Visitors Part Deux

The continuing adventures of Alex and Linda in Korea (see here for the first instalment).

Hassla Art Park & Hotel

Down the coast from Gangneung lies Jeongdongjin, home of Tongil Park and the Sun Cruise Hotel. It's a pretty mad place all in all, so your hotel has to be at least a little distinctive to compete with the Sun Cruise. One that tries (but really gets nowhere near the concept of plonking a bloody massive cruise ship on a cliff) is the Hassla Art Park and Hotel. It's an impressive building constructed of steel and coloured glass, and looks rather like where Paul Klee might stay were he to come here.

The Art Park in the grounds is actually a little disappointing, with the artwork being somewhat sparse, but it does afford some great views of the east coast of Korea, and there are at least some fun pieces of art there. Here's what we managed to see:

The hotel itself.

"Ooooooh puppy puppy puppy!"

"Art"

Actually not the gayest photo ever taken of me, but close.

Tree seemingly constructed of decommissioned tinsel.

I was really struggling to hold this up...

...but this guy did it with the power of his mind.

"This artwork is sh*t."

Tunnels

Tree

This was pretty cool, though I think it would have been better with matching bikes.

I honestly tried so hard not to.

A weird, handlebar-less, painted bicycle, just leaning up on a bench (and Linda).

Giant headless chicken.

Smaller chicken (with head).

After the park we went for lunch at the hotel restaurant. This was a slightly disappointing affair, for me at least, when my steak appeared to be pieces of reconstituted beef tied together with a piece of bacon. The fact that it was all covered in a fairly nasty brown sauce didn't help either. So, poor marks for the food, but top marks for the service, as having failed to find us a taxi, the guy at the hotel desk took it upon himself to drive us down to Jeongdongjin in his own car. Top stuff. The hotel also scores bonus points for having the coolest toilet I have ever used. The outside looked like a giant silver rocket ship, and the inside looked somewhat like I imagine the VIP area of the viper rooms might look like. Here are a couple of photos:

I could have spent a lot of time in here.

Jeondongjin Beach and Hourglass Park

After the hotel we popped down for a bit of beach time. It was a beautiful day but the sea was still foot-numbingly cold. We settled for just paddling (or wading if you're weird). There's not much to write about here, so I'll just leave you with some cutesy photos.

Hi there.

Ew.

Eugh.

Oh goodness.

Then we wandered down the beach to what is supposedly one of the most romantic locations in Korea. The (somewhat inevitably named) Samsung Hourglass Park is exactly what it says - a giant hourglass through which the sand takes exactly a year to pour. It's always popular due to being used in one of the Korean dramas popular both here and in Japan. New Year's Eve here is supposed to be amazing. I might even go this year.

We probably should have got someone to take one of us together. Ho hum.

In the interests of keeping everything manageable I'm going to have another break here. I hope you're enjoying it so far. Part 3 will feature sheep-feeding and the most amazing dress I have ever seen.

A