Ulsan: Daewangam Park

This post on Ulsan is part of a 3D2N itinerary and will feature D2 of the trip. D1 was Gyeongju and D3 was paragliding in Ulsan.

Straight after Gyeongju, we headed to Ulsan where we had time to cover only one ground because Sheryl needed to catch a train to Busan after that. There isn’t much info about Ulsan except its whale museum and several parks, and I saw mixed reviews online about Ulsan either being underrated or not worth visiting. Well it’s hard for me to judge really, because i only went one destination, but if you’ve got loads of places to go I’d say you can skip Ulsan. If you have time on your hands, then why not? For me, since I was planning to paraglide in Ulsan, it was on the way for me anyway to try to visit.

The thing about Ulsan is that it’s a very large city, unlike the others we’ve visited. Yet it wasn’t very populated, so you do see very ulu spots and probably the worst part is that there’s little online for us to really draw conclusions. For accommodation alone, there was only one hostel stated on the internet, even when i tried googling in Korean.

Haha our first reaction when we stepped out of the train station was whut. Haha. The streets were almost bare, the buildings very normal, and well generally it seemed like there was nothing much in the city at all. We didn’t go Ulsan station as that’s kinda really far from everywhere and i THINK accessibly only by KTX, instead we stopped at Taehwagam Station, which was kinda in the central.

So yes after the whut reaction, we dropped by the tourist area next to the station and got some general info before hunting for food. That was hard too, looking for the word 식당 had never been that tricky. So after we managed to hunt down a restaurant hidden amongst all the motels, we settled down to gain strength to navigate the large city.

the fish was a surprise and it was tasty!

That was my first time eating Galbitang 갈비탕, beef short-ribs soup. It was tasty and very meaty (quoting Sheryl who hates meat). Haha.

Well anyways. After that we hunted down the bus stop once more. There were a few bus stops around the station so gotta be careful.

BUTTTTT to go Daewangam was neither of those bus stops LOL. Better to ask the tourist information for detailed directions. Our bus stop was outside the train station in front of the car park. It’s a blue little booth. We were told to take Bus 108, 133 or 401 and to stop at the stop before Daewangam Park, which is the stop outside Ilsan Beach called 일산해구욕장 .

 

This was a very cold day so i was creying

Anyway, saw the Ilsan beach and walked along the roads that stretched along the beach. There are LOTS of cafes here and some restaurants and convenient stores, so you can just sip a cup of coffee while looking at the beach. It had its charm. 😀

WHen you see the stairway above, go up and you’ll find Daewangam’s entrance!

a dragon playground that we walked past

 

As you can see there are two paths you can take. THey’re not that much different, the second one takes the outer route so you can enjoy the sea scenery. I didn’t bother going because i thought there was nothing much on the longer route.

On a side note it bothers me that the trail only burns 72kcal of calories because like each time i eat one of the triangle rice kimbap it’s almost 200kcal? how much do i have to do to burn just that small triangle omg

I always digress omg. Anywayyyy. The first stop – Ulgi Lighthouse!

 

Daewangam!!

Daewangam was a bunch of really pretty rocks with pretty bridges and well, generally just a pretty sight ok. i’m not good with technical terms or whatever but yeah.

 

 

 

 

the path to daewangam

daewangam from afar

My favorite picture of Daewangam! I was so happy just looking at the greens and beautifully colored rocks and the bridge~

the bridge~

I nearly got blown off my Nike-adorned feet because of the wind. It’s crazy there at Daewangam, the wind is really really strong and chilly even in summer now, we had to fight our way through haha. The sea currents were also really strong. Hold on tight. I tripped once but luckily I wasn’t close to the edge.

You’re supposed to be able to see Ulsan’s industrial area from here but it was foggy that day.

And that was all! I walked back the rest of the first trail slowly while Sheryl hastily made her way back from where we came from as she had to catch a bus to Busan. That was where we officially parted ways.

At this point I wasn’t sure if I should go visit Hyundai’s industrial area at night to see the sights. So while thinking, I headed to one of the many cafes opposite Ilsan beach and sat down for a very lovely cup of warm latte while navigating through my various Ulsan guidebooks and map. I felt like such a tourist that day!! My korean was off that day too so it added even more to the touristy atmosphere LOL.

I settled there for almost 2 hours before deciding it was time to go. I had decided at that point of time not to try to catch the night scene because from the guidebooks, you had to drive up mountains in order to get the best view, or take a ferris wheel. I wasn’t really interested in taking a ferris wheel alone so I decided to just find the guesthouse and rest while waiting for Amber to arrive.

And it was time to head back!

Thus started the extremely long journey to the guesthouse i booked online called Guesthouse U. It was almost 2 hours gdi. Luckily the guesthouse wasn’t far from the bus stop. It was amongst a residential area but luckily with food and convenience store nearby.

Accommodation

The hostel staff at Guesthouse U was actually really pleasant and spoke good english. The hostel itself wasn’t fantastic, the bathroom was a bit gross and very tiny, but the beds were decent for a good night’s sleep. We paid 20,000 won each. i didn’t take a picture as the hostel wasn’t fantastic, it was just the only option i had. Plus i was bitter about the inconvenient location D: haha.

Nevertheless, i finally got to rest and charge all my appliances and read my Kindle while waiting for the elusive Amber to arrive. Bought some snacks at a nearby convenience store too.

I checked on agoda.com and saw that there were motels for affordable prices in better locations. They cost about 60000 per night for 2 people, so it’s just 10k more expensive than the hostel.  You pay 10k more for convenience and time… i guess it’s  really up to you to decide what’s worth it! For me it was okay since i didn’t plan on doing anything else in Ulsan anyway.

The girl finally arrived after 10pm! We headed out to find food and luckily the restaurants nearby were open!

 

First time eating guk-bab! Amber’s one was really delicious, it was beef soup. I ordered pork intestines or some innerts of some sort just to try so mine was the traditional kind, where you had to mix the sauces, kimchi, onions etc in and then put your rice in. But for some reason i just couldn’t get the taste i wanted so it was an awkward meal where i felt my soup was tasteless LOL. ottoke. I think i put too much kimchi. well she gave a whole pot so i just put a lot lor. The white soup looked similar to the ones they serve for budae jjigaes, before mixing in the chili paste.

During our meal the Korean next to us spoke to me and gestured at Amber asking where she’s from. I said she’s from America and he said she must not know what a guk-bab is and asked me to explain to her. I was very amused and Amber spoke up saying her mom is a Korean. And a few minutes later i told him actually i have no Korean blood at all. LOL. He looked so taken aback. Dayum i live for such reactions man.

Anyway, that is the end of Ulsan! Not really because i have a paragliding post coming up, but this is the end of Ulsan sightseeing which only consisted of one location LOL.