Powerful Pohang!

Finally! I have been telling London (a co-worker) all year that I wanted to go to Pohang with her, to see the city and visit her boyfriend Fred. We finally made it happen last weekend. Two train rides and a bus later, we made it to Pohang shortly after 12:30am on Friday evening. We checked into our love motel and headed out for a night stroll along the beach, which is literally a five minute walk from Fred's house. Although it was a bit misty, we walked along the sidewalk and stopped for some stuffed squid street food. I was proud of myself for trying a bite, but definitely don't need to eat it ever again. We headed to bed hoping for sun, despite the rainy forecast.

Wrong again! Just like the weekend of my bike trip, the forecast couldn't have been more inaccurate. We started the day well with a new meal (10 months in!) of Bibim-Mandu. Then, we spent the entire afternoon laying on the beach just minutes from Fred's apartment. We talked, read books, napped, got smoothies and pretzels at Tom & Tom's Coffee across the road, and watched the Koreans playing on the beach and their jet skis. Every one of us (except 55 SPF sunscreen Britney) came back a little more pink than had hoped for. That evening, I went out for a solo dinner of Bibimbop while Fred, London, Britney, and Shauna went for an all out clam dinner at a restaurant right across from the ocean. Since their dinner took much longer than mine, I joined them for drinks and conversation with a beautiful view of the water and night sky. Once again, I tried a bite, but just can't find myself taking pleasure in seafood like many people do, despite how truly delicious it looked! The highlight of the evening for me was lighting fireworks off on the beach. You can buy hand held fireworks from a women on the beach and light them off right there. It was my first time with fireworks, and it was such a blast on a clear, warm night. We ended the evening out on the town visiting Fred's favorite bars and meeting many of his friends.

We woke up Sunday to more sunshine, started the day with more cheap Korean food, and headed back to the beach. Unfortunately, London and Fred couldn't join us due to the sun burns they had from the day before. Again, we relaxed with books and shut eye, but were less comfortable from the even hotter weather. We kept joking (well...sort of) that one of the Korean guys on jet skis would invite us out for a ride. Before we knew, it Britney and I were accepting the offer to hop on! All we understood was, "You. Together. Jet ski." "OK!" We couldn't even see the guys face as even the people on the water are covered literally from head to toe in shoes, pants, long sleeve shirts, masks, and sunglasses! With Korea being an exception to all safety rules, we hopped on without hesitation (yes with life-jackets mom)! The rides were short but sweet and a much needed break to cool off from the heat of the sun. The Koreans were very kind and happy to have given the cute white girls in bikinis a ride on their water toys. We ended the afternoon with one more stop at Tom & Tom's Coffee and headed back on our four hour bus ride around 5pm. Although, I would love to go back to Pohang with London again, I'm sad to say that it won't happen since London is heading back home in July before I have another open weekend to travel. Her and Fred are taking a month off to visit home before coming back to teach together for one more year in Suji. I'm so glad that I was able to go even once. We were absolutely blessed with the perfect weather making our weekend an absolute success. Next stop...hiking at Seoraksan National Park!