Venturing Samcheok/Penis park and Seoul with my brother

I WILL APOLOGIZE TO MY FAMILY IN ADVANCE. I HOPE SOME OF THE STATUES MAKE YOU LAUGH AS MUCH AS I DID, BUT IF THEY MAKE UNCOMFORTABLE (MOM!) SKIP TO THE MIDDLE.

When David told me that he wanted to visit on the dates that he did, I told him right away "just a heads up, some friends and I have been planning a trip to the Penis park for that weekend. So you're coming... sorry lol." I know that's not usually the first thing a guy wants to hear. But David was a rockstar about it and we went to Penis park for Buddha's birthday. Although, a lot of Korea is Christian, Buddhism still takes up a large portion. I am going to assume that the holiday of Buddha's birthday is a lot like our Christmas. Many things were closed (though not all thank goodness) and people went to visit their relatives in another part of Korea. So we went to Haeshindang Penis Park.

David and I met up with my friends Gillian, Lacey, Christina, Katie and Ryan at 7:45am at the bus station. It was a 4 hour ride so we wanted to get there at a decent time enough to explore. It was long but we mostly slept the whole time. When we arrived, we actually had a bit of a hard time finding a motel. Many were full. Plus, people see a big group of foreigners and get scared, I think. We wound up finding a REALLY nice one. We were happy. We dropped off our luggage and headed to penis park. Samcheok was BEAUTIFUL!! Just the bus ride to the park itself was absolutely GORGEOUS!! (on the right) All along the coast, blue water, green mountains, cliffs, it was amazing.
When we got there, we walked into the park which is was actually at the top of a mountain area. It was a bit of a hike... though it was relatively flat and easy (or so I thought until our hike back!). We walked through and saw a pond in the middle with a couple of frog happily jumping along the Lily pads. So peaceful. We weren't quite sure what to expect, however slowly but surely, the penises started arriving. First little things like on a bench post, then bigger things like statues along the path. Then we got around the top of the mountain area and we had a SPECTACULAR view... of the scenery... and Chinese zodiak penises. All 12 Chinese zodiaks were there. I was born the year of the rat... same as my grandma. There was actually a lot of great detail in these penis statues. I was pretty impressed with the continuity in them all as well as the carving detail alone. Couldn't help but take kodak moment. It was very interesting to see all the people who were there. People of all ages, very old, very young (lots of kids), lots of families. Considering how consenservative Korea is, I was surprised they had a penis park in general... even more surprised that they have a sex park (yes with statues, etc) in Jeju (which I may visit in August). Interesting country Korea is :)
After we passed through the top area, we continued on our journey down the other side of the mountain. Along the way we passed a variety of different/interesting/wierd/disturbing/hilarious/crazy statues... (as seen in photos). There were times that we had decide which way to go (Gill looks like she's not sure which way to head... pun intended, ha ha! I crack myself up sometimes :) yes, I'm a nerd). Then we had to walk down a long pathway of stairs. In the middle of the 2 paths of stairs was like a huge garden with flowers in different shapes and colors. Standing at the top with the blue ocean and green mountains in the background... it was soooooooooooo gorgeous. One of the most gorgeous views I'd seen in Korea I think. It took my break away. That was the view looking down. Once you got past the penises in the distance and looked up, you could just see the bulging penis canon (the canon is the parks trademark I think). It just really isn't something you see everyday. I still laugh as I look at how silly some of these photos/statues are. Who makes these things????
Once we got to the bottom of the mountain, we couldn't help but indulge in even more scenery. The beach was beautiful. The water was crystal clear, the rocks were perfect/gorgeous climbing rocks , and shells all over the shore. David decided he wanted to jump off the cliff. At first I was like 'why not?' then i looked at it... it was pretty big. He climbed up and once he got to the top I started freaking out (yes I do have 'mom mode' tendencies). He wound up jumping but from a lower distance. I got it on video too. Boys will be boys. The water did look refreshing though. It was pretty hot out. Of course, we took a few other photo ops. And yes, as you can tell, I've started taking on the Asian "V" sign in pictures... which I was recently told didn't stand for the "Peace" but for a 'V' as in 'Victory' that was commonly used after the war... a little Korean history there for ya :) We were running late catching the last bus back into Samcheok city, so we had to run all the way back up and down the hill, the way we came, to make the bus. The easy walk was a strenuous run. I am not a good hiker. And I was very out of breath after, but we made it.
We had a really good time. On the way back to our motel, we stopped at an Italian restaurant. No Italian food is as good as the food in Italy, and the Italian food in Korea isn't as good as the Italian food in America, but it was still pretty good for Korea.
HWANSEONGUL CAVE IN SAMCHEOK.......THE NEXT DAY, Saturday, our plans were to explore the Hwanseongul Cave in Samcheok, and then head to Seoul. So we took the bus to the cave. Again, the scenery was breathtaking! So many gorgeous views!! Again, it was at the top of a hill. There was a monorail thing that we could take up the hill but there was a HUGE line and we were on a time limit in order to catch our bus to Seoul. So we hiked it... 2 kilometers or so... all of it was VERY steep. I had a hard time hiking quickly on a not very steep hill... this was ridiculously steep... i seriously almost died!! I thought I was going to faint several times and even got nauseated a bit. I seriously think there is something wrong with me. However... I made it and inside the cave was worth every penny... and it was so cool inside... cool like chilly... which was awesome since I was so hot from the hike. But inside the cave was incredible. Really gorgeous. I'd never been in a cave before. It took us about an hour or so to walk through it (and we didn't even have a chance to go all the way through... but we got the basic idea). We all HAULED all the way back to the bus stop. Those 2 kilometers I almost died going up were a piece of cake going down... it was the dodging in and out of people that was the tricky part. David and Lacey took the lead and retrieved our bags from the storage unit while Gill and I came in next and we all waited at the bus stop ice cream in hand :) Then we took the bus back to the Samcheok station to catch, yet another bus to Seoul where another adventure begins :)

SEOUL. I will start this story by saying, FIRST, that before we got on what was supposed to be a 4 hour bus to Seoul, I had called the hostel that we had booked, and let them know that we would be arriving later than anticipated. I told them we'd arrive sometime after 10. They said they appreciated the call and that they would be waiting when we arrived. Well the 4 hour ride took 6 hours, and it had started pouring rain on the way there. So granted to say, that we were soooo tired when we arrived. We just wanted to find the hostel and kick off our shoes... especially after the long wet walk to get there. Once we arrived, there was a note on the door for us... it said "Welcome Danielle. Here are your rooms, 3 people in 1 room, and the 4th person in another room." and at the very bottom, in small print, said 'please use the code to get in." Koreans commonly use keypads instead of keys for entry. So first I was pissed, because we'd paid a few dollars extra, to be in a 4 person bedroom just to ourselves... and now they were splitting us up? I was not happy. And next, the note was attached to one building, and we couldn't find the key pad. It was raining and chilly, and hungry and we were tired, so we just rang the door bell. Weren't even which door was the entrance (it was a very vague and confusing note). A guy comes out the balcony and starts yelling at us... just starts going off on us for no reason (keep in mind, it's 11:40pm on a Saturday so time/day wasn't even THAT BAD). He kept talking to us like we were retarded and asking us stupid questions which ultimately resulted in him telling us, with no reason at all, that he didn't want our business and to go. He came down, gave me my deposit back and literally slammed the door in my face. I was in shock. NEVER in my life had I been treated so disrespectfully. I was pissed and angry and embarrassed (I was the one who had picked the hostel). We tried to do the right thing and call to say we'd be late, then we get kicked out cause the letter was written poorly and didn't clarify which building/door we were supposed to use??? I will NEVER recommend that place to anyone. We found a motel (which was fine but the point of the hostel was to all be together :( ) and we found a chicken place that was open late. We hadn't eaten since 10am that morning besides little snacks here and there so we were pretty starving.
After eating, it was around 1am. We were exhausted but we'd promised some friends we'd meet up with them. So my Seoul friends met us at the close subway stop. David decided to catch up on some sleep. We had fun just hanging out with the guys and getting a little glimpse of the Seoul nightlife. The one thing that I've noticed a lot about Korea is that you can never tell how quickly time is passing. Whether I'm at school or at a bar... the FLIES. When we walked out, the sun was up... Scary! I'm waaaay to old to be staying out that late lol. ANYWAY.
The next morning David, Lacey and I walked through Insadong area. Insadong is a street known for good shopping. I was impressed with some of the souvenir shopping they had. They had a lot of traditional trinkets that were pretty interesting. Lacey left in the late afternoon and David and I met up with my friend Derold. Derold and I went to college together in San Diego so it's great being able to visit him here. Derold first took us to Dongdaemun, which is another shopping area... more clothes though. David wanted to get some stuff. While he was looking around and trying on things, the employees noticed there was a skateboard. Derold told them that David was professional so they wanted 'a show.' So there, in the middle of the 7th story of this store, David put on a little show. They were very impressed. We both left happy customers. One thing I bought was this set (on the right). Pants and shirt... pajamas like. But read it... SOMETINGS TASTE FAVORITE SOMTTHINGS. 1. The writing is so messed up I can't tell what it's supposed to say 2. Even if the writing was correct, what's it supposed to say???? Just another example of Konglish... Koreans trying to write English. It's HILARIOUS (some kids wear shirts that say Boston, Massachubetts on it HA HA!!!!)
Next, Derold took us to a Shabu Shabu dinner. I'd heard of shabu shabu but had never eaten there. It was very interesting. They put this boiling broth in the middle of the table and you just put everything in there and let it cook. It was delicious!! And very light. At the end, they have noodles and rice and just mix everything up. It's hard to explain, just believe me when I say it was awesome :) We had a great time visiting with Derold. David and I went to bed decently early that night. I was excited that our motel had a bathtub. I told him not to disturb me for 20 minutes while I enjoyed the luxuries of having a quite bath by myself (versus with a bunch of other people at the jimjilbang).
The next day was Monday, our last day of vacation. We went back to Insadong area, but passed through so that we could go visit the Gyeongbokgung Palace. There were a few things I really wanted David to see while he was in Korea... 1. was a Temple 2. was a Palace and some other stuff. We never made it to the Temple :( But I dragged him to the Palace... and he actually really liked it at the end :) We stayed there for a long time exploring the garden, different buildings, taking pictures, and then there was even a Korean cultural museum... free. That was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be too. A lot of history throughout the years. It had a lot of information, pictures, and actual artifacts from several centuries. Things they used to cook with, hunt, write, everything.
After our visit to the Palace, I had originally wanted to visit the Korean Presidents house nearby (called the Blue House), however, we ran short of time. We wanted to buy some souvenirs before we caught our bus. We HURRIED to get our souvenirs. Literally running from one shop to the next getting what we could (I still didn't find postcards... it's so odd to me that Korea has VERY few postcards and they're hard to find). We ran to the subway, hurried through, ran from the subway to the train station (David ran faster and got our stuff from the locker... i lost my breath) We finally arrived at our train platform just in time to watch it pull away... of course. The perfect ending to our day. So we managed to switch our tickets, grab the next train, get something to eat and then headed back to Busan safely and quietly. We both slept on the way. We arrived back at my house around 11pm. We were both beat. Of course I had to work the next day, but it was nice to just relax a little bit. We had a GREAT GREAT time in Samcheok and Seoul. I am so glad he was able to visit me and we had the chance to explore around a bit :)
David had 2 days left. He spent it skating around, going to jimjilbang and just relaxing a bit. Though we'd been traveling around, we hadn't actually had real homestyle Korean food. I didn't want him to leave without knowing what we eat here. So before school one day, we had lunch at a local place by my house. We ordered 3 main dishes (1 being like a soup), and the rest are just side dishes that the Koreans love so much :) It was delicious :) HE liked it... well most of it I think lol. Some of it is still strange even to me. But at least I know how to order and for the most part, what I'm ordering... that's the hard part.
David made it back home safely. I had so much fun with him and was so glad he could make it out. I think he's caught the travel bug... the same one I have. It's an amazing thing. I hope that we are able to take a trip somewhere in the future. There is a big age gab between us so I hope that as the years go by, the closer we continue to get :) I love my brother!!!