Have Fun Stormin The Castle - Maemiseong, Geoje

Instead of a temple, this time I chose to drag the family to a castle. 먜미성 Maemiseong, or Maemi Castle, is located next to the ocean in Geoje. Parking is up top with a short walk down to the site.

From this point you can see the Geoja Bridge, which connects Geoje with Busan.

Maemi Castle suddenly appears around the bend.

Maemiseong is sometimes called the Castle On The Sea.

The castle isn't actually a castle at all. The name maemi translates to cicada in English, as in the insect. However, the site is named after the 'typoon' Maemi that wreaked havoc in 2003, causing considerable damage to vegetation, crops and structures on Geoje Island. A man named 백순삼 Baek Soon-sam farmed this land by the sea in 대대동 Daedae-dong and decided he could do something to prevent future typoon damage to his farmland and the community. It took Baek Soon-Sam more than 10 years to build the structure.

Just this one man created his castle without a single blueprint. He had no prior experience, he just designed as he went, using medieval castles as his inspiration. He started with concrete bricks. Not being aesthetically pleasing, he replaced the concrete with granite bricks. That did the trick, as this is now a popular tourist destination.

The Castle By The Sea spans 110 meters across and stands 9 meters high.

Baek Soon-sam's castle is currently a must-visit for Insta worthy pics with both locals and visitors. According to Geoje City, the castle had about 400,000 visitors in 2019. The city has since invested money to improve road conditions and parking in the area. Many coffee shops, food vendors and trinket shops have opened nearby. What started as an effort by Mr. Baek to save the neighborhood crops, buildings and people from future storms has ended up bringing big economic growth to the area.

After pictures up top, we went down to 몽둘mongdul beach, which means pebble beach. I would call these rocks instead of pebbles, but potayto-potahto.

We climbed the rocks near the shores and found little tidal pools.

This is sometimes also called Maemi Fortress; from down on the beach, it looks like a big fortress. The top is open and it isn't really a building at all, as you can tell from the first pictures. But it creates beautiful photos, and I guess it's doing its job for protection against storms. 

Here are some of the vegetables on the short walk up. Look how big those leaves are. This is exactly what Mr. Beak was trying to preserve. Well done, buddy.

[October 10]

Material Girls - Daegu

Girls trip! 

This girls trip was the mommies and the daughters. Linda, Lotte and I took Susie, Astrid and Daisy on a shopping trip to Daegu for the day. Daegu is the 4th largest city in South Korea, with over 2.5 million residents in the metropolitan area. It is a couple hours away from Sacheon. 

We started with lunch at No Brand Burger. No Brand is a generic brand that has a lot of items at the grocery store, including food and other goods. They have several products that I buy. Last summer I first saw the burger chain and have wanted to try it since. Look at the slogan: 

Why pay more? It's good enough. 😂

At one point I tried to enter a parking garage that cork-screwed down to the basement. My big ole van was too big to make the turn and I got stuck for a hot minute. I nearly cried. Thankfully Linda got out and was able to help me maneuver out of that persnickety situation without side-swiping anything. (Yes, that has happened to me here. More than once. 😱  In my defense, the streets are very tiny and my van is very big.)

Big cities have Western stores that we are accustomed to shopping at. Consequently, we pretty much only purchase new clothes when we make specific trips to go shopping. These trips do not happen that often. Therefore, were busy shopping all day. 

We first went to Lotte Outlet Esiapolis. We ended with 동성노 Dongseongno Street. It was quite the hot spot.

At the end oft the day we found some time for pictures.

Next time I want to ride the ferris wheel that on top of that building.

We passed the litmus test for fun. One of the girls realized her phone was missing when we sat down for dinner at the end of the day. After backtracking all of our steps, she realized it was still in the car...from several hours before. When a teen spends several hours away from her phone without missing it, you know a good time was had by all. 😊  

[October 9]

Welcome to the Jungle - Geoje Jungle Dome

 Geoje opened its door to Korea's largest dome glass botanical garden a year and a half ago, so we decided we should visit. But first: lunch at the Pine A Plus in Bangha Village. The owner has farmed pineapples in the area for years and is fulfilling his dream of opening a pineapple-themed restaurant. 

Apparently it is in much demand for young Koreans. 

We hipster so hard!

The Geoje Jungle Dome first opened its doors in 2019, so it's relatively new.

The Jungle Dome looks like half an egg cut lengthwise, constructed of 7500 triangular pieces of glass.

Kate, Lotte, Linda, Trish

 

The Jungle Dome was inspired from Disney's Jungle Book. 

 The dome is 30m high and 4468 square meters. Inside are escalators, an observatory, a skywalk and a waterfall.

Isn't this an odd little photo op? 

However, as odd as it seems, it is not Linda and my first rodeo with taking a picture together in a nest.

            Cheep! Cheep! 

The Jungle Dome is home to over 300 different kinds of tropical plants, with a total of 10,000 total plants. 

There were a couple Rock Gardens, where plants grew on the rocks.

The waterfall is 10m high.

The picture didn't capture it, but this was a starry sky.

The cave allows you to view the waterfall from the inside out.

We were looking down at the Rock Garden in the water below the waterfall.

These were roots hanging from the top of the rock 'cliffs.'

Double trouble, and then some.

These plants look like they could be underwater coral plants to me.

This little plant was budding from a rock.

Lotte said in Denmark these plants are called Mother-in-law Tongues.

For the record, my mother-in-law's tongue is much more soft and smooth, like this plant. 💜

There are several types of fruit trees, including coconut, palm, mango, guava, banana.

The roots were totally growing around the tree.

Seokbujak is a work that harmonizes plants and natural stones. These living stone pillars are covered with various plants in which "the appearance makes us feel the depth of time and the length of life."

The mist created from the waterfall eludes to a feeling of mystery among the stone pillars.

I have come to love red spider lilies. I found a green-tinge spider lily inside the Jungle Dome. The scientific name of hymenocallis means a plant with a beautiful membrane, and the plaque claimed that it is referred to as the rose of Sharon in the bible. It is a member of the daffodil family and is native to the West Indies and the Carribbean.

The Hobbit Garden is a site where the "guardian 'triant' (tree + giant) spread the seeds of life." The fisherman, carpenter and farmer enjoy small happiness here.

You can view of the dome from atop the coffee shop. Hardly a surprise that we made our way to the coffee shop before we left.

[October 8]