To Pohang and Back

Yesterday Rob and I went to Pohang, for the purpose of attending the final weekend of the Pohang International Fireworks Festival. We decided to leave fairly early, in order to see the sights of Pohang.

We took the train there. (The train to Pohang passes through the fields I explored the other day!) In front of us was seated a girl of about six. She seemed to take great pleasure in turning around and staring at us. At one point she even stared at us while growling. It was a little weird, and quite amusing. I was pretty well convinced that this little kid did not like foreigners, when she turned around and offered us candy. We each received a butterscotch and a ginseng candy. Now, I am actually a fan of this ginseng hard candy, although the taste is rather bizarre. I sucked on it for a good ten minutes or so and then crunched up the rest and said audibly and with great pleasure, "Ahh, ginseng" - and then somehow in the next breath, I managed to inhale a chunk. Whoops. So there I was, the only white chick on the train, coughing and wheezing and gagging like I was about to die. The little girl turned around and offered me a bottle of water. I managed to wheeze out issayo - I have some. Sigh.

We arrived in Pohang shortly before 2pm, and decided to head south of the city to the Homigot Sunrise Plaza. The Homigot Sunrise Plaza is this weird spot with a giant hand sculpture rising up out of the sea. Gwen's been there, and it looks really cool. You should probably check out her pictures of the place, because you won't see any here. See, we didn't actually make it there. The tourist information booth staff told us which bus to take, and which bus stop at which to disembark... however, if you've never taken a Korean bus, I should point out that the announcement speaker telling you which stop is which is often hard to understand. Anyway, we got on the bus (#200, if you're interested), knowing that it was about 30km to Homigot. About five minutes into the trip, I began to feel carsick. I get motion sickness very easily, which is often a problem given how much traveling I do. I pointed the AC vent at my head, squeezed my eyes shut, curled up into a tiny ball and waited for the ride to be over. Finally, when I couldn't take it anymore, we got off the bus.

Neither of us had heard the announcement for Homigot, so we figured it was still further on down the line. We hadn't heard the name of the stop where we disembarked either, so we were rather a tad lost. I was feeling pretty crappy, so we wandered into the first restaurant we saw, where I promptly laid down on the floor. (This isn't quite as crazy as it sounds, given that in Korean restaurants one sits on the floor to begin with. Laying down isn't much of a stretch.) Luckily, the ajumma who ran the joint seemed quite amused by me. The food, while rather over priced, was quite yummy, and managed to restore my stomach to good health.

After lunch, we decided to get back on the bus and continue our trek to Homigot. Imagine our surprise when, after boarding, the bus turned around and headed back to Pohang! Apparently, we had disembarked at the end of the line - wherever that was! We listened intently for the announcement of the Homigot stop on our way back, but never heard it. Alas, no giant sneeking hands for us.

We knew that the #200 bus went north of Pohang along the beaches as well, so we stayed on the bus for over an hour until it reached Bukbu Beach. Bukbu Beach is actually quite a nice beach - despite its fantastic view of POSCO (the Pohang Iron and Steel Company) - although by the time we got there it was 5:30! The blistering heat of the day had begun to dissipate, which made the water a tad chilly for my taste. We did swim for a little bit though.

Bukbu Beach: You can see POSCO in the distance


Is it a sand castle, or a sand POSCO?


These guys buried their friend in the sand,
and gave him a water-bottle penis.


The sky did cool things when the sun began to set.

Eventually, we decided to head back to the center of Pohang for the main event: the Pohang International Fireworks Festival. This meant getting back on the #200 bus yet again. Aaargh!The fireworks festival was held on the bank of the Hyeongsan River, near its mouth, directly across from POSCO, the sponsor of the event. The river bank was packed with literally hundreds of thousands of people. Unlike the mud festival, there were very few foreigners at this event, which was nice. Oddly enough, I ran into two of my students! A river bank packed with hundreds of thousands of Koreans, and I ran into two whom I knew!

Judy and Suzy:
sisters who began studying English in February

Before the fireworks began, Rob and I walked the bank, weaving through the masses, photographing the crazy light displays. The light displays were undoubtedly the coolest part of the entire festival.

Pagodas


A giant dragon


Tigers

Crazy weird monkeys


101 Dalmatians?

Finding a place to sit was tough, as so many people were there. Eventually, we found a tiny patch of unoccupied land on a very steep slope at the farthest edge of the bank. It turned out to be a pretty good location for viewing the fireworks though. It was quite pleasant to be able to lay on my back and watch fireworks exploding above.

Look at all the people!
The lights in the background are POSCO.


Before the fireworks, there was a light show.

Unfortunately, the fireworks themselves weren't really all that impressive. What made the festival international was this: three teams of fireworks techs, one from Japan, one from France and one (of course!) from Korea, each took turns setting off fireworks. Japan went first. I'm sure I will utterly apall my Korean readership by saying this, but I felt that the Japanese team was the best. Sadly, their show lasted only 10 minutes.

Then came the French. The announcement prior to the French fireworks exhibition stated that the French team was world reknowned and had won all sorts of international fireworks awards. Their show was very French - artsy trails of light playing in the sky, set to pretty music - but I found it really rather boring.

The last team was the Korean team. The announcer told us that we would see the most beautiful fireworks we'd ever seen... although I think he lied. It seemed very much like the Koreans had opted to emulate the French team. While I thought their show was certainly better, it wasn't really that spectacular.

My final statement at the end of the show was probably the most stereotypical American thing that I have ever said in my life: "These guys really need to come to America for the Fourth of July!"

After the fireworks ended, we wandered around the city for a while, eventually making it to the bus terminal - where we caught the last bus to Daegu (standing room only).

I'll leave you this, for your own amusement :-)