Namhae for Chuseok

https://maps.google.co.kr/maps?hl=en&q=namhae&ie=UTF-8
Chuseok as far as I can gather is a kind of harvest festival at the end of September and the Koreans do what most people do on holidays and eat everything. What this means for foreigners however is time off ,which is a rare commodity. At this time the weather is great too as it has stopped being so humid and raining but it's still hot.

I decided to take one of the organised trips as with no car and no language skills it sounded like a nightmare to get anywhere. This turned out to be the best option as what we hadn't realised was that everywhere would be closed and it was really hard to find restaurants even. It came in handy to have a Korean trip organiser even though it was a pain having to follow loads of people.
So the place itself is an island and it's really beautiful. We spent time on the beach during the day and built a fire and had firworks on the beach at night. We moved to a different area and went sea kayaking.

There was also and Okktoberfest while we were there. This was slightly odd but basically during WW2 some Koreans went to Germany to be nurses. When the war ended they came back with some Germans and settled here establishing a community. There are only 2 Germans left as far as I know but the area has German architecture and feel and they still celebrate Oktoberfest.
The event itself was outside with beer tents selling Paulaner and a stage. They had various acts, dancers and  a beer race. The mayor was totally pissed and dancing with us which was quite a sight to behold. I got accosted by various Koreans trying to speak to me in German (I look pretty bloody German). There were loads of cameras and I wouldn't know where to look but there is probably footage of a load of mortal cretins clutching beer stieners. Us. At night the place turned into a massive rave and was actually brilliant with a light show and everything.

Oh yeah and we trekked up to a temple. It was temply and I broke muscles I didn't know I owned scrambling down the bloody mountain. I am not built for hiking.   

Mountain of doom

Boriam temple