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Start
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Mt. Mireuk
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Miraesa Temple
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Haean-Nurigil
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Dala Observatory
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Chungmugimbap
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Hansando
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Myulchi Maeul Sikdang
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Dongpirang Village
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Jungang Market
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Finish
The cradle of Ssangyok Latte where you pay for curses - Cafe Ullabong 카페 울라봉
At the entrance to Dongpirang village in Tongyeong, there's a very special cafe called Cafe Ullabong where you get your beverage with curses on it if you want. At first it got famous among young people just because you get a curse, then people found their hilarious curses funny and it became really famous among young tourists these days.
It sounds ridiculous that you pay for curse, on the other hand, it is not so bad if it makes your trip funnier with their blunt curses. Recently, they have stopped writing curses on drink since the Korean ferry Sewol accident but they are likely to start it again when the spring ends.
The entrance looks like this. There's no noticeable sign but you could find it easily with that orange vehicle from a far distance because it is always parked there.
I guess they started another business because I could see that they lent bicycles to tourists.
Since it is too early to forget how the Sewol ferry accident was painful to all of us, there was a notice that says they do not sell Ssangyok Latte for a while in order to pray for the repose of the dead.
It says cold and hot drinks are available and tells us to stay calm and leave. 'Bongyeok Sonyeogamsung Jageukcafe(cafe stimulating a girl's sensitivity)' seems impressive.
There's a way to drink a free beverage at Ullabong. If you succeed in one of eight things, it's free! Try!
What should we drink...we ordered two cups of cafe latte that we could write something on it.
Foreign tourists are not an exception. After they got a cursed message, they were satisfied and even left the money hanging out on a clothesline.
There's a special event provided here that if you beat the owner at the rock-paper-scissors game, you are entitled to order one of junk food listed below. What if I lose? I was that case and didn't get it.
On one side of the walls, there were funny scribble sand mural (?) paintings. I remember the blackboard saying one person should order at least one drink.
Right, however you go, everyone is supposed to meet in the end and what do we struggle so hard for?
I asked them to give us nice comments since they stopped cursing temporarily due to Sewol accident. And I chose English to show you that you could ask them to make comments in English as well...
When you normally order Ssangyok latte, the owner writes down comments like this.
It says cursing is an exhausting job to do alone and they're hiring a new employee. If you have a talent in making coffee and cursing(?), why don't you donate your talent to Ullabong?
I don't think they write anything to insult people for no reason. I assure you that they make funny comments that they could share a laugh with customers so I hope you might as well take it easy and have a good laugh after a long walk in Dongpirang Mural Village. You could even ask for English so why don't you bring your foreign friends and give them a curse? :)
Address : 1st floor, 466, Taepyeong-dong, Tongyeong-si, Gyeongnam (경남 통영시 태평동 466 1층)
Telephone : 055-648-3824
Tongyeong Jungang Market where you could see how people live 중앙시장
After having a cup of coffee at Ullabong, my trip has almost come to an end. As a heaven of seafood, Tongyeong has so many seafood markets everywhere. Among them, Jungang Market located in Tongyeong port is well known to travelers as well as the people living in Tongyeong/Geojedo Island.
Tourists who have a car could buy the seafood and leave, but those who are backpacking or using public transportation, you could see how people from the beach live. Even when you bother them with cameras, nobody complains about it.
When you plan your trip with things to see or eat, you won't have anything to do with market unless you have something to buy there. But it is worth to watch fresh struggling fish just caught from the sea at least once.
The live fish market of Jungang Market starts to get crowded since 2 p.m. and literally they only sell living fish getting lined up. The fish here is you can never see in regular markets, nor on your dinner table, so it will be so fun to see unimaginably big fish here.
It is a live fish market so the place gets louder and lively because of merchants' voices to sell it when it's alive. They are trying to tell people so passionately but I found it funny to listen to their accent that I could not understand.
If you don't want to just sit and watch, you could bargain over the price but remember that the minimum price is 30,000 won. Once you are done with bargaining, they fillet raw fish right before your eyes and put it on a dish so that you could buy red chili-pepper paste with vinegar (sauce) and chopsticks at the entrance of the market and eat it on a bench close to the beach.
If you want to eat it comfortably, you could buy the raw fish and get in the 'Chojangjib' (3,000 won for 1 person) on the second floor of the building at the entrance of the market. Sitting on a comfortable chair with the great view of the sea, you could get more dishes including ssam vegetables and red chili-pepper paste with vinegar, and you could have a drink or meal with extra fee. When you buy raw fish, you shouldn't dump the fish heads and bones and take them to Chojangjib, then you will get maeuntang(8,000 won; spicy fish stew) soup as well, which is the cheapest and best way to eat raw fish in Tongyeong.
The first thing that Jungang Market is known for is cheerful live fish market followed by stockfish market. Stockfish is neatly packed for sales, which is perfect for gifts. If you came to Tongyeong, I strongly suggest you to buy these famous anchovies. I'm sure people they would love it once they know you got them in Tongyeong.
Leftover fish from live fish market could be dried up and sold like this. It's funny to see this high-tech instrument that automatically moves with a motor system on the top of three brooms to scare the flies away.
Jungang market is quite big to see because not only do they sell fish, but also they trade fresh vegetables.
While you look around the market with no break, you will notice you are hungry, then you could just buy a pack of traditional snacks that you could get only in conventional market.
There are famous restaurants here as well so you could eat something and rest for a while if your legs hurt.
The must-visit place in Tongyeong, Jungang market, is located at the entrance to Dongpirang village so it's very easy to find it and get there. If you rested enough watching beautiful sea, I hope you could visit Jungang market which makes you feel lively as it is.
Address : 7-1, Jungsangsijang 1-gil, Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (경상남도 통영시 중상시장1길 7-3)
Telephone : 055-649-5225
Finishing my travel journal…
Two days was apparently short time to take a look around Tongyeong. However, if you plan it right and reduce the travel distance, I'm sure you could visit more places more comfortably and pleasantly. I hope you would find my journal helpful even a little bit when you plan a two-day trip to Tongyeong, and I suggest the devastated souls, either a Korean or foreigner visiting Korea, to travel Tongyeong if you haven't decided where you should go. Have a pleasant trip, you all.
