I’m headed North and chose to break the journey in Samcheok to avoid a long day on the bus.
There isn’t much that I wanted to do around here … it has some great caves but I’ve seen some cavernous ones in recent times.
So I chose to visit Haesindang … it is a garden filled with many giant phalluses built to appease the spirit of a dead virgin who had drowned. Local fishermen believed her spirit was resulting in a poor catch from the sea and so erected phalluses to appease her!
More and more phalluses were erected in annual phallic competitions until some Christians put a stop to it!
Samcheok isn’t on the trodden path … not that Korea is on the trodden path. There weren’t any hostels set up for travellers so I stayed in a motel on a walk-in basis.
I think the place was more for a place for people go to have sex with their partners, as many live with their extended families. I had two cherry-flavoured condoms on the bedside table! I thought in Korea it would be kimchi-flavoured condoms!
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- That’s a very happy old man with a beard an an outdated centre-parting on his hair. Oops! No, it’s a phallus.
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- Phalluses (phalli?) are everywhere in every form.
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- What a lovely nose you have.
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- The twelve animals of the Chinese/Korean zodiac are depicted in the phalluses.
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- These fishermen are trying to appease the spirit of the dead virgin.
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- Fisherman trying to appease the spirit of the dead virgin.
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- Come here, I will make you happy for the rest of your life … oops sorry … forgot you’re already dead.
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- The fishing village of Sinnam.
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- Thumbs up.
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- Phalluses (phalli?) are everywhere in every form.
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- Man tending his phallic garden.
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- Shrine to the dead virgin; includes two sets of sex toys on either side if you look carefully.!
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- My motel amenities included 2 cherry flavoured condoms, a woman cleanser, another cleanser, women’s sanitary pads and cotton buds.
