Legend has it that four hundred years ago a fisherman took his young virgin fiancee to a rock a short way off shore to collect seaweed. He left her there promising to pick her up.
But whilst he was engaged in his work on shore the weather deteriorated, a strong wind started to blow and huge waves crashed against the shore. It was too perilous for the fisherman to sail back to his fiancee and she was stranded on the rock. Eventually the high waves swept the young virgin off the rock and she drowned.
From that day forth the fishermen in the small seaside village of Shinnam were unable to land a good catch. Rumors spread that the young virgin's tormented soul was causing the sea to become barren.
In an attempt to appease her spirit, the people of the village began carving phalluses and performing rituals. Once they began doing this, the fishermen were again able to achieve a good catch.
Hundreds of years later this legend has lead to the erection of a park consisting entirely of sculpted phalluses in Shinnam village, Samcheok, Gangwon Province. I stumbled across this place, called Haeshindang Park, by accident. After being dropped off at the top of the cliffs overlooking the beach I was told to follow the path down to the beach. No mention was made of the spectacle that lay in store.
Soon I was laughing, joking and posing for almost indecent photographs as I came across wooden phallic sculptures, plastic phallic sculptures, brightly colored phallic sculptures, benches and even the animals of the Chinese calendar all made in phallic style!
This was certainly a strange place to come across in Korea, especially as a number of the carvings were explicitly detailed.
English teacher Katrina Millington was visiting the park with some friends and couldn’t believe her eyes: "I never expected to find this kind of thing in Korea," she said, "I always though Koreans were a fairly prudish nation. Who would have thought you could visit somewhere like this, it's totally unexpected but I love it!"
All around the park, ajummas were grinning and giggling as they beheld the sites around them. One even stopped and jovially engaged in a competition with a passing foreigner to see who could shout: "Oh my god" with the most dramatic effect!
Others were sitting on benches with penis shaped armrests grinning from ear to ear accompanied by husbands wearing more nonchalant expressions. The Korean men certainly weren't enjoying the show as much as the women!
Around every corner was a different kind of sculpted phallus. It was an unusual sight to behold and well worth a visit see how bizarre it really is.
Buses run every 90 minutes from Seoul Express Bus Terminal to Samcheok Express Bus Terminal and take around four hours.
jenna.richards@msn.com
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