Trip to Gangneung

For my three day weekend at the end of May, I went with a few friends to the east coast of Korea. We went to a beach city called Gangneung. Good luck pronouncing it... I get corrected by Koreans every time I try to say it. We spent a day at the beach. The next next day, we went to see a North Korean sub that was captured in 1996. Also, there was a US Navy ship that had been given to South Korea as a gift. It was a very interesting, very eerie experience. The guard towers along the road with soldiers carrying huge guns didn't help make it any less eerie!

Guard tower.... soldiers were ready with guns.

The sub.

Amanda and me about to enter the sub.

The submarine was very small. 25 North Koreans were in it. The sub got stuck in my rocks when they were trying to go back to North Korea and this is when they were captured. Their mission was to spy on the naval installations in the area and then return. Once the sub was stuck, the crew then decided to destroy the everything in the submarine by burning it and try to make it to the DMZ. The crew split up in several groups but one was soon spotted by a civilian who became suspicious and alerted the authorities. The sub still smelled like fire inside.

Next, we got to tour a navy war ship.

Just relaxing on my post on the Navy ship.

At the controls.

On board barber shop.

Not really my kind of bathroom.

I'm going to shoot some enemies!

On board doctor's office.

Beware of those snppery floors!

There was also a very small homemade boat that 11 North Koreans used to escape to the south.

It was quite small.

This is my Titanic pose.. but seriously, this is a very real situation. People try to take refuge in the south, escaping the tough situation in the north.

tally ho!

The beach.

The lake near the beach.

yay for sparklers!

Thank you to Mike H. for taking these pictures!

Robin's Pizza!!!!! it was good too!!

Well, it was good, except we ordered a salad with our pizza and this is what we got..... corn, tortilla chips, mashed pumpkin, mashed potato, canned peaches, bananas, slivered almonds, and a very small bit of salad there in the front.Not quite the salad I was expecting.