The Newquay of Korea?

Ian and I took the bus to Gangneung on the east coast last Tuesday. It was a 3 hour journey from the Express Bus Terminal in Gangnam, and bus 202 links you nicely to the beach once you're there.

Shock 1: I've been know to turn a motel or two down in my time if they're ten thou or so over budget. I'd say 25-30,000 won has been a standard price for a double room, 40 if it was particularly swish. When the guy at the Komodo motel quoted ship-o-man-won I just couldn't comprehend it. I was so confused I actually got him to write it down. Yep, there it was: 150,000 won. We looked elsewhere.

All the big motels had the same story, if they weren't in fact booked out. I know it's peak season but to multiply prices by 5 is a little excessive. Even the little old lady with her no-aircon-no-natural-light box of a room was charging 70,000. We gave up the search in favour of lunch and the beach.

Now I'd say I've experienced a fair few beaches in my time here in Korea so far. There was the recent trip to Muuido where all the Koreans were conservatively swimming in t-shirts. There was Daecheon beach with the mud festival offering an alternative form of modesty. Phallic symbols overlooked the fishermen near Samcheok and the mass of bikinis in Busan was largely sported by westerners roasting on the sand. Being off the tourist trail but in search of some sea and sand I'd imagined a similar story. Hah!

Shock 2: Bikini babes were everywhere! Girls flaunting themselves in high heels, oversized sunglasses and little more than a tiny swimsuit were so predominant that did I not feel out of place because I was showing TOO much flesh, but not enough! Just didn't seem right for Korea.

We found the most secluded spot on this overly crowded beach that we could - which involved sitting next to the beach's bungee jumping stand - took a 15 minute dip in the less than clear waters, just in time for an attendant to come round at 6.30pm sharp whistling everyone out of the water.

Not planning on returning to the beach the next day we took a bus back home to Seoul instead. Traffic jams and a congested subway journey meant that we literally travelled for 8 hours for a 15 minute swim. Worth it? I wonder...