Donghae, South Korea - July 2010

Donghae, South Korea – July 2010

Another USS John S. McCain port brought little me to a new location! I had traveled to South Korea last October. What an amazing country! When Josh told me they were going to be in port there I said I was in!

It was an adventure from the beginning because the ship was not in Seoul. They docked at in a port in Donghae, South Korea. Ever heard of Donghae? I hadn’t except for this past year of knowing Josh. The ticket was bought and I was on my way to this beautiful country!

I took the 2 hour flight to Seoul which was NO problem! After landing in South Korea and talking with my family via skype – I was off to the buses to buy a ticket and on my way to Josh on the east coast of South Korea. After a few hours, I finally made it to the east coast! I arrived at our hotel and Josh wasn’t there ☹ He had run to the store to get some drinks and snacks! Yay!

The next day we relaxed in our room and ate a very yummy breakfast. The hotel included a buffet breakfast of various Korean and Western foods. After relaxing and drinking coffee, we put on our swim clothes and headed for the beach! We enjoyed an Italian lunch over looking the ocean. We sat and talked for the longest time about everything. We were very entertained by the staff at the restaurant. This one guy in particular had a hilarious hair cut! We called him pumpkin head – this is one of those you had to be there moments! We thought it was hilarious and STILL refer to this guy!

After our very looooong lunch, we headed down to the beach where we found an open spot to lay down and relax. A strange thing we saw was that everyone was swimming in their clothes – I mean everyone…why? We have no idea! Ha ha! The only thing we concluded was the water was so cold but we went in anyway! We put our toes in and then went up to our towel to get ready to run into the water. We ran and I screamed because it was so cold! We had fun for a few minutes then it was enough! We could just enjoy from the sand ☺ We were laying and talking and then I saw someone…DANNY! Danny is a friend of Josh’s from another ship ☺ I said, “OMG. Is that Danny?” So we popped up and ran over to him!

After chatting with Danny, Josh and I enjoyed a beer over looking the beach. Josh ordered some chicken – it was delicious! We invited Danny over to talk with us. We chatted for a bit and then he went back to the group of guys he was with. We headed back to the hotel for showers and rest before heading out for the evening! Downtown Donghae is a WILD place – just kidding! It’s quite quiet! =) We went out for some drinks and had a blast playing a drinking game that we created on the spot. We were definitely a little tipsy. We talked until sunrise…

The next day was a very relaxing day. We ate at this DELICIOUS buffet. It was mainly Japanese food and a bit of Korean – yum! We enjoyed downtown Donghae and drank coffee and ate dessert.

In the evening, we went to this VERY neat placed called Candlestick Rock. We took a taxi to this area. We watched the sunset and took in the wonderful site! The ocean here was crystal clear with the rocks jutting out of the water – very picturesque! We then had help trying to get a taxi but no luck! However, through broken English…we were directed to the bus station ☺ We took a bus for a while until we felt like getting off the bus ☺ It was then off to the 2 KM long fish market! We walked around the saw all the fishermen and their fish, ☺ they tried to sell it to Josh and I but we were only interested in looking at it.

We found a locals restaurant and sat on the floor of this particular restaurant. We had no idea what to order, so I pointed to what our “neighbors” were having and we ate just that! It was a spicy fish stew. We had rice, kimchi, and other pickled vegetables! We also had soju – a sake type Korean drink! What a night this was! We headed back to the hotel after dinner and redeemed our drink tickets ☺ we drank beer in the lobby (we had free drinks every day but had not used them yet) and chatted for a while. I met a couple from Josh’s ship. Matt works on the ship and his wife Marcie was with him visiting. We met and were introduced and were able to travel together back to the Seoul.

The next morning, we took a cab to the port where the USS John S. McCain was. I said my good-byes to Josh and haven’t seen him since ☹ 44 more days and he will be home! I miss him but am so lucky to have been able to travel to South Korea to see him for 2 days!