Haeshindang Folk Village - a.k.a. The Penis Park!

Well, here we go . . . - an early morning stop at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and we were off in search of Haeshindang Folk Village on Korea's east seashore.


WARNING: The following images are extremely graphic representations of the male anatomy. Viewer discretion is strongly advised!!! (and this is probably Not Safe For Work in case you were wondering.)






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So, the story goes something like this: 400 years ago a fisherman left his virgin fiancee on a rock close to shore so she could pick some seaweed while he was off fishing. The fisherman was caught in a fierce storm and couldn't return to pick her up. Eventually, the waves swept her off the rocks and she promptly drowned.
Since that fateful day, the fisherman in the village were unable to make a good catch. Rumor spread that the virgin's tormented soul had caused the sea to become barren.
The fish would not return until a strike of luck was to come upon the village. A man, presumably drunk, was in desperate need of relieving himself of the Soju he'd been downing. So, he faced the sea and 'let her have it'. The next day, the fish began to return to the waters and the villagers equated it to the virgin's soul being 'appeased' by the man's wiener.
The villagers began erecting(sorry) giant, totem-like penises and the fish were being caught in droves. ***

Here are the four ladies hanging out by the penis pond.


Here are some stone sculptures representing the animals of the Chinese calendar. Kind of reminiscent of the Easter Island statues, no? . . . maybe not.


Shawna's is the year of the . . . rooster . . . I promised I would stay away from the lame jokes on the blog (there were way to many on the trip that day - the majority coming from me, I'm afraid).



If you could manage to look beyond all of the giant penises, there was an amazing view of the sea to be had.


This fellow was taking a 'hands on' approach (and welcomed the photos).


This, I believe, may be the most bizarre place I've seen . . . so far.


Shawna's face describes the feeling we all had - we were all about 50 penises over the line.






There's even a penis-shaped lighthouse!!


The Penis Cannon






If you look carefully (click on the image to supersize it) you can see the virgin on the rock. Waving for help . . .


There was a small shrine to the virgin where people could stop and pay their respects.


We were able to get right down to the seashore which was nice. I threw some rocks - Suzanne climbed some rocks. . .


. . . and Shawna put her new boots to the test.


At this point we had seen more than enough so we took the bus back to Samcheok for lunch.



***My synopsis of the legend may or may not be correct. It is a fusion of the many stories I've heard from fellow travelers and bloggers. It sounds plausible to me, though.