A tale of two Daecheons

It's Friday afternoon, and I'm getting ready to finish a long work week. It's pouring rain outside (wouldn't you know?), and I'm thinking about sunnier times. The couple of times in the last two weeks I had a break from the deluge, I just happened to be at the beach.

Two weeks ago I went to the Mud Festival on Daecheon Beach. I had bought my train ticket weeks in advance, and was happy to have a seat for what was certain to be a very crowded event. Come to realize, three days before depature, that I had bought a ticket to Daejeon, not Daecheon. This isn't the first time this type of thing has happened. One day I was to meet a friend in Sincheon, and couldn't find her because I was in Sinchon. At least those two places are in the same city--Daejeon is on the other side of Korea. I was able to exchange my ticket, but I ended up with a standing ticket, which equated to 2 and 1/2 hours of misery. I was packed in a car with a bunch of obnoxious and loud foreignors, most of whom were already drunk at 10:30am.

When I reached Daecheon, I met Pamela, who had a miserable trip down herself. We decided right away we wanted nothing to do with the crowd, so we covered ourselves in mud and did our own thing. I should take this opportunity to mention that the mud in Daecheon is very high in mineral content and considered therapeutic. After sitting on the beach and drinking soju, we washed the mud off in the ocean. The tide was coming in, and we caught some nice waves.



After showering and getting pretty, we went out on the town. Dinner consisted of delicious grilled scallops, and we went to the Noraebang (singing room) afterwards with Pam's yuppie (but very cool and friendly) friends. Later that night, we sat on the beach and witnessed the most spectacular fireworks show I had ever witnessed. It was a fun day, but taxing. We both decided the next day to skip the rest of the weekend, going our seperate ways to Seoul and Suwon. I really liked the beach, the mud, and the scallops, but was a little disenchanted with the crowd.
So I decided to go back the next weekend.



The following Saturday was a completely different scene. Yes, it was packed. Only this timed it was crowded with Koreans, with virtually no foreignors. I have to admit that I enjoyed the atmosphere much more the second time. For starters, I was able to sit in a comfortable seat on the train ride down. It helps to not arrive in a bad mood. Sacha made the trip with me, and Gina agreed to meet us down there. We spent the entire day relaxing on the beach, and taking the occasional swim. We were joined by a friendly Russian stranger named George, who was wearing a very sexy speedo. He was a nice fellow, though, and I think he may start dating Gina. (She's going to read this and I'll hear about that comment, no doubt.) I should give her credit for taking this photo. It really captures the essence of our relaxing and fun afternoon--too bad she's not in it. After saying goodbye to George, we cleaned up at a fabulous (I wouldn't normally use that word, but it's apt in this case) sauna. Then we proceeded to eat... what else?: Grilled scallops. They were just as tasty as the week before and Sacha and Gina were as impressed as I had been. I'm going back to this beach soon, as it is a great place to chill. I will probably go back tomorrow, if it isn't dumping rain.