Jeongdongjin: Romantic Place on East Coast

By Oleg Kiriyanov

Contributing writer

It would probably be difficult to find a South Korean who does not know the Jeongdongjin Railway Station situated on the seashore of the East Sea. Some people think that this is the most romantic and beautiful place in the whole country.

Well, that probably depends on the taste but it is not difficult to argue that Jeongdongjin is a really beautiful spot of the seashore: a big nice sand beach, beautiful rocks and mountains, and emerald seawater.

At the same time you can easily find lots of similar beautiful spots on that seashore but they are not as well-known as Jeongdongjin. It became famous after a few touching scenes of a popular (at the time) Korean drama ``Hourglass'' were filmed there. That is why the souvenir shops of that area are full of various modifications of hourglasses.

In the middle of the small but nice park situated near the Jeongdongjin beach, there is one very special hourglass, which became probably the main attraction and symbol of the area. Opened on the first day of 2000, that hourglass is more than eight meters in diameter.

It contains eight tons of sand and it takes exactly one year for the sand to move from the upper part of to the lower one. So the hourglass is being turned upside down at 0:00 on the first of January attracting thousands of people to the area to celebrate the beginning of a new year.

Another interesting place that makes Jeongdongjin different and special among other spots on the seashore is the railway station itself.

They say that this is the railway station that is most closely situated to the seashore in the South Korea. Indeed the sea is very close. There is even a special ``sunrise train'' departing from Seoul and arriving at Jeongdongjin just before the sunrise, letting the passengers see how the sun of a new day appears over the horizon. Isn't it romantic? That is probably the reason why the train is very popular among lovers.

There are also three rocks in the sea just in front of the station. Called ``three brothers' rocks,'' it has its own sad but beautiful legend about brothers who loved each other and finally turned into three rocks in the sea to stay together forever.

Jeongdongjin is also famous for its quite interesting ``Sun Cruise Hotel.'' The ``sad'' part of the ship-shaped hotel and its park is that 5,000 won is charged as an entrance fee, but the impression is worth the money paid.

The hotel is an exact copy of a big ocean liner and stands on the very edge of the mountain rising above the beach. So it looks like a big ship stays on a mountain with its rostrum hanging over the sea by about 100 meters. The ship-shaped hotel can be seen from far away, so with the huge hourglass it has become another symbol of Jeongdongjin.

If you come to the observation platform of the hotel you can enjoy a spectacular birds-eye view of the whole Jeongdongjin area. There is also a special stand on the very end of the rostrum for those who want to feel they are the heroes of the movie ``Titanic.'' It actually looks as if you are on a ship drifting on the waves.

The park around the hotel has a lot of interesting sculptures where tourists love taking pictures. For example, with a ``post stamp'' sculpture, you can put yourself as a picture on the stamp. Or the sculpture of two huge hands directed to the sea. So the favorite picture of those who come to see the sunrise is when the sun stays just between the palms _ like two palms holding the sun.

Taking funny pictures with sculptures in the park is so popular that the hotel administration encourages visitors to send them copies; the best of which are displayed at the observation desk of the hotel.

A bridge above a small pond in front of the hotel is another attraction popular among visitors. If you stay on the bridge you see six stone baskets in the pond. Each of the baskets has it own name: love, success, health, etc. So you throw a coin exactly into a basket on which it is believed that you will have what is written. This game is so popular that last year the hotel collected from the pond coins worth more than 21 million won. All the money is always spent on charitable purposes. So even if you miss one of the baskets, your money will help somebody anyway.

The park around the hotel even has its own museum and while the hotel looks like a modern ocean-going ship, the museum is a copy of a sail ship. So from the side you see two ships standing on the edge of the mountain.

The museum is named as ``The Museum of Sound'' or the Museum of Thomas Edison. It contains a surprisingly large collection of numerous things invented by the famous scientist _ from irons to electric lamps and gramophones.

The visit to the museum makes you wonder how one person could invent so many things that we use very widely now. But this is very well explained by the one saying made by Thomas Edison: ``I would like to live 300 years, I think I have ideas enough to keep me busy that long.'' The museum is undergoing renovation but will be open at the end of July 2007.

But even if you won't be lucky enough to visit the world of Edison's inventions, Jeongdongjin _ with its beautiful scenery, sandy beach, emerald sea, huge hourglass, interesting railway station, ship-shaped hotel on the cliff and a park full of sculptures _ is definitely worth a visit. Do not forget: maybe it is the most romantic place in the entire country _ at least some people really think so.