For those of you who know St. Louis, you know that Forest Park is the crown jewel of the many public parks spread throughout both city and county. For Pohang, Sunrise Park is their Forest Park. It is situated on the eastern side of the city along the natural bay that makes Pohang one of the principal port cities of Korea. A short 15-minute bus ride from Handong's campus brings us to the southeastern entrance of Sunrise Park.
Across the street from the park rises a series of apartment towers forming one of the many typical housings complexes found throughout the city of Pohang. If you visit nearly any sizeable city in Korea, you will see similar apartment buildings. There are countless numbers of them.
Under a beautiful blue sky, we enjoyed a wonderful walk up the hillsides and through the park's gardens with their lovely arrangements of enormous granite rocks, both hardwood and fruit trees as well as shrubberies and flowers. The trees are just starting to bud and the flowers are almost in bloom. The warm sunshine and the calm sea breezes made for delightful temperatures through the morning and into the early afternoon.
Sandy and I enjoyed our picnic lunch on the steps of the amphitheater that overlooks the sea, and then, having been recharged, we ventured back along the trials up and over the hills toward the new museum of steelworks that will shortly be opening. (Did I mention in previous posts that Pohang is the steel capital of Korea? Pohang is to Korea what Pittsburg is to the U.S. and what Sheffield and Birmingham are to England.)
After a quick bit of shopping at the local Lee Plus (like your neighborhood Walgreens without the pharmacy), we hopped on the next Handong bus back to campus and enjoyed a well-earned late afternoon nap. Our delightful day at Sunrise Park convinced us that Pohang truly is a sunny place!
