My self-proclaimed “special friend” (she feels ‘friend’ just doesn’t do her justice), Cassie and I, spent this past weekend at an Auto Camping & Caravan Park on the beach at Mangsang in Donghae city. It seems to me as though my free time goes from great to magnificent and doesn’t stop there.. this has to be one of the best weekends I’ve had in Korea (and yes, I do realise that I’ve said that before; though such is the nature of spontaneous exploration).
I arrived into Mukho train station on an overcast Thursday evening and met up with Cassie, we caught a cab to the beach and found our caravan. The caravan was a four sleeper with a shower, stove, a large window looking directly at Japan (~520km away), and hidden crevices absolutely everywhere, oh and most importantly: it was a mere two meters from the sand! After settling in and establishing some house rules, we went outside and for the first time ever I dipped my feet into the Sea of Japan, or otherwise known in Korea as the East Sea (avoid making that mistake in front of a Korean.. it’s not pretty!). Needless to say the water was freezing, although at the same time it was incredibly tantalizing.. there’s just something about a beach, or the sea, that has the ability to relax and enthrall at the same time; I could not believe how good it felt just playing in the sand and inhaling the salty air!
After the euphoria had subsided a little, we went back inside and looked for something to settle that sea-induced hunger which always ensues prolonged periods of beach time. Luckily we had bought a pizza in town before going to the beach and had the leftovers to tie us over. Then after pizza and a few beers I was cradled into a trance-like sleep by the endless sound of rolling waves crashing over and over and over again.
Friday dawned slightly cloudy, as I discovered after being woken by Cassie at 5am to see the sunrise, and it only got worse. It was overcast all day and the temperature was dropping, definitely one of the worse things to happen whilst on a beach. We didn’t let that darken our spirits though. We went and explored the huge campsite, peeking into a few Koreans’ tents to smell what’s cooking or to check out their set-up and then caught a bus down into Donghae Fish Market. Cassie had had these delicious crabs that she could not stop thinking about ever since, so she was determined to cook some that evening.. however it was not to be.
The scene at the fish market was hectic (see: http://krazedkorean.blogspot.com/2008/11/5-men-cook-ha.html for fish market pictures). We asked for six crabs, and she pulled them out of the water, all wriggling and angry but then she kept piling more and more onto it. I said I’d only like six and she said something about 12 or 15. I got the impression that they only sold them in dozens so I asked how much that would be.. a cool 100,000won. After unabashedly accepting defeat, we headed out discouraged and dismayed.. we did what foreigners here typically do: headed to the nearest Family Mart and downed a couple of Corona’s. Walking down a random street we saw an open air market.. we thought we’d have a quick look before deciding the dinner menu.. that led to us buying a kilo of clams (5,000 won) and a random fish (3,000 won) I thought looked cool. Unexpectedly light-hearted, we went off to the nearest and largest grocery store (E-Mart) and bought things to compliment our newly acquired main meals.
I had never cooked clams before so when Cassie placed a clam spaghetti dish in front of me, I was more than a little hesitant.. she was American after all. Parsley, garlic, and white wine steamed the clams’; then al dente spaghetti was stirred through and topped with a splash of olive oil.. all accompanied by a slightly fruity-sweet white wine. Delicious.. the word just doesn’t do it justice. Thinking back now it doesn’t seem all that complicated, and it really wasn’t, but the freshness of the clams was what made the dish come to life! I felt like I should cook something that would allow us to taste the fish itself, so for my entry I pan-fried the fresh fish in a tasty olive oil and seasoned it with a bit of salt. I made a quick dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and a tonne of parsley and ladled it over the cooked fish. All in all we had a splendid meal costing a total of about $AU20..
Saturday didn’t dawn. It covered the oh-so perfect scenery with a miserable cold and gray filter. Inevitably we didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere, but there’s only so much Rummy one can play. So after a mushroom, onion, and cheese omelet for breakfast we were off to walk along the ‘boardwalk’. We found a few places that rented out ATV’s, so we got a couple and went scooting down the beach on them.. it was SO much fun!
After half an hour of that we went and had a coffee to stop everything bouncing around so much, and then found a 김밥 (Kimbap, like a California roll) place and had a light lunch. We then decided that we liked cooking so much that we should go back and get some more seafood.. I mean who knows how long it’d be till we got to have seafood THAT fresh again! So I handed my 5,000 won to the lady and she remembered us to she gave us half a kilo extra and called it “service”. Cassie bought a kilo of prawns. I was impressed by her clam idea that I got to thinking how I would prepare them. I decided that I’d brown some garlic and ginger in oil and throw in some string mushrooms. When they became aromatic I poured in some soy sauce and soju and then put in the clams and steamed away. They turned out great! So we made that the appetizer and then Cassie made her spaghetti but this time with prawns.. It tasted great and the prawns just melted in my mouth, though I still think I preferred the clam pasta. Then we got blind drunk and went to sleep.
Sunday morning and the rain had stopped. The clouds had begun to thin. The first true sunshine came at precisely 12:09. I recall the time because I remember telling Cassie that it seems like something God would do. Check-out was at noon. I travelled two hours to get back home, and Cassie four and half. Pictures are on Cassie’s camera so keep checking for the updated version..
All in all this weekend was exceedingly nice-uh!
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