Andrew and I spent the weekend in two beach towns, Sokcho and Gangneung. Sokcho has an impressive fish market where I tried my first squid sundae, which is rice and vegetables stuffed into a squid, diced and coated in an egg batter and fried. Super yummy. The market is really close to the bus terminal so it was our first stop.

The Sokcho fish market and squid sundae:

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After that we wandered the town, walked along the beach, sipped americanos from a beachside cafe and watched little kids in powerwheels and South Korean Army men zip around on minibikes. It is a beautiful town and I highly recommend a visit. For dinner we stopped at a “fresh raw fish restaurant,” Andrew ordered for the both of us and we were rewarded with a delicious and spicy seafood soup that reminded me of jambalaya as well as a cold dish with raw abalone. The latter was not my favorite, but it wasnt inedible, but it was icy cold, too sweet and the abalone crunched in my mouth with audible popping sounds. (My brother has difficulty sitting cross legged, which entertained me to no end as he struggled to get comfortable at the table)

On Sunday we took a bus to Gangneung, a larger town with an absolutely immense beach. We were wandering around the beach starving when we saw large tanks full of crabs and other delicious live crustaceans and decided to stop in. It was definitely the most expensive meal on the trip (about $30/person) but we each got an entire crab, clams, quail’s eggs, and the proprietor took the body of the crabs and made incredibly delicious seaweed fried rice with all the gooey insides. Seriously, it was amazing.