Wanderings and wonderings: 14 hours in JeongDongJin Part 3

Monday, 30 July 2012

14 hours in JeongDongJin Part 3

After scoffing down my waffle and falling asleep in the cafe I decided to head off in the direction of the large cruise ship sitting atop a cliff. Since the weather was awful, and I was knackered, I decided to change my train ticket from overnight to early evening.

After this, I walked the short uphill distance up to the ship and paid my 5,000 won entry fee into the park. Surrounding the ship there are a few sculptures and gardens to walk around, and tourists are able to go into the ship to look out of the observation deck and eat in the restaurant. The ship is actually a (fairly) luxury resort.

The view was pretty good, and the sun finally came out once I was up there so things seemed to be turning around! I decided to try and order something in the revolving bar and waste some time gazing out at the view. By now it was (a little) past noon and I deemed it late enough to order myself a glass of wine! There was also ham, cheese and crackers on the menu so I got some of that too. It turned out to be a massive platter of stuff which I took my time over eating. The outer part of the circular bar slowly moved around and I stayed long enough to go full circle and enjoy the entire view!

It was also in the bar that I noticed my shoes were looking a little worse for wear. They were quite cheap and also pretty old. Walking around in the rain didn't do them much good and the soles were starting to come away. I was going to have to buy something else to protect my feet fairly sharpish. After my rest, eating, drinking and soaking up the view I headed back down to the ground floor to check out the other side of the park.

As I wasn't sure of the bus times, was feeling too stingy to pay for a taxi and having a few hours still before my train I decided to walk back down the hill. Obviously it slipped my mind about my dodgy shoes. As I walked out of the resort complex the heel part of the right shoe fell completely off and dragged along the floor with every step. Hanging on by a tiny area at the front I continued downwards, remembering there were a couple of small shops at the foot of the hill. Soon, the other shoe went exactly the same way as the right one and I was dragging the soles of my shoes down the hill with me. I had visions of them completely falling off and me walking down in my socks. I can only imagine what the Korean couple walking behind me must have thought! Finally I reached a small shop where an ajumma informed me she had no shoes! How much longer could these shoes last?! In true Korean style there was another shop practically next door and the young man delighted in showing me the small choice of flip flops I could buy. I choose a bright yellow pair (why not eh?!). Upon purchasing them he asked if I wanted to keep my old shoes... I declined and threw them into his rubbish bin.

Walk back to the train station along the beach, now bathed in sunlight, I was ready to leave Jeong Dong Jin, although had I been with friends, an afternoon messing around on the beach would have been fun.

I'm very glad I made it to Jeong Dong Jin and got to see another great part of Korea, even if the weather didn't let me see my much anticipated sunrise!