Surrounded by sea on the east and west, Daecheon is a
favourite place amongst Koreans to celebrate the New Year: some
will spend the entire night on the beach to witness both the last
sunset of the year and the first sunrise of the year to come.

It can be reached relatively easily from Seoul through highway 15:

http://img11.exs.cx/img11/4593/map12.jpg

Due to much traffic during the weekend, it might take 3+ hours to
make the trip one-way. But don't let this discourage you, as the
charming countryside and state-of-the-art rest areas make the trip
itself so much enjoyable.

We made a first pit stop to put some fuel on board and grab a few snacks:

http://img61.exs.cx/img61/5289/IMG_1437.jpg

http://img63.exs.cx/img63/1763/IMG_1435.jpg

http://img60.exs.cx/img60/4963/IMG_1438.jpg

An hour or so later, another pitstop for a different type of fuel.
I was quite tempted by the lobster, but instead opted for a pork
cutlet (or tonkase, in korean):

http://img55.exs.cx/img55/9380/IMG_1442.jpg

http://img87.exs.cx/img87/936/IMG_1439.jpg

http://img53.exs.cx/img53/7643/IMG_1441.jpg

Some random shots of the countryside:

http://img58.exs.cx/img58/3426/IMG_1446.jpg

http://img55.exs.cx/img55/2250/IMG_1447.jpg

http://img51.exs.cx/img51/2209/IMG_1448.jpg

http://img70.exs.cx/img70/8056/IMG_1451.jpg

http://img65.exs.cx/img65/8885/IMG_1452.jpg

http://img63.exs.cx/img63/4808/IMG_1453.jpg

http://img66.exs.cx/img66/8074/IMG_1454.jpg

Ah.. we're there. The beach in Daecheon... awesome!

I especially like this large rock sticking out of the ground just
near the sea:

http://img64.exs.cx/img64/5220/IMG_1461.jpg

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/8224/IMG_1466.jpg

http://img43.exs.cx/img43/8464/IMG_1468.jpg

http://img52.exs.cx/img52/2438/IMG_1469.jpg

Hope you liked this interlude to the Seoul skyscrapers and nightlife spots ;)

Cheers, everyone

I really miss the 휴게소 rest area food. I used to always eat U-dong우동 hahaha. I have never been to 서해 West coast...always went to the East coast동해 so the pictures are brand new to me :) Thanks for posting POS.

O what a beautiful excursion, POS! :applause:

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us, and an extra :okay: for the map! :) You rode throught some beautiful countryside, and the area by the sea is breathtaking. It seems people don't swim, though ... why is that?

what is your camera?

very nice place!!!!!

Exactly like the Japanese, wearing clothes at beach and only putting feets in the ocean.

Last time I was in Biarritz, I was with a Japanese girl, and she was wearing clothes and refused to bath. While we were all half naked and in the waves.

She said, it was because Japanese don't like to look tainted. It is true for Koreans too?

휴게실and 우동~!

휴게실and 우동~!

휴게실s in Korea rock. They are at least a hundred times better and less expensive than the ones in Canada and the U.S. ;)

About people not swimming, that's because the west coast isn't famous for beaches. Usually people don't expect something like this and don't bring their swimsuits. On the other hand, you can see hundreds of people swimming when you visit the east coast. In fact, some of the famous urban beaches like Haeundae in Busan attracts hundreds of thousands of swimmers everyday during summer.

@Exarchus: it depends on who you are, but the majority of people don't mind getting tanned.

Thank you for those enlightening comments, London! :okay:

You are setting us straight on a whole number of points at once here. :)

And indeed: those road stop places do look incredibly attractive, clean and well run! :cool:

i like getting tanned :cool:

Princeofseoul thanks for posting all these :D

what is your camera?



I use generally a Canon IXY Digital 400, alias the PowerShot S400 in the US/Canada, alias the IXUS 400 in Europe and South-East Asia.

A good product! I'm quite happy generally with its picture quality on auto mode. It just needs a bit of manual fine-tuning at night/dusk or in the city under a bright sky. On the downside, there's some appreciable distortion at wide angle, and no easy focus and aperture control. My old Pentax K1000 would need to come to the rescue in some cases, but it is sooooo heavy, I always seem to forget it at home ;)

cheers

POS, thanx for your excellent photos as usual. The rest stops in Korea do rock indeed! Don't even talk about their Wudong (or Udon)!! It's making me really really hungry :D 호도과자's are a worthy mention as well,,... so good.

My dad lives really close- he lives in Dangjin, which is really close to the original home of the great Lee Soon Shin. Very scenic.