After our interlude at the sheep farm, Jaimie and I hopped on a bus to the coast. The ride was an easy half hour and we got to the beach by mid afternoon. The sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful blank slate; essentially, the day was perfect.
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| Poor guy |
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| Just some krazy Koreans |
As the sun began to set, we made our way to Coffee Forest, one of
Terarosa's cafe branches removed from the city. My mentor teacher actually recommended we go there. The trek took about 45 minutes to an hour, but we were stopping a lot to take pictures and soak in the view and the sun. The entire walk is along the coast, and lining the road are many unkempt motels/pensions and inns, decrepit from disuse.
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| Odd and out of place windmill lodging |
We stumbled on this marsh at the perfect time of day - golden hour.
By the time we finally spotted the sign for the cafe, we were beginning to think that perhaps this "Coffee Forest" didn't exist at all. Finding light at the end of a long tunnel or shelter after days out in the cold.. similar sentiments. Haha.
We couldn't have arrived at the cafe at a more perfect time. (Time was really on our side this weekend.) The setting sun cast a beautiful light on the building, and with its myriad windows and bringing-the-outdoors-in design, this space really hit the spot and was the perfect way to unwind at day's end.
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| More like carrot muffin |
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| Om nom nom cheesecake |
We asked our cab driver to take us back to the beach, where we grabbed a bite at a cafe/HOF, chatted about funny things, silly things, serious things, and went for a night stroll. The ocean was a big black abyss, and the only sign of it being a body of water was the white curl of its crests.
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| A boyfriend lit a paper lantern for his girl and we all watched it as it floated away into a speck of nothing |
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| The moon was full and bright |
The next morning, we got up just after five and trotted out of our beachfront motel and onto a swing bench to watch the sunrise. I was surprised at how many people were out and about at this hour. Some groups of young folk were still out from the night before, drunk and obnoxious and entertaining.
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| This was where we stayed, actually a very decent and clean room despite the stairwell leading up to it, and I'd recommend it to someone looking for an economic beachfront - we only paid 50000won and it was literally 10 steps from the beach. |
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| Stairwell reflection |
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| Morning patrol? |
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| Ugh, those colours. Unreal. |
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| The moon was still very visible behind us |
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| Here she comes |
After a short post-sunrise nap, we checked out and made our way towards Chodang Soondubu (soft tofu) Village, and the cafe strip by Anmok Beach. Its street of cafes was pretty unremarkable, and I don't think I'd go out of my way to go back there. The soft tofu on the other hand... definitely went back the following weekend, true story.
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| The Old Man and the Sea |
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| Candy stripes |
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| Garlands of drying squid, what else is new |
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| Strange-looking church |
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| Omg was this ever good. Just plain soft tofu, but so flavourful. |
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| Fenced in beach - parts of the coast become restricted areas within certain curfews, for military training or something along those lines. Kinda scary looking if you ask me. |
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| Collecting shells |
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| Lone sailboat. Can you see it? |
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| Sand in her shoe |
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| Gangneung - the city of pine forests |
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| Hey J |
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| More of that military schtuff |
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| More hanging-to-dry fishies |
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| Old karaoke sign |
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| "Minbak" loosely translates to lodging |
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| Copycat Eames chairs are all over SoKo |
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| Fell in love with this painted floral wall mural |
A glorious, uber romantic weekend for two. So perfect.
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