The place I found in Pohang for the
night was off in a little area away from city centre. It was fairly
quiet and secluded really. And I got to watch a couple of drivers
experience the consequences of driving like maniacs down side streets
that are narrow, and with uncontrolled corners that can't be seen
around because of high fences and large buildings. Yes, that's
right. Two guys went through the same intersection at the same time,
without slowing down to make sure they weren't the only ones there.
And they found out what happens when two cars try to go through the
same intersection at the same time. Key-rash! Free entertainment.
(Nobody got hurt. I'm not entirely heartless...)
The weather forecast was for rain at
some point this day. The morning had sunshine, though, so I figured
I was good for at least one leg before having to decide what to do.
And this was the leg that finally started showing the charm of the
east coast.
Leg 14 heads out to a point on a little
peninsula. Somewhere along this stretch was the easternmost point of
South Korea's mainland. The actual point seems to make that claim,
but looking at the map there appears to be a spot just south of there
that is actually the most easterly point. (In any case, it
definitely wasn't the spot just south of Ulsan that made the claim as
well, with its fancy lighthouse and amazing park. It was a nice
park, however, that made up a lot of the previous 30 kilometres of
seafood restaurants and concrete.)
Before heading off on the trail, I took
a little while to check out the restored Japanese colonial street in
Guryongpo. As anyone who has spent more than a few days in South
Korea will know, the dastardly Japanese of the early 20th
century decided Korea was a nice little addition to the Japanese
empire. So they came over and took it for their own. From 1910
until the end of the Second World War in 1945, there were Japanese in
charge of Korean affairs. The details can be had easily enough, and
I have no wish to offend anyone by getting it completely, or even
partially, wrong. (Plus any narrative that doesn't conform to
official versions seems to bring rather severe consequences.) When
the Japanese left, there were residences, and other buildings that
were left behind. I imagine most have been destroyed, as it is a
time of great anguish to the South Korean people. Not surprisingly,
they don't really wish to have that many reminders of that time
hanging about. Guryong Harbour was apparently a fairly important
harbour for the Japanese, and there were a great many buildings in
the Japanese style in the little town. They were neglected over the
years, but weren't taken down. And recently there has been a desire
to preserve at least some of the history of the Japanese occupation,
painful as it is. One such effort was here in Guryongpo. An entire
street of the Japanese colonial buildings has been restored. There
are still some derelict buildings, but overall, the feeling along the
street is very Japanese. One can really get a sense of how it might
have been during that time. There is even a small free museum with
artifacts and items of clothing in one of the larger Japanese
buildings on the street. It's well worth the time to just take a
stroll down the street if you are ever in Guryongpo Harbour.
After the visit to the Japanese street
in town, it was back off and up the trail. Other than being the
point that the farthest east on the mainland, Homigot is not
anyplace, and it isn't on the way to anywhere else that is
particularly special. It is a fairly popular spot, as pretty much
anywhere that is the most of anything tends to be, so there were a
lot people in the area. But the road and path getting there was calm
and quiet. People were mostly in the hurry to get to the easternmost
point to be able to take their selfies as they pointed dramatically
to the east, so they took the good highway rather than the leisurely
coastal road the trail was following.
There was lots to see. The shoreline
was rugged and rocky. There were seagulls everywhere.
There were little fishing hamlets, but
not the annoying kind, all concrete and boringness. These were
charming.
And they provided artsy little
opportunities. Being a big crabbing area, there were lots and lots
and lots of stacked crab traps here and there. On the other hand, I
might be wrong about what these are because I have seen the crabs
they sell in the seafood restaurants and I'm not sure they would fit
in these traps. But even if I'm wrong, I don't care. These looked
cool stacked up like they were.
There were also these guys hanging out
to dry. That was a lot of squid.
Homigot is a tourist trap. As noted
before any place that is the most of anything almost always is, I
find. The easternmost point of South Korea is no exception. Oh
look! The hand that can hold up the sunrise, or whatever that
actually is.
Oh look! A statue of a little boy
pointing in awe east at the rising sun. Awwww!!!!
And there was even a clock counting
down the months, days and hours until the sunrise of the next year.
I was unsure if it was the solar or lunar new year, as the clock's
countdown counter was malfunctioning. I did think that just putting
up a 2017 sticker over the 2016 on the ticker at the top was a bit
tacky. Surely in a tourist spot, they make enough money to do it
properly?
The area had a lot of tourist things.
There were sculptures all over and a great big viewing tower of some
sort, the typical sort of tourist scene. Well done, I suppose, but
still kind of ho hum. But the trail getting there was really nice,
and it really started to show the east coast as beautiful. This was
a great leg to do.
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