Song Jeong beach

Dallas and I had high asperations and set alarms for 8am to work out before we went to the beach. However, when the alarm went off, we decided that wasn't a good idea and went back to sleep for another half an hour. Then Dallas made breakfast and we got ready for the beach.

We got on a bus to Namhae around 10:30, then got tickets for the local bus to the beach. It was pulling out of the terminal when we ran out and both of us made sad puppy faces and the driver stopped and let us on. Dallas showed him a message asking him to tell us when to get off for the beach and he nodded.

Us on the bus - me with neon nails and coffee.

Getting ready for naps

We got to the beach around 12, rented an umbrella and tubes and put on sunscreen. We waited for about 10 minutes then hopped in the water. We swam out to the buoys and floated and played around out there for about an hour. Before we went back to the beach for lunch, we decided to work out a bit. First Dallas pulled me and the 2 tubes for a couple of buoys. I held onto his feet so he could only use his arms. Then I pulled him back the other way, except for a shorter distance. By that point we were both hungry and decided to get out. Plus, Dallas got stung by something on the wrist. We didn't see any jellyfish, but there was a mark, so something got him. We sat on our mat and ate PB&J sandwiches and part of an egg wrap thing from Paris Baguette. Then we resunscreened and walked down the beach. While we were in the water earlier, we saw this really cool tube called a "Fly Fish" and checked to see how much it cost to ride. We made a deal that if it was less than $30 we'd ride it. It was $30 per person, so we said no, although it did look really cool.

This is the left edge of the beach. Pretty sure that river is sludge from the shower room. But I just pretend it isn't.

Eating sandwiches. He's not sad, he's squinty. And trying to get David Beckham hair...it's not quite there yet.

After checking that out, we walked to the other side of the beach, which is like a 5 minute walk. The beach itself is a decent size, but there isn't much else there besides the beach. So we just grabbed the tubes again and went back in. This time we decided to stay in the surf and play in the waves. The disadvantage of this is that we were surrounded by people and kept running into them or being run into. I made Dallas laugh really hard one time when I went heels over head and flipped over on a wave - it hit me exactly at the right point in the break. He made me laugh by saying the waves were big. Then I remembered he's from Texas and is used to lakes. We played for a long time. He spun me in the tube into waves and we rode the tubes like boogie boards. Then we played some tube wars and sumo wars. One guy thought it was hilarious when he spun me into a wave and I flipped. Dallas tried standing on the tube and made it up once or twice for like a second before busting. The saddest part of the day was that we forgot the waterproof case so we could take water pictures. We need to remember it for the next beach trip.

Not sure if this guy knew he had been buried. He was like that for a long time.

Typical Korean beach attire - clothes, life jacket, sitting in a tube with a regular umbrella under a beach umbrella.

After we stayed in the tubes and played for a few more hours, we decided to get ready to go. They had some shower rooms, which cost $2 to use. It was a lot more uncomfortable than I was imagining. I guessed it'd be similar to a sauna...not so much. There is a curtain blocking it from the outside, then a wall with baskets where you put your bags etc. Then around the corner is a ring of showers. It felt very high school locker room, but full of totally naked Korean women and children. I, of course, was the only foreigner. I got moved from one shower to another and then stared at for awhile, so that was fun. The worst part was actually getting dressed because the area is so crowded like you have to reach over people to grab underwear and stuff, then the floor is wet and sandy, so you have to be careful not to drop anything. But I did feel cleaner than riding home in a wet bathing suit.

After showering, we walked back to the main parking lot where there was an information stand to ask where we were supposed to pick up the bus back to the terminal. The 4 college kids there thought the whole situation was hilarious for some reason, but one guy was sort of normal and was able to explain that we had to walk up the hill and wait up top. The bus wasn't coming for about 40 minutes according to him, which was good timing because it probably took us 15-20 to walk up the 2 hills. The bus stop was on the wrong side of the street from the direction we needed to go, but we didn't know what else to do, so we stayed there and ate the rest of the pb&js. Then the bus came and we ran across the street to get on it. Very strange and totally something that would not happen in the states - running across a street on a corner with no crosswalk or lights or anything.

View of Song Jeong beach from the bus stop

Me with wet hair waiting for the bus with D, who looks like he used Sun-In but is such a baby that he doesn't even understand that reference.

This is the bus stop. It stopped across from this, not near the crosswalk. Not sure if you can see, but where that blue sign is, the road splits, so cars were coming from 3 directions.

View from the bus - it is a really pretty drive.

We made it back to the terminal where we got tickets home, an ice cream and nail polish. Dallas also found some owl shorts that are so ridiculous that they're awesome.

We got off at the first stop on the GNU side of town and went to Valance Burger for dinner because neither of us had had a burger in a long time. Then we met up with Cody at Urban Drink for a drink and a chat. We left around 11:30 because we were both exhausted. I love the beach and wish we had more days/opportunities to go!