We had to leave (again), this time departing Pohang for Ulsan and then Seoul. Thankfully, we had some time this morning before we needed to depart via coach bus, so I had time to pack the little that I had not done the previous night. I met with my group in the morning and we made progress on finishing deciding on the organization of our presentation.
On the hour ride to Ulsan, I just found myself staring out the window. We traveled South, along the coast, and saw incredible views with the coastline and smaller fishing villages. On my left would be the beautiful blue water and on my right were individual farms, many flooded for growing rice.
After we arrived in the city, we had a brief lunch provided for us. I noticed that I have become much more familiar with chopsticks, and I only drop food on occasion. The food is also normal to me now, as I frequently eat kimchi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
We briefly visited a museum about the history of Hyundai, which was very interesting. I especially enjoyed the factory tour, however, where we saw hundreds of workers applying parts to countless vehicles. The doors are taken off early in the process so the workers have easy access, and parts trays follow the cars around so that the workers already have everything they need. I was surprised that there was not as much automation, but I learned that the frame assembly is mainly where robots perform those tasks. I also learned that cars are inspected as they travel down the assembly line, and some are tested after final production.
We then saw how the cars are loaded onto the huge ships to be taken to other places overseas. The ships can carry 6,000 cars, but they are only loaded with 3,000 to 4,500 vehicles for safety purposes. Workers individually drove the cars up the ramps and parked them so that they were ten centimeters apart, and a minibus followed to retrieve the drivers back down. Some of the drivers were a little reckless, which we all found funny as we watched them.
After visiting the plant, we traveled to the KTX train station and thankfully were able to leave on an earlier train than planned. After arriving in Seoul, I walked around Myeongdong for maybe one last time, and I really enjoyed it. I had multiple hotteok, chicken on a stick, cakes in the shape of fish, and coin cakes. I am going to miss walking through the busy market, as it was one of my favorite memories while in Seoul.
