Samcheok 1: Feels like Home

Last weekend with friends Julie and Olivia in tow, we left the concrete jungle that is Seoul and headed east towards the East Sea (Donghae, 동해) to a little slice of heaven called Samcheok (삼척).

Me and Julie in our couple seats...

Poor Olivia in the nice and spacious solo seat

The bus ride was supposed to take something like 3 hours to get Samcheok. In reality, it took 4 hours, in which the 3 of us alternately ate, slept, and stared out of the window.

But when we arrived at Samcheok, this is what awaited us <3

The first meal of the day, a fish soup called Gomchigook (곰치국)-- 곰치 is a kind of fish and 국 is soup. I adore seafood and since we were right by the ocean I thought this soup had to be delicious. Like, there would be some sort of heinous injustice if it turned out to be anything other than tasty.

Turns out that there both that fish and that soup suffered a cosmic injustice. That fish because it was just unfortunately ugly. That soup because the texture of the fish was something akin to jelly--and I could not for the life of me appreciate it.

We spent the rest of the day along the strip of beach, played in the waves, played soccer/volleyball with a kid's abandoned ball, and ate snacks while drinking makgeolli (막걸리)--korean rice wine.

I love you Samcheok, I really do.

When we stood out on the shoreline, my friend olivia turned to me and said, "you stare at the ocean like its full of memories." I am, at heart, a girl raised by the sea.