Last Monday was the Korean Independence Day from Japan. Emily and I decided to take a little weekend vacation to an island off the southern tip of Korea. We booked the trip through a travel/tour group called Adventure Korea. This is the same company that took us to the DMZ back in the fall. We left Seoul about 12 a.m. on a charter bus and slowly made our way down south to the ocean. The bus trip was around 6 hours. We got to the ferry at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. The ferry ride took us to Geomundo Island, which was 2 hours off the coast of Korea.
After getting to the island bright and early on Saturday we had a few hours to do whatever, so we took a nap! Since we were on the bus for 6 hours and we left at midnight I hardly slept. I've never slept well on planes or buses. We stayed at a little hotel run by an older lady. Emily had stayed at places like this before. I was shocked to see that we didn't have beds! We each got a thick pad, a blanket, and a pillow to use. I didn't take a picture of it but I should have. The "bed" was more comfortable than I had imagined it would be.
The first thing we did on the island was take a walk up a hill to see a few graves of British soldiers. The British Navy had once been in this part of Korea to protect against the Russians. The top of the hill had a great view of the ocean. The rest of Saturday we hung around the island. We walked around a bit to check things out. It wasn't the nicest day so we were saving the big hike for Sunday. While at the island we had most of our meals at the same little family restaurant. The owners served us various traditional Korean dishes. It was the type of restaurant were you sit on the floor a little butt pads. Those restaurants are always hard on my legs since they are so long!
Sunday was a very nice day. We went on a hike that took about 4 hours. At the beginning of the hike we went what felt like straight up for 15 minutes. Then, we began to walk along the side of the mountain which overlooked the coast. Knowing my fear of heights I made sure to stay along the side of the trail that had the trees and bushes. There were a few parts of the hike that scared me but I made it through with no problems. The goal of the hike was to make it to a lighthouse that was off in the distance. We finally made it there after a couple of hours. The views from the mountain were awesome. I was able to take many good pictures. The ocean water was almost teal in color, it looked pretty cool. Thankfully it was such a nice day on Sunday for the hike. We were supposed to take the hike on Saturday but it was colder and it rained a little.
Now for the fun part. We were supposed to leave Monday morning and return to Seoul around 9-10 p.m. We woke up Monday morning and the wind was howling. It wasn't raining at the time but it had rained before we woke up. The island is very small and only 2 ferries leave each day back to the mainland. It was so windy that the 10 a.m. ferry was cancelled because the ocean conditions were horrible. We waited around in the little coffee shop and PC bong (rooms where Korean's go to play computer games) and messed around on the internet, waiting for any new news. As 2 p.m. rolled around the decision was made that we could not take ferry AGAIN because it was still bad out on the ocean. As much fun as it would be to stay there another day it put everyone in a bad situation. The tour group had 45 people in it. Everyone in the group was a teacher! Needless to say we weren't able to leave the island until Tuesday morning, which was the first day of the new school year at my school and most all Korean schools. I felt really bad that I wasn't able to be there to meet my new kindergarten class. I had contacted my AC (academic coordinator) and director the minute we found out on Monday that we couldn't go back. Although we are already short staffed because 2 people finished their contracts at the end of last week, they seemed to take the news well that I would not be there for the first day. Obviously there was nothing I could do about it since it was just bad luck because of the weather. All in all it was a good weekend trip even though it lasted longer than it was supposed to! Emily and I had the chance to watch many movies on TV Monday since it was windy and rainy and there was nothing else to do on the tiny island! We met a bunch of cool people on the trip. Also, everyone we met on the island was very kind and accommodating. It was a great way to spend the weekend. Note to self: It's probably not a good idea to visit an island when all you have is a 3 day weekend. Maybe next time I'll stay on the Korean mainland!
Ships in the tiny harbor
View of the ocean from the British grave sites
Elementary school
Memorial to the British soldiers that died here
As you can see taking pictures felt like being part of the paparazzi. This is Baekdo Islands. It was a chain of about 40 islands. It took our boat about 40 minutes to get there from Geomundo Island on Sunday morning.
Emily and part of the Baekdo Islands
The town we stayed at. This was taken while on the hike on Sunday.
Emily and I at one of the rest spots while on the hike
The very edge of the mountain
The lighthouse that we hiked to
The main road on the little island we stayed on
