Osan Air Base and Town

Since I was caught up on all my paperwork, the ship's store was in good shape and had enough funds on hand, I was looking forward to getting out and exploring South Korea. There was not much to do in Pyeongtaek, so I took a bus to Osan Air Base. It took a couple of hours to get to Osan from Pyeongtaek so I caught up on some sleep. This would be the first Air Force Base I had stepped foot on.

I had two days to spend in Osan, the first day I wanted to get out and explore the markets. I had been hearing about special blankets obtained from South Korea since arriving on the ship and had seen them in the berthings, so I knew that was what I wanted first. Every street had a least a couple of merchants selling them. I was not prepared for the variety and different materials, some were thinner blankets with composite materials and others were thick filled with cotton. I could buy one with my favorite team or one with animals or just stick with my favorite color. I bought one of each after bargaining for the best price. I like to bargain, it is a new skill that takes a while to develop.

South Korea is known for one more major product, leather. The other major item I was looking for was a nice leather jacket. I had not seen anything I liked in Japan plus my size is a little larger than most stores carry. Right before leaving town for the night I finally found a leather jacket store next to the base. He specialized in providing jackets for the military and found one that fit me perfectly.

Getting back to the ship proved much harder than I had anticipated. The waves combined with a strong tide stirred up the harbor. My liberty boat could not depart from its mooring until they died down. My SUPPO was thinking about arranging hotel rooms for us overnight back in Osan, luckily the conditions did improve a little. The ride out was unsettling and when we arrived at the ship the waves were still bad. About midway through disembarking the crew from the liberty boat, one of the mooring lines snapped and recoiled. No one was hurt so a new plan was formed. The liberty boat was repositioned with the bow pushing against the temporary pier and the rest of the crew jumped out.