Taejongdae

Today I went on a field trip by myself. I went to a place called Taejongdae, which is famous for its "Suicide Rock". It's a park on the tip of Yeongdo Island, and it's famous for people being sad and jumping into the sea. It's also famous for being beautiful.

Over Korean dinner in Michigan, a Korean friend of a friend from Busan told me to check out Taejongdae. He said that the famous beaches were crowded and that I should head to Suicide Rock instead.

So I thought that I was going to a magical, secret, unknown place. You know, a special little place that only the locals know about, and even then, only those that were really into cliffs and relaxing. I imagined I would be laying on the beach, enjoying the soothing ocean sounds, and then heading up to a magical restaurant on the top of the rock (which would be in a log cabin) and eating hwedupbap (raw fish with mixed rice and vegetables, ahhhhh, fresh from the ocean). Then I would watch the sunset through the restaurant window, feel sleepy, and decide to head home.

That's not what happened, though. I'm surprised I even made it there. It was a half hour subway ride to the Jagalchi area, where I then had to figure out which bus went to Taejongdae. While I was on the subway, a man came through selling cucumber slicers, demonstrated them in front of everyone and stuck paper thin cucumber slices to his face. No one bought any.

Anyway, somehow after a half hour of searching, I had deciphered enough Hangul (Korean writing) to figure out which bus to take. And when I did, it was ANOTHER half hour ride to the park. But I finally got there.

There were lots and lots of Korean people there. Most of them were families with children or young Korean couples having a bit of weekend fun. I felt like the only person there that had come alone, and that was pretty much the case. I saw a couple of other foreigners there, but both times they had a Korean friend that came with them. So I was a little sad. But oh well.

You had to buy a ticket for the shuttle up to the top of the lookout point, or walk 2 miles uphill. I chose to buy a shuttle ticket, as I am prone to heat stroke (self diagnosed) and I was already tired from all the bus searching anyway. But first I went to the snack counter and got some patbingsu, because I was hot and the sugar and bean protein were sure to help keep me from being hungry up there. I went and got in line for the shuttle bus (which took like... another half an hour), and I noticed that I was the only one eating patbingsu. All of the other Korean people were drinking iced coffee or eating popsicles. Even the old people. I would say that maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I have a feeling that I just looked like some jackass who was out of the loop.

The shuttle (which ended up being a bright yellow trolley made to look like a train) made a couple of stops before it got to the top. One was a beach and one was a Buddhist temple, and I wanted to see both. But none of the Korean people did, and I didn't want to shove my way out of the trolley and look like a jackass again. So I stayed put.

We got to the top, and I was already disappointed. The magical log cabin restaurant was actually an overpriced cafeteria and gift shop and looked more like an airport terminal. And the lookout point was PART of the cafeteria. I was still full from my patbingsu, so I didn't to eat anything.

The view was beautiful though, and I was very happy to look out over the ocean and breathe the fresh air. Here's a picture of what I saw. By the way, you can click on any of the images that I put on here. They are much bigger than what is actually shown. Do it!


Outside of the lookout point/cafeteria is a statue of a woman holding two children. She is supposed to commemorate a woman who waited so long for the return of her captured husband that she turned to stone. According to something somewhere on the internet, the actual stone she turned into is a rock formation nearby, and the statue is in her memory. Here she is:


(By the way, Korean ladies love umbrellas.) From this point, you can head down towards the lighthouse and Suicide Rock. So I did. I was really impressed by this lady so I took a picture of her. She is hiking around a mountain in high heels and a dress, while eating corn on the cob.


This is Suicide Rock. Isn't it pretty? See all the people on it?


When I got down closer to it, I was struck by the fact that there are no railings or anything on the actual rock. You could just fall right off. And it was VERY windy! And there were kids everywhere on it! Jumping around, going to the edge, running away from their parents. It interested me more than the actual rock did. I guess it's all that anthropology I took. The people were more interesting than cliffs. So I took some pictures of them. Don't these people look like they are having a lovely date? I am sort of jealous of them.


Here is a picture of a man risking his life:


Daddy, can you get a picture of me by the deadly ravine? Sure, honey.


I also climbed down another part of the park and found an amazing view of the park and Busan:


That's the kind of magical thing that I was looking for. Over on that side too, there were a bunch of women doing something down by the water:


I think they were catching fresh seafood and serving it. There were some people down there sitting on the ground in open tents and it looked like they were eating, but I couldn't tell. The ladies kept waving at me and other people to come down there, but I was too scared. I kind of regret it now. I don't even like seafood, really. Unless it's dried and served as a Korean side dish. But wouldn't it have been cool to eat fresh things out of the ocean with the fisherman-ladies?

So after that, I left. On the way back down, a Korean band had appeared on one of the decks of the light house, and they were playing a cover of the Cardigans "Lovefool". It was weird. The Cardigans are actually a Swedish band, too. So that was more weird. Cause I lived there a year ago. In Sweden. Remember.

On the subway ride home, no one sold any cucumber slicers. But a man who was missing a leg appeared in the subway car, and slid on his butt, propelled by his hands, down the aisle, handing out pamphlets to everyone. While that was odd enough in itself, a minute or so later, he slid back the opposite way, collecting all of the pamphlets that he had handed out. And then he left.


So in summary, these are the things that I learned today:

Travel guidebooks never give accurate directions, so you better learn how to read Hangul.

Sightseeing is better done with a friend.

Tourist destinations are not magical and relaxing.

Learning how to enjoy yourself when there are a bajillion other people around is a skill worth developing.

Patbingsu is not cool anymore.

Korean people are not afraid of cliffs.