-
Start
-
Sogongwon
-
Seorak Mountain
-
Sinhungsa
-
Heundeulbawi
-
Ulsanbawi
-
Sunrise Park
-
Naksansa-1
-
Naksansa-2
-
Naksansa-3
-
Baked Fish
-
Jungang Market
-
Tourist Hotel
-
Gaetbae(ferry) Quay
-
Abai Village
-
Sindasin Restaurant
-
Lighthouse Observatory
-
ports
-
Beach
-
Cheongchoho Lake
-
Finish
Sokcho Beach – Beach Nature Museum
During the trip for two days, we walked around beaches in Sokcho but we missed one very important beach.
That is 「Sokcho Beach」, famous for good order, and that used to be the only beach in Sokcho one time.
Sokcho Beach that is within 500m area from Sokcho Express Bus Terminal is a very long beach as big as 29,752m2 with nice sands.
Back of the beach, there's a pine forest seemingly surrounding the beach so it's loved as a resting place for local people as well as famous as a beach.
But it's a beach after all, so it got more famous for clean beach rather than pine forest. There stood a funny-looking dolphin statue in the middle of the beach that appears in the front sea of Yangyang and Sokcho.
This kid was having a nice time, more into this statue rather than blue sea or white beach, getting in and out of the small hole of the statue on a picnic with family.
The beach was washed ashore and covered with very fine sands. This is a view of east sea remembered in our memory, don't you think?
Sokcho Beach fulfilled our expectations and was open to us. As we were sitting on the beach opening our ears to the sound of waves, our shadows sadly got taller as the sun was setting earlier in autumn.
To the left of the beach, there's a long path to the ocean. This is the way to 「Sanho & Sarang (Coral & Love)」 where the couples drop by who visited Sokcho Beach.
I liked the last phrase written on the heart-shaped sign. “A promise made here will last forever until the sun stops shining and the water dries up, so make a new promise." It means a couple makes a vow here their love will go on forever.
Maybe that's why. The heart-shaped green leaf was so popular among couples even in this cold weather.
A coral stone bench was also popular for photos. It seems perfect for a couple. The sea breeze was getting cold already. Probably we are not patient enough to fight against sea breeze just to take a picture.
The waves were hitting the breakwater harder and higher. The last destination on this trip. I don't know when I'm going to see this ease sea again so we looked around the place and tried to remember that moment.
On our way back, we saw a building that seems like the whole walls are built with bricks. 'Is that a motel?' I wondered. But as I took a closer look, it says 「Sokcho Beach Nature Museum」.
Moreover, the walls that seemingly made of bricks were just clamshells. Wow… How many of them are used to cover this whole building…
On the second floor, various rocks were prepared and on the third floor, there's a variety of animals and seafood. Through the stairs we headed to the second floor first that is full of different kinds of rocks decorated as a cave with marbles.
We found out later but the admission fee was free. There was no one at the info desk so we just barged in and decided to take a look around.
There were different kinds of stones and jewels were displayed with strange names including rocks that look like salt, shiny stones and crystals.
They don't seem to be collected in Korea. Plus, most of them were kept inside the glass but some of big rocks were hung on the walls so you could look at them closely.
Of course you cannot touch anything as indicated on the sign. These rocks are very breakable so you shouldn't touch them, just watch them closely.
In the middle of various rocks, what attracted me were fossils. Turtle fosil remained almost the same as original and there was even a dinosaur fossil that we can't see in modern days.
We went inside further and there were dinosaur bones, not just fossils. I don't know if they're real or not but I had to take a closer look because I never imagined that I would see these.
Should I say it's a brother of trumpet shell or snail? I could see strong groove marks of big shells on ammonite fossil that is never missed out when discussing fossils.
While we were watching fossils and stones of different colors, I found one that I liked the most. It's called 'Donseok(Pig Stone)' that looks like sliced pork, Samgyupsal. It matches Samgyupsal mores than 90%!!
The stones processed in different shaped were more worth seeing. Not to mention Samgyupsal shaped stones, there were stones of sausage shape and the most shocking one was of pig's feet shape. They looked exactly the same as pig's feet making me wonder “these stones' can't be true."
While there was a pig stone made by nature, in one corner there were processed jades made by humans on sale but there was no seller or a customer at the booth, how free spirited!
After we took around the stones, we headed up to the third floor. On the walls, there's a head of an animal that looks like a reindeer and sea turtle looking down. The details were impressive that they looked alive.
As you enter the exhibition room on the third floor, so many animals and fishes would be spreading out in front of you. There were even leopards and tigers that have nothing to do with beach.
Inside the fish display room in front, there were dozens of fish models displayed but I wish there's detailed information to call their names.
I remembered this gigantic sunfish because of its exotic shape. It's not surprising to see animals on the land but animals living inside the water are not known and they say there are so many forms of animals that have not been found yet.
Although they're just models, the exhibition hall on the third floor represents cold reality. If you're with a kid and your kid runs to the white polar bear that looks so cute, he/she might be shocked by the blood on its mouth from eating seals.
A hyena losing its focus on its eyes had blood on its mouth as well and the caught animals were realistically expressed. Probably this museum is not for the kids.
Bats were fixed on white ceiling. Laser light was moving around the bats but unfortunately, I didn't know what the light represents.
After we touched realistic animals one by one in front, now it's time to look around fishes and shellfishes.
Not only it has fishes and shellfishes found in Korea, it also has shells of seafood from all over the world looking like jewels. They could cover the whole two walls but personally, I was wondering about their taste than the shapes. lol
On one side, it wasn't much but it has corals displayed. I don't know exactly but I think this is what makes the sea look emerald.
After we watched the corals, we came out to the beach again. But thanks to our visit, we could meet so many marine organisms other than seaweeds. Plus the fact that it was free helped it.
Behind the museum, there's another unexpected place called 「Monument for the First Corps」 where there are a lot of benches on the lawn so you could rest or drop by if you're interested in Korean War.
Address : 1450-2, Joyang-dong, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do
Telephone : 033-637-7302
Operating Hours : 10:00~19:00
Admission Fee : Free
