Homigot: Land and Sea

Out latest adventure here in Korea was to Homigot, just outside of Pohang last Saturday. Homigot is the easternmost point in Korea and is famous for an enormous sculpture of a perched hand reaching out from the sea.

It was a long bus ride to the coast, even though it's technically just outside of the city we live in. First we had to walk to the main intercity bus terminal and take a bus about 40 minutes out of town. We passed POSCO, the airport, and Pohang's military base before the landscape turned quite rural. Then we transferred and caught another bus that wasn't even numbered, as it's the only bus that goes through the area. That bus turned and curved through the mountainside and the seaside, and finally dropped us off at an inconspicuous brick bus stop. We had arrived. It was just a short walk to the Homigot site, and it was packed!

Vendors were everywhere selling everything from stuffed animals and kites to balloons and cotton candy. Looking up in the sky, you could easily count twenty or thirty kites flying above.

As you can see in the background, there's the awesome hand sculpture called the Hands of Harmony. There are actually two sculptures: one on land and another in the sea, hence the hands. The one in the sea was by far the cooler one, but the land hand (tee hee) can be seen in the photo above. The hand sculpture in the sea is absolutely breathtaking! I mean, it's surreal because the detail is spot on, and the placement, in the sea, is eerie.

Lots of people were out with their families and friends, like these guys having a rock-throwing contest. I have to admit, I watched them throw rocks for far longer than I'd like to admit...

I actually also spotted one of my students on the coast, what a coincidence!? This is Eric and he is one of my afternoon students, meaning he has already attended the pre-kindergarten program and now attends our school as an extracurricular.

Here's a picture of some of the small shops set up on the coast selling drinks and food. You can get many things here, including blood sausage, ttokbokki, meat or fish patty skewers, hot dogs, etc.

Some of them, like this one, also sell fresh seafood and larvae. This woman was selling conch, snails, stewed larvae, and fresh steamed crab.

Rich and I went instead went for something more recognizable, and... deep fried: a french fry-covered corn dog. Oh yes, that wasn't a typo. It was kinda sickening after a few bites, but worth a shot.

The "dining area" for these little coast shops.

We easily spent all day out on the coast, and then headed back into town on the same country bus we took out. That night we went for some kimchi jjigae with a few friends and then had a quiet night in. Ahhh... What a great Saturday!