Holiday Journal

• Start
•  
• Jeongdongjin
•  
• Snow Crab Festival
•  
• Hupo Port
•  
• Finish

Venice Pension at Hupo Port(http://www.venicesea.co.kr/)

There are only two pensions within 3 minute range from Hupo Port and one of them is Venice Pension where we stayed. The room was duplex type so more than 10 people could sleep on the second floor. I was told that the pension was well-built with a view over the sea but the Uljin-gun yachting association building was built right in front of it that blocks the view. I said it must suck and he said it does but he has to cooperate with the district office, plus he is happy about students staying here when they come here to get yacht training. I guess leading a positive life is one of the key virtues to live a happy life like him.

It costs 130,000 won on the weekends but there was one room left so I could relax my exhausting body in a room that I paid 100,000 won. I could check out the room myself and got a discount so it's a charm of on-site ticketing, which was better than online ticketing this time.

The room was duplex type so there are stairs to the second floor. It looks perfect for a team of students. On the second floor, there was nothing but the floor where people can sleep on.

A seagull came to the port attracted by the smell of fish and it couldn't easily leave.

He was unloading the snow crabs he caught that day.

Someone was dickering even before he moved the crabs to the truck.

Thanks to those fishermen who seemingly forgot the time until the end of day when the sun sets at the port, we could put snow crabs on our table and enjoy them.

The seagull didn't leave the ship YET because it couldn't give up on snow crabs.

Kids with their parents had such much curiosity in their eyes. I could feel their mothers' love from the way they wear mufflers.

Oh, this must be the filming site of popular TV program these days titled .

Even the streetlamps are snow crab-shaped at Hupo Port. It is a hometown of snow crab after all.

This is Gwamegi(half-dried herring or billfish) made of herring. I wanted to buy a string of herrings but it was too many so I had to give up. Gwamegi used to be made of herring but since it got harder to catch, they started to use pacific saury instead.

I paid 10 thousand won for 5 half-dried soles. It tastes real good if you fry it a bit and put some soy sauce on it.

An old lady was selling them and her son seemingly wants to help her.

I saw a tough life of any Korean mother who's lived for her family and children from an old lady waiting for customers in such a cold weather.

And this is a street stall selling red snow crabs in the least popular area at Hupo Port. I wish she sells them all and has her dinner relaxed.

This is the snow crab street. The lady who picks up crabs was wearing a think make-up just like a red crab. haha

Fresh snow crabs attracted tourists' eyes.

I wanted to take a picture of red snow crab hat and I got caught. lol

After you buy snow crabs here and wait for them in the restaurant, they will bring you the steamed snow crabs.

I felt like the whole street was being steamed to see all that vapors and scents.

It's a snow crap village but in one corner of the alley, there was a fish market where you can buy fresh raw fish. Many of them said it's good to take a look around this fish market while the restaurant prepares the meal, buy raw fish or raw squids and eat them with the crabs.

Even if they live here, they won't be eating this everyday right? A Chinese restaurant was there where the local people could eat Jjajangmyeon from time to time as a special menu.

This is Wonjomaeul restaurant that specializes in steaming Uljin snow crab. The captain said this restaurant catches and sells snow crabs by themselves so I assumed they would cheaper and fresher and decided to try.

This restaurant has another branch because there are so many customers and customers give an order at a restaurant in front and wait for the food here.

This is 80,000 won worth Uljin snow crab and 20,000 won worth red snow crab steamed and cut already when they were served. So we wanted to fill our stomach 70% with snow crabs and the rest with crab shell bibimbap and Daegae Guksu(noodles with snow crap).

The taste of Uljin snow crap was in deed different from red snow crap.

If you eat it separately, both tasted better than a King Crab or lobster from the West but compared to Uljin snow crab which has luxurious taste and almost melts in mouth, red snow crab had less flavors.

Uljin snow crab was worth all the troubles that I had to go through instead of sleeping.

In order to embrace the best snow crab, we had white wine with it. We chose Mariage from Chablis region in France that goes well with snow crab.

It had more various vegetables than the snow crab noodles we had for lunch. One bowl of noodles was 12,000 won, which is 2,000 won more expensive than the lunch menu, but I say it's worth it.

Daegaebap costs 2,000 won for one bowl.

When we eat steamed snow crabs at home, it tastes so good to mix intestines, liquids inside the crab, sesame oil and ground sesame mixed with salt, but this one was so dry 'cause there's no liquid inside the crab. This is kind of common recipe in every restaurant but I don't know where the intestines and liquid did go.

This is Daegaetang(snow crab stew) served for free. You could try it with Daegae Bibimguksu(spicy noodles with snow crabs) or Daegaebap(snow crap rice) but it didn't taste so good.

On our way back to Seoul, Okgye expressway rest area showed up to the right 20 minutes before we arrived at Gangreung. We were attracted by its ad phrase that it has a view over the ocean so we decided to have breakfast.

We ordered one curried rice, one Udon and one Ramen. They all sucked. You can see Ramen and Udon don't have any welsh onions in them. Curried rice did not have enough sauce so I asked for more and they said it's instant curry so they didn't have anything to give me. So it would be the top of my worst food list that I've ever tasted. What should I say about this expressway rest area where I should pay 6,000 won for one bowl of rice with instant curry sauce heated in microwave? What should I do with too much cooked Ramen noodles with no extra welsh onions? It was terrible compared to Munmak expressway rest area we dropped by on our way to Uljin. This kind of rest area demeans others selling proper food at reasonable prices. Okgye expressway rest area it is.

Hupo Port is 373km away from Seoul which takes 5 hours by car. It's too far for a two-day trip. But if you're adding destinations such as Jeongdongjin or Chotdaebawi Rock in Chuam, I say it's quite a good plan. Especially for gourmets who put food as a priority during the trip, Uljin, Yeongdeok and Pohang would be very attractive tourist attractions in February and March when the snow crab festivals are held.