Haeundae Beach in Autumn.

 

If you ask me what is there to do, in that gap of time, after all the colored leaves of autumn have fallen to the ground and with the chaser lights of Christmas still 25+ days away, I would say -- go to the beach. What go to the beach in early winter when the water's cold and there's no bikini girls to see?

I love the winter coast. The beach isn't as crowded as it is in summer when all the girls in teeny weeny bikinis come out to play. The sea is a dazzling blue, as is the sky, where you can see for miles and miles away, and even see Tsushima (Japan) on a clear bright winter afternoon. And the flock of seagulls and pigeons. They mesmerize me the most.  

 

There is an army of seabirds on the sand, those little white specks on the sand. The seagulls like to stand, very still, facing the breeze, letting it glide through their oiled wings and smoothen their feathers. I guess they feel happy and comfortable, smug even, on such a beautiful day. The seagulls are too proud to mix with the pigeons with gray feathers. They stand in different crowds. Occasionally a seagull walks into the flock of pigeons and tries to grab the food away from the pigeons, thinking they are lord over the gray ones. The proud, fair and lovely seagull raises its voice and squawks loudly at the pigeons, like an irritating fellow who doesn't know that he is irritating. The pigeons just gently ignore the seagull like a crazy fellow and continue to feed. Cos there is plenty of food. If you hold a prawn cracker in your hand the birds will hover in mid-air and peck the tidbit from out from your fingers.

We decided to walk up Dalmaji Hill and along Moontan Road since it was such a beautiful day. I didn't feel cold at all even though the temperature was 10 degrees Celcius. The weather was so good till I felt that the walk was a short one. At the end of Dalmaji are the twin lighthouses - one red and one white. The name of the place is Cheongsa-po （青沙浦） fishing village. I am always amazed by the twin lighthouses but nobody seems to really stop by and just continue along the way when they are in their vehicles.  

Lighthouses just mesmerize the hell out of me. They evoke a sense of picturesque postcard romanticism, like I can imagine hanging up a framed picture of these twin lighthouses in my dining room and stare at it all night and all day. The bright red lighthouse and the subdued, pure white lighthouse, against the maddeningly blue sky. I'm in love.