I don't know why I was expecting the trip to be more college students, but it quickly became apparent that our group were the youngest in the bunch. The tour group is more geared towards English teachers, who generally range from late 20's all the way up to the late 60's.
The trip left from Hongdae, one stop away at about 11pm. We rode about 4 hours to watch the sunrise on some beach. This being Korea, it is famous for having been the set for some drama or other. It was kind of disappointing though, as the cloudy weather meant no glimpse of the sun rising. So off we went to board the 2.5 hour ferry out to Ulleungdo.
We saw these squid drying everywhere! They are popular snack foods, and apparently a cornerstone of the economy here...
The ferry wasn't too shabby, seats were better than on an airplane. So it was a nice relaxing nap on the way there. Once there we took about a 4 hour bus ride around the island, stopping at different points to take pictures.
This is called "Woman's Rock" because of its resemblance to some female parts (or as my friend Devin would call it, the "Cavernous Cave of Death"). It is also known as the "I'm Coming" rock, which our tour guides explained by having the driver pull into the opening, stop and reverse not once, not twice, but three times to drive the point home...
This is called "Woman Hills", can you see it?
Since this trip was mostly school teachers, it was also mostly American. I met a bunch of people from places like Indiana (2 of them!), South Carolina, and New Jersey. You know, all of the beautiful places in the US that you wouldn't want to leave! The only down side that most of these people were the whiny Ugly American types who acted like they were on Spring Break. So while there were some really great people, there were also others that remind me of why some people should really be more prepared for living in a foreign country (ie at least learn how to say "thank you" after you've been here for almost a year...).
On the second day we went to Dokdo, a disputed rock in the middle of rough seas that really only means something to the Koreans and Japanese who fight over it. Beyond the nationalism issues I think it has a lot to do with fishing waters. The thing is that I paid about $40 to get on a ferry for 2 hours, step onto the island (which is rare with the weather) where you had less than 2 blocks worth of area where you could walk for 2 minutes, and then do the 2 hour ride on rough seas back. Thankfully I was able to sleep on the way back, otherwise it would have been very unpleasant.
This is a better view of Dokdo (on the back of a seat headrest...) than we actually got on the boat.
View from one side of Dokdo, amazing that it was even able to be taken with all the Koreans jockeying for position of vantage points...
And side 2 with a friendly soldier.
Later in the day we all walked down to the bridge so that everyone (other than me) could go jumping. Of 11 people I am the only one who didn't jump. I wouldn't do it in the US, so why start there? I know that I can answer the question of "If your friends were all to jump off a bridge would you?" easily. I would not, but I will of course take pictures!
That night we went walking by the fish market and came across some of the group guides. The guides bought a fish to eat raw and wanted to share with us. The huge thing was normally about 120,000W but they talked them down to 60,000W since we were students. They told us we could all go sit down and wait for it to be brought to us, but we decided to watch the process. I have video of the head still beating after being cut off and of their crazy knife skills skinning everything. And after watching the thing be butchered I of course had to try it.
Later in the night I broke off from the group and hungout with some of the English teachers. Love the I-House folks as I do, it was a great chance to get to know some people. I always love hearing people's stories of how they have come to be in Korea. Some of my favorites was a group of three women (on each from South Carolina, Kentucky and New Jersey). We were sitting on the steps in front of the hotel talking when the guy who had been following people around came over to take pictures. We called him Captain Jack, and he kindly offered to take me on a motorcycle ride. I of course politely declined. We were all having fun when he sat next to me and got a bit too friendly...
This picture is hilarious, but comes with a word of warning for any of my female friends who ever go to Korea. Ladies, the man sitting next to me is a sterotypical ajashi. Or an old Korean man who thinks foreign women are loose and that there are no physical boundaries. And yes, this picture captures the moment just after he groped me....
The last activity before leaving Ulleungdo was a hike/cable car ride to what was I think the highest point on the island.
Right before boarding the ferry we all went to grab lunch. I split a bulgogi pizza with two of the guys, a decision that would soon come back to haunt all of us...As we were coming back a huge storm was coming in. Something about typhoon weather. Anyways, what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride turned into over 3.5 hours of non-stop up and down, side to side thrashing that left 2/3 of our group seasick. And I don't mean just once, I mean 6-14 times for some people. I didn't get sick, but it probably would have been better if I had. I couldn't sleep so spent the entire time with my iPod blaring so I couldn't hear people and with my eyes closed. I have never been soo happy to have reached land in my life!
Traffic made for an excruciating trip back, especially as everyone was still sickly from the ferry ride from hell. But all in all, it was an awesome long weekend away from Seoul.
The full album from the trip can be seen here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035038&id=65202369&l=d9d0ed45cd
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