Chinhae Cherries

We took our first CAC trip yesterday. For the uninitiated, the CAC (Community Activity Center) hosts trips around the area for the USAG Daegu community. We have intended to take a CAC trip for awhile, but this was the first time the destination sparked our interest and we were available. Chinhae is known throughout Korea for its cherry blossoms, and they have a big festival every year in honor of them. They also have a navy base.

We piled into two buses and drove an hour and a half, past Busan, to Chinhae. We were a little dismayed to see that the cherry trees were about ¾ in bloom, but not all the way. The other disappointment was that the navy did not take part in th e festival—they usually host part of it—because they were in crisis. A ROK ship went down near the North and South Korea border, and they lost several people. So we saw a diminished, though still lively, festival.

In Chinhae, we encountered a roundabout with festival tents radiating from all sides. There were some aspects of the fair that were surprisingly familiar. We saw cotton candy sellers, handmade Indian clothing, a Peruvian flute player, and the same carnival games you see in the states. There were also some very foreign sights, like a row of booths with pigs roasting on spits and a booth where people gathered around to have what looked like hot metal buttons applied to differing parts of their bodies (accuburn?) And, of course, entire tent restaurants full of fantastic Korean buffets. We talked about having pig-on-a-spit for lunch (usually a good choice) until we encountered...donor kebab!! That's definitely something I have been missing. It was not the kebab I know, but the filling was scraped from a cone of mystery meat, so it was close enough for me.

There were tourist everywhere, even other English speakers. We decided to check out the ocean and headed away from the crowd. Down by the water, we found a pavilion that we could actually climb. Pavilions are all over Korea, but usually the top level is closed. We nervously went up the stairs, expecting to be accosted the whole time, but it we found a fantastic view at the top. There were a couple of buildings facing the water that had dragons on their roofs.

At the appointed time, we returned to the bus, which was flanked by street vendors with what I had always assumed was some nutty snack mix roasting in cauldrons. That day I finally figured out I was looking at bugs, gobbled by the handful as though they were nutty snack mixes. The bus was parked in a roundabout that had a statue of Admiral Lee Sun Shin in the middle. Admiral Shin is a major attraction in Seoul, and a massive statue of him adorns a major intersection. This statue had a shrine in front of it, and people were praying to him.

All in all, a very decent way to spend the day.



People everywhere















Green tea squid, whatever that may be












A dragon head family mart
















Admiral Lee Sun Shin.