California Beach!

Korean's have a special knack for taking something fun and completely ruining it. Water parks were no exception to that. (They can also take something easy and turn it into the most confusing and difficult thing, but that's a story for another day.)


California Beach was the closest water park to Ulsan and we decided before we left Ulsan, we would go. That day came during a weekend in August. It was hot and bright as hell outside, so it seemed the perfect time to go.

On the train, heading to Gyeongju

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Once the train arrived in Gyeongju, we weren't too sure how we were going to get from the train station to the water park. We had a Korean with us and our friend Sam (basically a Korean) so we weren't too worried. Even though we had them, we couldn't figure it out and ended up just walking behind people we decided looked like they were also headed to California Beach! It wasn't the best approach, but it worked. They lead us across the street and to a bus that took us right to the gate!

A scary/smelly/old Korean man


Sam & Eunjeong


Judy & Andrew


The dirtiest looking Hilton in the world


We've arrived!


Heading for the ticket line

Bacne is a concentration of acne on a person's back, so on what body part would you find dacne? And is it really something you'd want to celebrate?

So f-ing hot


We're in!





The kiddie park


Andrew's locker key and bracelet


Not even sure what to say about this photo


The slides

When we got into the park, got our lockers and changed, we headed straight for the water slides. We saw lots of Koreans queuing up at the Rental Shop getting life jackets which we thought was hilarious. Many Koreans don't know how to swim, so we assumed that was why they were all getting the life jackets. We didn't find out about the life jacket rule until we tried to go on the Wave Canyon inner tube ride. We saw that there weren't many people on it and hardly a line, so we made a break for it. After waiting in the short lane, the man at the front of the line told us that we weren't allowed to ride without a life jacket. By this point, it was almost too late to be finding this information out because the lines at the Rental Shop were insane. Annoyed, we waited in line to pick up our jackets. Once we finally got our jackets, we went back to the Wave Canyon and got back in line. This time, when we got up to the man at the front he told us that we still weren't allowed to go because we weren't wearing hats. It wasn't even like swim caps were required, any hat (visors included) were acceptable. Korea can be so stupid!

The madness out front of the Rental Shop


Heading back to Wave Canyon


After being turned away (the 2nd time)





The group (sans Andrew)


The wave pool



Dave coming down the slide

This green and yellow slide was a really fun ride. You could do it in a 2 or 4 person tube. The first time we did it together in a 2 person tube and it was fun, but we didn't realize how much better it could be until we rode with Dave & Teresa. The added weight of 4 people caused us to go faster, catch more air, and circle longer. It was awesome!

The line was too long for this one, so sadly we never got to do it





The whole park


Peace!


Couple's Swimwear!


The wave pool
Far more crowded than it should have been.

Judy compared our experience in the wave pool to victims without lifeboats that were on the Titanic that night so long ago. While a pretty terrible thing to say, we all agreed it was probably quite accurate.

More couple wear


Snack time


Andrew's sausage


Judy's chicken

By mid afternoon, California Beach got a little too crowded and stressful for us. Also, without hats our opportunities for 'fun' were pretty limited, so we decided to head home. It was still hotter than hell, so a beer was the perfect beverage to relax with on the train.

The train that took us back home was circumcised!