Closing the Year in Mukho: A Healing Coastal Escape
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
As the year winds down, the writer takes a restorative trip to Mukho, a small port town on Korea’s east coast. A 2.5-hour train ride from Seoul brings them to the fragrant harbor where faded signs and quiet streets offer a freeing, unpretentious atmosphere. The piece highlights simple pleasures: a hearty local seafood dish (mulhoe), a traditional matcha experience at a teahouse, wandering mural-lined alleys (Nongol-damgil), visits to Mukho Port, the central market, galleries and a souvenir shop specializing in local photos. Scenic coastal walks lead to Dojebi-gol (a local dialect name) and the Haerang Observatory, with views from Mukho Lighthouse prompting reflection and a letter mailed to one’s future self from a “slow mailbox.” The writer ends the day barefoot on Eodal Beach, delighting in the lively, dancing waves and the calm renewal the sea brings before the new year.
