beach delirium

plastic bag (lower right) signifies "safe-swimming day" in korea's east sea, as it means that all sea life in the area have choked to death on them and the sea is now free for us marauding humans to enjoy

after the night of futbol madness, we decided the next day frolicking on the beach was a great idea to tame the toxins. korea's beaches around gangneung are generally pretty clean and the water famously clear, but the beach culture much different from what most of us non-koreans are used to: those of us not from korea aren't generally accustomed to seeing people standing next to the water in a business suit or high heels, or swimming in jeans and a sweater, or afraid to go out into the surf deeper than waist level.

near our house in gangneung, i must say, we are lucky in that there is a choice of beaches from which we locals have a bevy to choose. most out-of-town koreans and other tourists to the area only know of gyungpo beach and its crowds, high prices, clogged traffic, and other general riffraff. however, us locals know about such beaches just mere kilometers to the south--such as gangmoon, anmok, and namhang beaches--where people can swim freely, fish without worrying about hooking a tourist, eat and drink better for less money, and, in general, not have to deal with the pains of throngs of tourists.

our adventure on this day, as most days in which we hang at the beach, happened at anmok beach...