Odd Beach Behavior

So, I went to the beach again last weekend (but a different one). This time about half of us were Korean teachers, and half were foreign (there were 13). We took the train about 3 hours to get there. It was further down the coast. It's funny, all the beaches here are complete with little beach towns. They have TONS of hotels/motels and restaurants practically on top of each other right on the beach. All of the restaurants have the same cuisine, seafood (of course). They eat quite different seafood here, and they prepare it differently than we would back home. There are lots of clams and mussels, and seafood stew. Most of the places specialize in barbequed seafood, so there are grills on each table and you cook it right there. They are also big on squid and octopus. I'm not a fan of the octopus. I don't like seeing the legs with the suction things on them. It freaks me out. It's also waaaaay to chewy for me! Will the chewing ever stop???! There are also restaurants where you can get "fresh" octopus, meaning they chop it up live and you eat the legs while they're still squirming. NO THANK YOU. I hear that the little suction cups on their legs can still work so they can get stuck to the inside of your mouth or throat. Disgusting.
Seafood is really a part of their live even in the city, where every convenience store has dried squid and fish/shrimp flavored snacks, like chips. Anyway, that's another blog entry.
So, we of course ate some barbequed seafood at the beach.
"Different" beach behavior that I noticed: No one really wears swimming suits (except the foreigners). I, of course, was in my bikini, along with the other foreigners who were wearing normal beach attire for back home. It was fricking HOT out, so of course we were. Well, I went for a walk down the beach and I did not see ONE other person in a swimming suit. Everyone had on clothes. Even people in the water. WHAT? So, you'd better believe I was the object of everyone's stares. There was even a person who took a picture of me as I was walking because it was so odd to see someone in a swimsuit. Well, don't worry, cause I took a ton of pictures of the "crazy dressed people on the beach". When I came back from my walk I was so shocked and a little embarrassed that I threw a skirt on over my bikini bottoms. I asked my korean friends (who were also wearing clothes, but at least they had swimsuits on under them) what was going on. I thought they were going to eventually take their clothes off, at least when they swam. But no, all of them swam in their shorts and tops. HUH? So I guess the deal is that they are modest about being that naked in front of others. Nothing like America. What's funny is that on the streets, I've seen some of the shortest skirts of my life. So I guess they're not that modest.
So anyway, I'm sure I looked like a big whore being on the beach in a bathing suit. (I never thought I'd say that).
Also, there were a lot of people who pitched tents on the beach. They'd sit in them with their families. Wow. That must be really hot.
There also were a lot of people jet-skiing and boating, but there wasn't a boat landing, so people would just drive their cars or tractors (yes, you read that right) right on the beach up to the water to pick up their boat or jet ski. SO weird!
Finally, since we stayed at a hotel on the beach, we went and hung out at the beach at night. Everynight there are fireworks and people hanging out. Drinking on the beach is legal (as is drinking anywhere outside, even in the city), so you've got the crazy drunk people shooting off fireworks on the beach at all hours of the night. Scary. The beach was lit up by different colored lights. One section of the beach was green, one section was pink, one was yellow, etc...it was a great way to ruin nature. That's one thing I notice overall in Korea: They just can't leave a good thing alone. It seems like they try to "enhance" nature but it always ends up looking overdone and tacky. (another example is when I was at Jeju Island and there was a waterfall that dumped into a river....they dyed the river turquoise blue, so it looked like the Carribbean or something, but it was a river)
Here are some pics of the weekend: my clothed Korean friends, a tractor on the beach, and our seafood dinner.