Tongyeong: From marching under the sea to soaring above the mountains...

I've written about Tongyeong. Several times. And guess what? This likely won't be my last post about this city, which is one of the many little gems along Korea's south coast. Why? Because I'm running out of ideas. Nah, just kidding...because Tongyeong is an amazing city! For a place that has fewer than 150,000 people, it has an incredible variety of attractions. I've written about its harbour, beaches, and sea-side walkways. However, there have been two things I have never explored until last weekend: The roughly 2 kilometre long cable car and the 500 metre long undersea tunnel.

Let's start with the tunnel. In itself, it's a little underwhelming: It's merely a half kilometre long concrete tube with poor lighting, reminiscent of World War II movies. However, when you think about what went into the tunnel and where you are, it's pretty cool: It was built about 100 years ago. The workers literally parted the sea, dug a trench, made a tunnel, then let the sea go back to its original place. Finding it is an adventure in itself, as both ends of the tunnel are in nondescript neighbourhoods with very little fanfare (just a few modest signs) pointing to its existence. It's not the world's most exciting place to be, but kind of cool knowing that you're walking under the sea...plus, here's a concrete tunnel that's something like 5m wide, 4m tall and 500m long with zero police, guards, etc, and free admission. Guess how much graffiti is on its walls? Zero. Nothing. Nada. Not a single pen mark. Pretty cool, Korea...pretty cool:

Now...to the cable car! I got there about two hours before closing and was told that, due to the massive number of people, they had stopped selling tickets. Disappointed, I told them that I had driven from the faraway magical land of Changwon specifically for their awesome attraction. So, the attendant ran off and came back with a ticket. Again...well done, Korea. You're making this whole "I should leave and move back to Canada" business rather difficult. The ticket, as usual, is laughably cheap compared to what similar attractions charge back home: $5 one way, $8 both ways. The ride was nice and smooth, and you share a little glass cage with 7 other people...one of whom, in my case, was tickled pink about sharing the ride with the white boy from Canada:

The views up the way are nothing short of breathtaking:

Once you're at the top, you can go to the roof of the building that houses the machinery for the cable car and be greeted with an expansive view of the mountains at your feet, little fishing villages, the sea and the islands beyond. On clear days, apparently Tsushima Island (part of Japan) is visible!

Then, you can trek along a fairly extensive network of boardwalks and stairs to different peaks along the mountain to a dozen or so little viewpoints:

Not only is the walk good exercise out in the fresh air and sunshine, it leads you to a variety of cool views...like these of downtown Tongyeong:

All in all...an awesome little day trip to Tongyeong. My only complaint was the hazy sky...thanks to pollution and Yellow Dust from China. But...you can't win'em all, can you? So, if you ever want to bum around southern Korea, definitely check out this little city and hit up the cable car...just make sure you go nice and early!

Random song suggestion: "Girlfriend" by Bachelorette...awesome song, very different from what I usually listen to, but a great track!

That's it from me for now...I'll be back with more soon!
T

 Here's one more for the road: