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| south korea |
| ulleungdo |
| During my school's Chuseok holiday, Christa and I went to "Ulleungdo: Mysterious Island" three hours (135km) by catamaran ferry off the East coast of Korea. Ninety-two kilometers further and you hit Dokdo, a group of three uninhabited (other than military) islets currently claimed in heated debate by both Japan and Korea. Ulleungdo was beautiful, dramatic rocky cliffs rising out of the middle of the ocean. Only about 11,000 people call Ulleungdo their home, it's fairly isolated from the mainland. Most of the people that live there are fisherman and Ulleungdo is famous for squid and Korean pumpkin taffy. They also claim that there are no thieves, snakes or pollution, but lots of beauties, stone, water, wind and juniper trees. During the summer it's a busy destination filled with tourists, but during the winter the island receives a dumping of snow and the ferries don't run as often. |
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| In front of the catamaran ferry at Mukho harbour in Donghae and arriving on Ulleungdo. |
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| Squid drying on racks in Dodong-ri harbour and an ajummah cleaning squid. |
| After arriving and checking into our hotel, we made our way to the Tourist Information booth. A man, who spoke English very well, introduced himself as Mr. Lim and then offered to take us around the island. We said that we'd come back in a few hours and meet him again if we had any questions. From there we took a concrete trail that winds along the base off the cliffs around the harbour to a lighthouse overlooking the Jeodong-ri. The walk was amazing, the trail is just a few feet above the ocean and winds in and out of holes and through small caves. The water was clear and I could see all the way to the bottom. At the end of the trail, there is a small beach and a military look-out post. The soldiers showed us the trail through the forest to the lighthouse. On the way back, they brought us drinks and showed us some of their Taekwondo moves. |
| A Korean military outpost at the end of the trail and looking back towards Dodong-ri harbor. |
| In the bamboo forest below the lighthouse and looking out from the cliff towards Jeodong-ri, the next city over from Dodong-ri. Below, Jeonbu Harbor. |
| We met up with Mr. Lim later that afternoon and he agreed to take us to Seommok and Jeonbbu (small fishing villages) and Daeha-ri where some of his students lived. We had to catch a boat to Seommok and then hitchhiked into to Jeonbu. Soutthida, Tom R., Tom B., Melvin and Naegyong had also come and were staying in Jeonbu. While Mr. Lim went for lunch in Jeonbu, Christa and I hiked up a small road to a Buddha statue. The mountain behind it was beautiful, like a stone dagger, perfect on all sides, sticking right out of the island. From Jeonbu, we took a small van up a winding road to the Nari Basin (also known as Nari Crater). There are several farms here because it's the only place on the island where the ground is flat and also reconstructions of Korean traditional thatched houses. We had lunch at a small restaurant. The lady who ran it spoke perfect English and was very excited to talk with us. We had pancheon (a vegetable pancake), sanche bibimbap (rice, gochujang, a fried egg and mountain herbs and vegetables only found on Ulleungdo) and some dondongju (Korean rice wine) to wash it all down. |
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| After lunch, we took another bus to Daeha, a small city on the Western side of the island. Mr Lim was supposed to teach an English class, but we ended up just hanging around with his students. The village was very small, and there were thousands of squid drying on racks in the sun. We managed to see Soutthida, the two Toms, Melvin and Naegyong by chance on a tour bus in the same village. |
| Near the beach in Daeha, was this cave, Hwangtogul, which means "yellow soil." Once every three years, the governor of Samcheok city on the mainland was sent to Ulleungdo to check up on the island. He presented soil from this cave to the king of the Joseon dynasty as proof of his visit. To the left of the cave was another trail that lead around a small cliff. The metal cat-walk was bolted to the cliff-face by steel cables and hung a good 30 metres or so above the crashing waves below at some points. It had been severly damaged by a typhoon earlier that year and looked very dangerous. The kids assured us it was safe and we climbed on as it creaked and swayed. Fortunately, we made it across and were treated to a beautiful basalt, wind swept beach, devoid of plant life just above splashing waves. There was also a small concrete dock and a little abandoned house. |
| "You really expect me to walk on this thing?" |
| Seongha-Shindang, the memorial altar below was founded in 1137. It's in memory of the legend of a young couple who were left on the island to fend for themselves during an invasion of Korea. When people returned to the island, they found only their skulls remaining. Apparently, those skulls are contained within the altar. Mr. Lim told us he was writing a fictional novel based on this very legend. |
| This secluded beach was really beautiful. It was obviously meant to be easily accessible to the public before the typhoon destroyed the walkway. There were stairs and handrails set into the basalt stone and a small pathway that led to the dock. |
| We ran into this kid running around pantless through the racks of drying squid. He was completely mesmerized by the two foreigners before him and laughed as he ran to hide behind his mother, who was hanging out her washing just out of frame. |
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| After waiting a good 30 or 40 minutes for a bus in Taehan, which then took us on a scenic and bumpy (I was literally thrown from my seat) ride around the far side of the island back to Dodong-ri, Christa and I decided to walk up to Mineral Spring Park. On the way up, I snapped this photo of Daewonsa Temple. The park features an outdoor rock-climbing wall, mineral spring, cable car up to Manghyangbong peak and the Dokdo Museum. Christa went up in the cable car and I opted to go cheap and stay on the ground (it cost almost 5000 won). She did manage to take some beautiful shots of Dodong-ri from the top before heading back down. I spent the time in the Dokdo Museum, but there wasn't really much to see. The building was beautiful, but everything was in Korean. There were a few nice paintings and a bunch of old photos of Korean's on the island. Afterwards, we headed up a small paved road to the mineral spring. It's supposed to offer all kinds of health benefits. I took a few sips. It had a very distinctive metallic taste and was even slightly carbonated, kind of like soda water and rust mixed together. There was also a little outdoor gym and I made a feeble attempt at some chin-ups. |
| On the way back to the hotel, Christa and I stopped into a Norae Yeonseupjang "Karaoke Practice Room" (you can see a guy singing in the background) and Arcade. I almost had that stupid little stuffed animal. |
| The next day we took a boat on a two-hour trip around the island. It passed by all the major coastal sights, including several animal and human shaped rocks. There's a lion, an elephant, an angel and even The Angel's Toilet (which was just a rock face covered in bird crap). It was a nice trip, but the tour guide spoke only Korean the entire time and I really had no idea what was going on. It was also pretty crowded with Korean tourists. |
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| Here's the Elephant Rock from the front and the side, with the dagger-shaped mountain in the background, just outside Cheonbu. |
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| There was a massive landslide just a few months before we arrived. It totally destroyed the main road around the island. The route was still undergoing repairs when we drove across it, but had just been reopened to traffic. You can see it on the left. |
| After docking back in Dodong, Christa and I hired a cab driver to take us to the Bongnae Waterfall. When we arrived at the base, he informed us that the waterfall was closed because of a landslide and that it would be another 10,000 won or so back. Being the troopers that we are, we decided to try and get up to see it anyways. |
| There weren't any tourists around, just a few people in a coffee shop near the base of the trail. It was only blocked by trail-tape, which we easily managed to sneak through. The rest of the hike up was fairly pleasant. It was a good 15 minutes before we came upon any major damage. The second bridge had been totally washed away. A few careful steps on some boulders and we made it across, then another five minutes up to the falls. The concrete lookout point had also been destroyed and we were able to walk right up to the base of the falls. |
| There was a "Natural Wind Cave Air Conditioner" near the entrance to the park. Basically, it was just a tiny room, connected to a cave by fiberglass panels made out to resemble real rock. There was a slight breeze and the room was fairly cold inside. |
| That evening, we met Mr. Lim for some fishing near the harbour in Dodong. While I managed to catch about three good-sized fish, Mr. Lim ended up catching five. Christa, no matter how hard she tried, came up empty. She was so determined to catch something that she even met Mr. Lim again at 5am the next day to try again...unsuccessfully. |
| Trying out some of the local cuisine in Cheonbu. |
| See, we didn't even have to get a hotel. We could've just stayed in the baggage lockers in the ferry terminal. |
| Our last day on the island, we decided to head to the local sauna for some rest and relaxation. Before the trip, Christa and I grabbed a couple beers at the local mart. This Korean man, who spoke English fluently, approached us. He explained that his he was on vacation with his wife and that she had just told him that morning that she wanted a divorce. We really just wanted to get to the sauna, but he kept buying beers and talking. It was interesting, to say the least. He told us that he taught English at a high-school in Seoul. He had never studied outside of Korea, and was a prime example of how well you could speak English without ever going abroad. Halfway into the converstaion, he pulled another foreigner out of the crowd, a girl named Peregrine from Louisiana. He began discussing intimate details of his life, none that I'll express here, but let me say it was a little bit more than we wanted to hear. Eventually we got to the sauna, and caught the late afternoon ferry back to Donghae, on the mainland. |
| Thanks Christa for letting me use some of your pictures from this trip! |