After spending the beginning of the week in JinJu City, Bonnie and I kidnapped Rohanna for an excursion to the beach. We hit the road on a bus for Nam Hae Island which is on the southern coast, just about an hour from JinJu. From here we took a taxi to the cute little community of SangJu Beach. This is the same place where we celebrated by birthday exactly 2 years ago. The whole Cahurphy clan had been there just a few weeks ago on a hot weekend in May.
We checked into a little motel room with a balcony that looked directly out over the pines that lined the beach. Within minutes of arriving we were beach-clad and scampering towards the surf. There weren't very many people around, just a handful of foreigners, a few other families and some teenagers playing soccer in the sand. Rohanna happily came quite far out into the water with me, to my utter delight. It had been such a long time since I had been swimming in the ocean (Hong Kong just doesn't seem to count!) and I was as happy as a fish. Anyone who knows me well, knows my favorite place on Earth is in the ocean. I still have such cherished memories of growing up in Jamaica and being an island kid. When summer begins, no matter where I am in the world, little things will often remind me of times spent playing on the golden beaches of MoBay, sailing and being out on the turquoise water listening to roots reggae like Bob Marley and the blazing Caribbean sunshine.
We played for a while in the evening sun until Rohanna's lips turned purple and then we lured her back to the hotel with promises of a bubble bath! Big bath tubs aren't very common in South Korea (in Asia, for that matter), so this really was a treat. So much so, that I didn't want to miss out on the fun as well.
After an exciting day we found a little restaurant to enjoy my absolute summer favorite, naengmyeon, Korean cold buckwheat noodles served in a bowl of ice with slices of pear, cucumber, toasted sesame seeds, vinegar and hot mustard. Yummmmmy!
An early night to bed and and early morning to rise (5:30 for Rohanna and Abba!), but unfortunately the sun didn't rise to a clear sky as we had hoped. There were low clouds hanging heavy with potential rain and a cooler breeze along the beach. At 8 o'clock Rohanna and Abba forced me out of my slumber and we headed to the beach anyways. We played for a while, until we realized that the grey weather wasn't going to change, and then we packed up and headed home to JinJu.
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