북부 해수욕장 [Bukbu Beach]

From July 29, 2012 Sunday 

 Woke up and wanted 라면 [ramyun / cup noodles] so went into the lounge and I see S.Korea got gold in shooting live! Sweet. 

 

 Here is the view from the other side of the lounge. Strange they call those dorms on the right with red tops, but they definitely faded to an orange...unless it was orange from the beginning. On the left is one of the Graduate Student apartments.

 Also connected to our lounge is this outdoor patio where girls put their clothes out to dry. 

 sigh. another ice cream... 

 Andy's money bag since he lost his wallet. 

 Going to 육거리 [6-way street] for our last dinner in 포항 [Pohang]. Passed by a tattoo shop. Hm. I think it is very taboo here still.

 the main street in 육거리 area

 After going from restaurant to restaurant, we finally settled on 부대찌게 [army-base stew] because I thought it would taste as good as the one I had in Coex (back in Seoul). Not bad I suppose considering we only paid 5000 or maybe 4000 each. 

Andy's coins

 

 Although I didn't like it very much, the guys sure did. 

Andy's coin bag is empty. He practically paid our bill with coins hahaha

 

 They had 박하사탕 [Bahka Candy] from Rooftop Prince! So I took a couple.

 Then we stopped by Artbox... I think this is my 3rd time here. 

 Andy messing around with the pillows and hat lol

 Ling's turn

 these are SO nice! I was so tempted into buying one! I think it's from 6000-7000won. I just might go back to Artbox in Seoul. ***SU!!! do you want one? and which? They are dry erase boards and thumb tack boards.

 book holders! Wow these are so cute

 I considered getting one of these as a reading light. 

 Ling wanted bubble tea.

 I got taro flavor; Ling got honeydew. 

 Missha Sale that Ling could not resist

 

 While we were in Missha, the boys went to the arcade. Ling is on a mission to find them.

 Success!

 DDR that I am not accustomed to.

 Andy and Adrian

 the front of the arcade

 Mindy's - where Andy was a bartender for a bit

 Then heading to Bukbu for one last time! The festival is still going on, and there was a DJ spinning when we got there. AND guess who we run into while there? Katie and Peter!!! hahaha What a small world.

 Finally! I'm really on the beach at Bukbu. We took off our shoes and hid them in the bushes.

 Then we pulled up a bunch of chairs out from the festival, and brought them toward the water. 

 A bunch of people were shooting fireworks. 

waves~~ 

 People camping out, right behind us. 

 Fireworks~ Some were actually really impressive, but my camera didn't catch them. :(

 "POS MOTEL" ... sound familiar? "POSco" "POStech" "POScall' "POScat"...

 Bye 13th floor~~~ where we had our English meetings almost half the time, and also the guy's floor. 

The stuff I bought @ Nature Republic. E vitamin spray, wash off packs, BB creams, BB primers.

포항국제불빛축제 [Pohang International Fireworks Festival]

From July 28, 2012 Saturday 

Went out with Ling, Katie, Peter, Andy, Michael, and Adrian to the annual Pohang International Fireworks Festival. We left around 8pm to HyeongSan River Sports Park because we heard the show would start at 8 45...right. I suppose running on "Korean" time, that's means the show will start at 9pm.

We first got on bus 105, and then got off at the stop before 사 거리 [4 way street] to transfer and get on another bus. Sadly, Andy realized that his wallet had gone missing...that had his IDs, credit cards, $$$, and even his key to his apt! He believes he left it on the bus. There was little that we could do at that point, so we continued on our way to the festival. 

The bus that we were waiting came, but it was PACKED. So it didn't even stop for us... so we had to get on another bus that goes to the area, albeit it takes a bit longer. I think it was bus 107? 

Then we got off, forgot the name of the stop, and followed the crowd to the park by the riverside.The fireworks were extravagant to say the least! Dare I say it, the festival's fireworks were better than Washington DC's 4th of July fireworks. They were having a contest between Poland, China, and Italy. South Korea also had a showcase also, although their's was not an entry in the competition.The prize wasn't very good though... I think like $500 for 2nd place? Not sure what was 1st place prize, but I doubt it was much more. Italy won and Poland came in 2nd. hahaha Ling got so much crap that night with all the China jokes being thrown. 

*BTW my phone died from taking so many videos of the fireworks :( it was low to begin with... so after this point is when I started taking a bunch of pictures with Ling's camera.

 finally trying a Korean Burger King! it's conveniently located in Jigok Community Center

 this is a 불고기 [bulgogi] burger for less than 3000won

 then got 팥빙수 with Katie

 I think this one is better than the 과일 팥빙수 they have

 I guess the convenience store inside Jigok is restocking

 sign found at the main entrance to POSTECH

 Andy climbing a tree...right next to a major street. NBD. He's just looking to see if our bus is coming.

 a 짐찔방 we passed on our way to the park. the picture of the guy is so weird. How is that attractive?

So many people. even more people over the staircase

 the lights are where POSCO is. the fireworks also seemed to come from that shore

 mini performances / where people can go up to sing songs

where the food / other stands are

our group

magic show

carnival style games

whole pig

white and red wine from Homeplus lol courtesy of Andy and Michael

 Andy in action

We were hungry after the fireworks, so we headed over to the food stalls, etc that were set up on one side of the park. After walking about a bit, we decided on sitting by the riverside and ordering some 해물파전 and got out our wine while we were at it. Problem was... we didn't have a cork opener -.- Thought the food shop would have it, but nope! So Andy tried to open it with his hands / doing crazy stuff with it. Then, one of the shop owners came over and put a nail in it and tried to pull the nail out with a pair of pliers. LOL

 

Oh, when we left... turns out we forgot to pay! Wow! So the lady tracked us down, and we immediately payed, feeling terrible. 

 

Then decided to try to go to walk to Bukbu beach, thinking that it would be a 30 minute walk. How wrong we were...an hour later, we still hadn't found it. So we went into a cafe instead and chilled there for a bit before heading out again in search of Bukbu.

a puppy at the festival! someone brought the puppy along for a walk ^^

 interesting statue

 

 oh! what is this we see? a table and chairs in the middle of the ocean! haha we must venture there to see what this is all about

 

 success!

 

my 팥빙수 @ cafe olens

 

 

 such a nice cozy room!

 

We ended up wandering onto factory grounds because we kept walking on that ledge that Ling is standing on. There was actually a roadblock that said to go another way, but ....damn that ledge -.- We just continued to walk on it in the direction of Bukbu beach. 

Alas! We could see Bukbu right there with all its glorious neon lights! It was right in front of our eyes.... but we were at a dead end, cut off by a river -.- fck. It was so scary to go through the deserted factory (we hadn't quite realized it until we were half way through) and now we had to go back?! It didn't help that some people were talking about horror movies and a random car came in as if it was looking for us...(there was a CCTV camera that we had passed). 

Anyway, we got to a point where a bunch of us were like - fuck it, let's go home. So everybody except Andy and Michael took a cab back to RC. Turns out, we were just 10 or 15 minutes away (walking) from Bukbu from where we had left them. Darn.