Yangyang Surfing Trip - 2018.07.31~08.01

1. Overview: a surfing trip to Yangyang with Sang-hyeon.

- Sang-hyeon proposed it first, and after some deliberation I decided to go. Putting a little distance between myself and daily life seemed like it would be a chance to give me a boost.

2. Starting with the cost. Total cost: 132,400 won per person (2 days)

- Detailed breakdown (per person)

--Lesson fee 50,000: Surf Factory

--Lodging fee 25,000: accommodation affiliated with Surf Factory

--Makguksu (first day lunch) 7,000 - the makguksu place in front of the Yangyang bus terminal

--Sashimi restaurant (first day dinner) 30,000 - flatfish sashimi, sea cucumber, sea squirt, spoon worm, spicy fish stew

--Taxi - 3,000 - round-trip fare from Seorak Beach (location of the lodging) to Naksan Beach

--Hollys Coffee - 5,900 - a cafe we went to while walking around Naksan Beach

--Somdari Burger (second day lunch) - 11,500 - a burger place at Naksan Beach, a spot with a limited daily quantity that doesn't sell much in a day, run by an elderly man; the quality of the patty is very high and he honestly piles on the lettuce too. Conscientious food

--Transportation (Seoul~Yangyang) - 16,000 (one way)*2 - based on Gangnam Express Bus Terminal.

--Transportation (Cheongju~Seoul) - 8,600 (Cheongju-Seoul bus one way), 16,000 (Gwangmyeong-Osong KTX late on the second day)

--Coffee (near Yangyang Market) - 3,500

3. Things I want to let people know through this trip.

1) Surfing is a four-season sport. Especially in winter, it's a sport you can do wearing a very warm wetsuit.

2) Surfing takes a very long time to learn and master.

3) It requires a great deal of basic stamina.

4) Seorak Beach is a beach that many families come to. It's not as modernized as Naksan Beach, but the Hujin Live Fish Center at Naksan Beach is definitely a place where you can eat quality food at a good price. There are owners who have boats, so it's a place where the miracle of wild-caught being cheaper than farmed sometimes happens. This time we used Stall No. 4, Jiyoung's place. (Location attached)

A photo of the Hujin Live Fish Center is below

5) After surfing, your stamina is so depleted that if you drink alcohol it hits you hard right away. The rougher the waves on a given day, the more grueling it is to push the board out toward the shore.

6) It takes a lot of time and patience to wait for a decent wave. There are many times when you let about 10 waves pass. That's how hard it is to find a decent wave. But since you have to wait for a decent wave to come, you must not forget that patience is absolutely necessary.

7) The Surf Factory-affiliated accommodation is good in that it has a separate, well-equipped bathroom, but it's a bit lousy in that there's no community. I wouldn't go so far as to recommend the lodging. There was one more guesthouse near Seorak Beach, so I'm left with the regret of wishing I'd looked into that place.

8) Somdari Burger is a decent restaurant that closes before dinner. In particular, the second-floor interior is cutely decorated. It's at the entrance of Seorak Beach.

9) The Seoul Gangnam-Yangyang bus offered a 10 percent discount when booked up to one day in advance (as of early August 2018).

10) There isn't much to see in downtown Yangyang. Personally I have a lot of interest in wandering around markets, so I wandered around the market, but it's an ambiguously modernized market, so there are no proper sights or food. I recommend trying the deep-fried spoon worm in the market only out of curiosity. It's not all that incredibly delicious.

11) I heard there are a few naengmyeon places in downtown Yangyang, but I didn't go. I can't verify them, so I won't post about them separately. Of course, if you go to the Dining Code website there are restaurants ending in **-myeonok, so if you want to go to one of those, I recommend going. (Cannot verify)

12) Since Naksan Beach is the most modernized beach in Yangyang, there are a lot of streetlights along the shore, which personally I'm not a fan of. Instead, there really are a lot of modernized facilities, and aside from Wawa World Beer at the central entrance of the beach, I couldn't find a pub for a simple beer. Restaurants combining sashimi and drinking are lined up all along the shore, but they're expensive. If you want to eat sashimi, I recommend going to the Hujin Live Fish Center I linked above. It's open-air so it may look a bit lacking, but there's no burden in eating quality sashimi at a good price.

13) For the Seoul-Yangyang expressway, even though Road View navigation says it takes 2 hours, in reality there are several habitually congested stretches, so making it in 2 hours isn't easy. If it overlaps with commuting hours, it's a little over about 3 hours, so plan accordingly.

14) The Seoul-Yangyang bus stops at a rest area. It stops at a very modernized highway rest area, so you don't have to worry. For reference, it's closer to the Yangyang side.

15) In summer you can't surf at Seorak Beach. At the Surf Factory I used, we took a car and moved to a different place to do the surfing. I remember there were one or two more surfing businesses at Seorak Beach. Judging by the fact that they probably moved too, summer seems hopeless..

16) Yangyang is a city of pine mushrooms, so it might be even nicer to come together during the pine mushroom festival.

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That's it for now. If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll answer as far as I know.