no matter where you go, there is always somewhere smaller.
We did not need to wait long for our ferry to board. We had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat, local seafood specialty before heading on the boat.

Not since being in Japan had I been able to ride on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The overcast sky reflected off of the dull water. Ships floated lazily out in the distance and besides the gentle hum of the motor, only the waves could be heard.

Our host on the ferry ride was a funny guy. His snarky and sarcastic humor went over well with the audience as he chided us for not being more interested in what we had to say and wondered why we sounded so unenthused.
“You picked the right boat today, but I picked the wrong audience,” he said.

The ferry ran close to rock formations, huge jagged rocks hutting out of the water, forming a small valley that could barely fit a single person. One other formations fisherman could be seen casting off, using only a small area for standing as they stood straight as a pole against the crashing waves determined to obtain their next catch.

Our ship came to a rest at a small island in the ocean, where we had an hour to explore and rest. We decided to simply sit out the exploring part and take a rest while we ate our meal and looked off at the ocean below us. The island was owned by a couple who had originally fled from North Korea and ended up building a area to explore and observe. It was a beautiful and almost eerily isolated place of peace and beauty so far from civilization.

As we looked off into the distance, I noticed a collection of small towns and buildings on individual islands. There were no roads, nor bridges. These people were living their own lives out away from the small town, away from the constantly in motion society of Korea. They had escaped the lifestyle that grips every Korean from birth until death and were living their lives and making a living on their own island, in their own world.

I thought about where we had traveled so far and how far we had come. Being so close to the coast had allowed me to see sights not common to someone living in the middle of mountains. It was so refreshing down here, the smell of sea air all around you, the freshness of food and the friendly demeanor of the people made traveling and transportation a pleasant adventure, more than a nuisance. Maybe the people living by the ocean would have thought the same way if they came to my town. Maybe they would have enjoyed the slightly busier atmosphere and mountains around them. Maybe they would have enjoyed the big city with all of its sights and sounds. Maybe they found this simple life too boring and predictable.

The thought amused me for a bit more before we had to make our way back to the ferry. Daylight was quickly slipping away and after a short discussion, decided that our best option was to go straight to Busan and spend the night there.  Our time spent away from the big city was coming to an end, along with our vacation. We were on our way back to the rush of modern society, we were on our way back to our more familiar lives.

A wish is only a cable car away

Vacation Wrap Up Day 3 (Yeosu Expo)

The remaining days of my Korean backpacking adventure were spent doing things I have never done before, seeing things I have never seen and walking away with experiences that will most likely remain in mind for a long time. It was a true fish out of water experience, but one that always felt rewarding and well worth the effort to find and discover new things.

After spending the night in Jindo at my first jimjilbang, I headed out with my traveling companions to attend the Yeosu Expo.

The Yeosu Expo was an event that involved different countries around the world meeting in one place to share their latest developments and breakthroughs in ocean conservation and protection. Along with the many education exhibits were different bands, a k pop concert, fireworks show and different variety all through the venue. It was like a mini environmentally friendly theme park to spend the day in and explore.

I had heard many things about the expo, most of them along the lines on what a unique and rare experience it was for Korea to be hosting this event. I heard people say that eager visitors came as far away as Italy and Germany and was willing to pay top dollar just to get in.

We only ended up paying ten thousand won for admission.

Apparently there was a foreigner price where we ended up paying much less than a normal Korean attendee. It completely caught us by surprise and set the tone for the pleasant day we would have. Sometimes it was good to be a foreigner; this was one of those cases.

The entire expo was one spectacle after another. Each country had their own exhibit featuring their own breakthroughs in protecting the ocean along with a unique presentation to go along with it. For the US, it was a large curved screen featuring greetings from Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama. The German exhibit featured an interactive beach complete with fake sand and interactive exhibits. My favorite exhibit was the Korean one, where guests were treated to a cultural presentation complete with traditional dance and a 360 degree dome movie theater where a short film detailing the history of Korea and the sea was shown. The amount of immersion and full sensory interaction was magnificent.

The rest of the expo had different entertainment events over the course of the day. One was a giant wooden puppet that walked along the road along with an ocean themed parade.  Another was a water show complete with jet skis, a water jetpack and a princess in peril. My favorite was a robotics presentation with the latest in what Korea was producing in regards to robots.  Since I was a child, robots always held my interest and seeing a large line up of them in person was a treat.

The highlights were easily the ocean construction robots. While most of them were designed to resemble sea creatures such as eels and crabs, one looked more like a giant mecha from the old anime in the 80’s designed to help build and support structures. 

I want one. With optional plasma cannon. 

My childhood dreams were happening right in front of me, a huge robot that was only a few years from reality looking like something from the shows I watched as a kid. I was grinning the entire time. Sometimes dreams do come true.

The show ended with a presentation at the “Big O”, a large circular object that used lights, pyrotechnics and water to create images. The results were spectacular and surprisingly clear for using nothing but water as its display surface.  It was a very appropriate end to a great day of information and spectacle.

After the expo was over, we ran into another adventure in itself, leaving the expo in one piece. It was to be expected that most people were to be leaving but what I witnessed and managed to make my way through was one of the most chaotic scenes I have ever witnessed in Korea.

Line stretched around the block with people waiting for taxis. This would not be a problem if there were a line of taxis waiting to leave like at bus or train stations. However, taxis would show up in intervals of around every five minutes and only one taxi at a time.  Suddenly the bus didn’t seem like a bad option.

Heading to the bus was an even greater task with obstacles of crowds of people, police and cars in the way. Once we made our way to the bus stop, we were greeted to an even longer line of people waiting for a bus that had strangely not shown up yet. Not wanting to wait for what would possibly be hours, we decided to walk further away from the expo in hopes of finding a taxi further away.

The walk would require us to make a long trek up a steep hill crowded with cars and busses trying to leave the expo and people who had the same idea we did moving further away.  It looked like something out of a disaster movie. Crowds of people moving away, cars stuck in a standstill collisions between vehicles and angry Koreans yelling at each other in angry Korean. If I wasn’t so tired and drenched in sweat, it would have a very amusing scene.

After hiking up the hill one of the group managed to spot a taxi on the other side of the road, after speaking to him in Korean, he not only stopped to pick us up, but he also came over to the other side even in the densely packed road. I was never so happy to see a taxi in my life. Taxi God if you are reading this I want to take the opportunity to say thank you.

We made our way back to the jimjilbang where visions of sleep and a hot shower awaited us. I was ready to call it a night, but at the time little did I know, that my night was just starting to get interesting and a full night’s sleep would simply be out of the question.