Chinn Stew: California Beach in Korea.

We've not celebrated birthdays as well as we hoped this year in Korea with traveling and a pretty full schedule. Yesterday we tried to catch up a bit by celebrating Daniel, Mary and Robert's birthdays with a trip to California Beach - a water park in Gyeongju, a historical resort area about an hour's drive from where we live in Pohang. Water parks have been a favorite with the kids since we visited Schlitterbahn in Texas back in 2011 during Dad's magnificent family adventure road trip around the US. California Beach is aptly named though it is in Korea. The park brought all sorts of memories back of the beaches in Southern California with a constant stream of American music piped in. We were the only non Koreans I saw in the entire park which was surprisingly busy despite it being just the beginning of the summer season with schools still in session. Susan will post a few pictures to give you an idea. The kids all gave it a thumbs up and rated it on a par with the water parks in the US. Mary's favorite she called "lazy river" where you float on inner tubes around a long canal with occasional surges of surf to propel the tubes and add a bit of excitement. They boys seemed to enjoy the surf beach and assortment of water cannons and dropping water tube rides. Susan was delighted with "Palm Springs", a large jacuzzi like pool with lots of stations around the edge with jet streams of hot water to massage your body in seated, standing and reclining positions.

I must admit that I felt a bit of pride in possessing a California driver's license in my pocket. I was tempted to show it off to the Koreans walking by who had come to the park to catch a bit of the Southern California culture they obviously admire. I sometimes notice this same reaction on campus when Korean university students learn that our family is from California.

There are a couple of cultural oddities you will find at California Beach that you would be unlikely to encounter at any other water park outside of Korea. Most water features require the riders to wear a life jacket and all water activity required us to wear either a bathing cap or hat while in the water. The PA system periodically would announce a reminder that you must shower off any sun screen or tanning lotion before entering the water. Clearly hair and oily skin are not welcome in the water. The reward was remarkably sparkling clear water throughout the park. The other interesting difference from water parks in the US was the locker rooms. They were nice and modern in every way. It was striking to see the comfort level that Korean have with public nudity in the locker room showers and dressing area however. This reminded me very much of locker rooms in the US some 50 years ago when I was growing up. I suspect it is related to the extensive use of public (and quite ornate) bath houses here in Korea where they have separate areas for men and women to bath in large indoor pools and where bathing suits are, at best, optional. It was a great day for all of us and we are already talking about the possibility of getting season passes to get us through the exceedingly hot and humid Korean summers!