Tuesday morning Sandy and I woke up and headed to the bus station to grab a bus to Tongyeong. The city small, but is well-known for it's yearly music festival and has many statues and references to the great admiral Yi Sunshin, an historic military leader who invented the turtle ships and helped fight off the Japanese to achieve Korean independence. Also, off the coast lie dozens of islands of varying sizes which can be seen on clear days and visited by numerous ferries which depart each day.
Tongyeong
We arrived in the bus terminal and found a place to eat lunch before making our way down to the harbor to find a ferry, thinking we might spend the night on one of the many islands in either a or a home-stay. The ferry terminal seemed pretty dead, all of the ticket booths were empty and the people in the waiting area all sat glumly. We went to the information desk and asked about the schedule, but the woman there explained that due to the typhoon no boats were going in or out that day. Crestfallen, we asked about local hotels and were recommended to one in the main tourism district, but there were no vacancies so we took a bus to the nearest island which was connected by a short bridge.
When we reached the end of the bus line we disembarked and walked around a bit until we found a nice little motel where the woman outside called us inside. It was very well-kept and comfortable for a very reasonable price so we got a room and headed out to explore. We found a hotel on the beach which rented out bikes, so we got a couple and spent an hour riding along the beautiful coastline. Now, we had been a little skeptical about the ferries being halted due to a "typhoon" because up to this point, there had barely been a breeze, but right as we had to return the bikes, the weather took a turn for the worse. The winds picked up and the rain started. We quickly found a bus and made our way to a point where we would hopefully have a good view of the outlying islands (our expectations were low though with the dark clouds on the horizon). After some trouble finding the right bus, and a terrifyingly wild ride along the cliffs (nearly being thrown out of our seats on numerous occasions) we reached a look-out point with a small cafeteria/coffee shop.
Our cozy little room
On the coast of Tongyeong just before Typhoon Venus hit
Despite the rain and wind, the view was extraordinary and very worth the trouble getting there. After drinking it all in we went into the cafeteria to wait for a bus out of the rain. The next bus didn't come for nearly an hour though so we got coffee and started eating the crackers that the woman from the temple had given me. As the time that the bus was scheduled to arrive drew near, we packed up our belonging and headed outside. We weren't sure which direction we need to go. We could head back the way we had come from which was familiar and safe, or we could attempt to go the other direction which technically was closer to our motel, but we weren't sure it went all the way through. The former was the first to arrive so that was the one we took.
As the bus pulled up we started searching through our pockets for change for the fare and at Sandy's request I began searching through my pack for his wallet which he had entrusted to me during our bike ride, but to no avail… We had already boarded the bus and were several hundred feet down the narrow winding road when we realized that I had already given Sandy his wallet to buy his coffee and he must have left it in the shop. We asked the driver to let us off and began to trek back up the hill. Sandy began to run just in case and I wasn't far behind. I glanced back to make sure no cars were coming up behind us and saw in horror the other bus roaring up. I yelled at Sandy and began to sprint, but just as we were coming up to the shop the bus careened past, nearly running us down and blind to our frantic waving.
We were left to another hour of waiting on that God-forsaken hill with nothing but my crackers to sustain us. Finally the last bus came and we were able to return to the area our motel was in. We searched around for somewhere to eat dinner and saw some canopies set up on the waterfront nearby, shaking in the heavy winds. We headed over and found that they were little restaurants selling delicious-looking seafood. We ordered a plate of Hwei (the raw fish I had eaten in Jeju) and it came with a large plate of various sea creatures to snack on. There were crab legs, clams, large shelled snail-like things that we had to pull out of their mossy shells with a toothpick to eat (I know it sounds a little gross, but it was all incredible).
Unfortunately my camera had died so this part of the trip shall lack photo evidence unless I can get a hold of some of Sandy's photos...
The next morning we arose early to see if the weather had cleared and we would be able to try the ferries again, but the wind and rain were beating relentlessly at the window so we continued sleeping for a couple more hours. After checking out of the motel we got some of the cities special Kimbap which was served with large chunks of radish kimchi and spicy squid. We then explored the harbor where a couple of old style ships (including a turtle ship) were anchored. Then we went to the outdoor sculpture park which had a lot of modern sculptures and a large statue of Yi Sunshin. Then it was back to the bus station where we caught a ride back to Busan. Our trip might not have gone as expected, but we still had a wonderful time.
Breakfast
Me and Yi Sunshin on a turtle ship
