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Published: June 17th 2012
Just as well I did not have Internet yesterday 16 June at the Motel If - otherwise I would have wasted my time having a grizzle when I was really tired after a very bad day of travel . However today 17 June, now at the Motel Coconuts a mere 10 minute walk from the aforementioned, I do have WiFi and am in a much better mood -- possibly helped by a few glasses of the rather nice Spanish red I bought in Seoul, but also a damned nice grilled shellfish dinner (more on that later of course).
16 June - well why did I have such a bad travel day yesterday? Well how does 3 1/2 fruitless hours sitting around the bus terminal waiting for a bus that despite schedule never seemed to arrive (twice)?? I had had a bit of a stroll around the central market in Buyeo after leaving my bag at the hotel and making general enquiries at the bus terminal about the times of buses. This was not helped by the lack of English there (not to mention my virtual total lack of Korean of course) and of course the timetable on the wall only
had the Korean characters for destinations. However virtually universally the actual bay where your bus pulls in has them in English/Korean on the signs above so at least you know where to stand or sit. (Must be the general government contribution to 2012 being international "visit Korea year" ? - the trains are the same).
My impression was that there was one at 1:45 PM, then one at 2:30 PM, them one at 5:05 PM. The last was (then) of only academic interest as I assumed that I would likely be on the 1.45 p.m. I went and had some lunch at my local 7-11 store - reheated in the microwave a mixed plate of rice, fiery kimchi, mysterious mini sausages and some other mysterious meaty stuff.
Despite the fact that two or three buses pulled up close to my bay, all of whom, when I asked whether they were going to Boryeong, indicated they were not. So it was a fairly boring time until 5 PM when I found out that the bus in front of me was actually going to Boryeong. I do not know what happened there but I am not that keen on it
happening again for obvious reasons. So much for the "hourly" indicated by the Lonely Planet.
The buses only go to Boryeong (maybe I was saying it wrong and should have said Daechon?) and then you have to get another local bus to Daecheon Beach, which was my ultimate destination. So by the time I got there and got the local bus I was arriving in the Las Vegas of Korea at 7 PM on a Saturday night without a booked hotel. Given the considerable number of motels there this may not have been a problem but I was a little late. I tried first the Motel If - room but no Internet, them for others that were full. So obviously back to the Motel If.
After that experience had a needed shower and went for a walk along the seafront promenade. There are basically seafood restaurants all the way along the part I walked and despite that fundamental difference (seafood), considering the beach as the Las Vegas of Korea does not seem too far off the mark.The beach here is about 2 km long and it was right then coming up for sunset as you will see from
Buyeo bus terminal
stand 2 alarmingly vacantthe photographs. Following the age-old principle of heading for the restaurant with the most people in I went into one in search of some grilled seafood. They basically all have those gas barbecues in the tabletop for doing a self cook of the shellfish etc. However given that prawns/shrimps done this way were 50,000Krw (call it $45!) which I thought was rather OTT, ordered instead grilled fish (merely 30,000Krw) - still expensive by Korean standards although I have not really eaten any seafood. The whole small fish was grilled out the back wrapped in foil and was actually quite nice. Okay it was Saturday night and the place was busy but it was almost self-service. If you wanted a paper cup you had to go and get it yourself, ditto paper towels. The boss seemed to be giving orders to his staff all the time and I don't think I would like to work for him. So that was not the best experience. Compare this to my later account of dinner tonight - 100% better!
There was a fairly solid local police presence on the seafront promenade with groups of 3 or 4 local cops with batons wandering along
etc. However this in no way matched the somewhat scary sight of pairs of apparently American guys packing sidearms and batons (pic attached). The girls on Sunday indicated that they would have been military police - they say they stay right away from US military areas as a result. There were actually quite a lot of Americans about, including blacks, but I did not really take them to be servicemen on leave but maybe they were (don't think they would have been English teachers!).
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Huddo
non-member comment
Buses and more.
Hi Mike, What a frustrating day at the bus stop you had. Good you found good accom, and walk along promenade. Serious Heat! indeed, police presence seemed out of kilter with most of what you have described so far, however that's life. Liked the mud-fest poster, and other snaps of food and fairy floss. Huddo.