Day at Sea and Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

#Sokcho-si #Ganngwon-do #southkorea

For some reason, cruises around Japan have to leave the country for a day. In this instance, after a day sailing across the Japan Sea, we arrived in Sokcho, South Korea.
In a way the day at sea seemed to be a time to relax after a busy few days, unfortunately the ship encountered a Force Eleven gale, and many passengers endured a rough few hours, often just staying in their room. I did manage to get to the magic/comedy show at night where some of the biggest laughs were for the curtain behind him magically opening and closing as the boat rocked because of  the high waves.

Arriving the next day, we were pleased to get off the boat onto dry land. Having such a short time in port, we were limited in what we could do. Fortunately, there were buses laid on to take us into town. The first stop was at a local event, where there were craft stalls, activities for children and a dance group. This was interesting but we went around this in about an hour watching local people enjoying the morning. 

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Catching the bus again, we went to the final destination which was a huge covered market selling a wide variety of goods and food. This was very busy, but not something that really appealed, although it was good to get a feel for the way locals shopped and purchased food.
Leaving the market, as we needed to get back to the boat on time, we realised that everyone else had come here and the queue stretched down the street. Having stood for over forty-five minutes  in the line and thinking we were never getting back, we remembered the saying, 'You wait ages for a bus and three come along at the same time!' 

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An interesting day, but a shame because of the time limit that we couldn't explore further afield to find something more interesting. Boarding the boat, we just hoped that the crossing back to Japan would be smooth sailing.