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Published: September 24th 2008
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Seopori Beach
At this point I should apologise for the unimaginative titles of the pictures. Normally I wouldn't bother, but this thing insists that I name every bugger. Last weekend was pretty amazing. It was definitely the highlight of my time in Korea so far and for that reason I hope you will forgive me for delaying this blog entry until I could get hold of some photos and give you a better idea of where I’ve been.
As you may recall from my last post, we have just had the Chuseok holiday here in Korea. Whilst Koreans celebrated it in traditional style, it appears to be customary for every Westerner within reach of the Incheon ferry port to descend on Deokjeokdo, an island about an hour off of the west coast.
Catching the earliest ferry on Saturday was something of an ordeal. This was partly because we had misjudged the amount of time it would take to get tickets and partly because they haven’t discovered queuing here yet. There were also a few anxious moments when we were asked to write our passport numbers on the back of our tickets and none of us had our passports with us. Some just risked leaving it blank and some wrote some random digits and hoped for the best. I gladly took the opportunity to make a passport number
comprised of all my favourite squad numbers.
So we just about made it on to the ferry where, as I looked around, all I could see were fellow foreigners. There were lots of people to meet during the high speed ferry journey and throughout the weekend and the weather was incredible. There was a real sense of adventure for me as I didn’t know all that much about where we were going, other than ‘it’s supposed to be really good’.
When we arrived on Deokjeokdo, we were met by a mini-bus that would take us (very recklessly) across the island to the hostel we were staying in. It was a 1 minute walk from the beach and cost the equivalent of £12.50 each for the whole weekend. Part of the reason I wanted to post some pictures here is that I suspect, like me, you will find it hard to believe that this island is part of South Korea. Perhaps I was doing Korea a great disservice but I never expected to see this kind of place here. This island is described in my Lonely Planet as ‘the most scenic island that can be reached from Incheon’. I
haven’t seen the others to give grounds for comparison but this one would definitely take some beating.
The weekend itself followed a very simple but nonetheless enjoyable pattern. We would be on Seopori beach all day, chatting to new people, swimming in the sea, and playing football. Come the evening, we would dump our stuff at the hostel and head back to the beach to set off some fireworks (not me!), drink some more (not me!) and sit around campfires until silly o’clock the next day. I must admit I was more for going to bed at a reasonable hour but this was all excellent fun and in many ways felt like a holiday within a holiday.
Despite the chilled out vibe and the partying on the beach, my favourite part of the weekend took place on Sunday evening. This was when I got to hop, skip, and jump my way up the rather uneven and unofficial looking path to the top of Deokjeokdo’s biggest mountain. It had caught our attention when we arrived as its peak is marked with a small pagoda which is visible from just about anywhere on the island. There was also a pretty
decent view of it from our hostel window.
It took about an hour to reach the top and it was well worth all of the sweating for the spectacular views. If anything I was quite proud to have fake Home and Away style sweat patches that were actually genuine! Again my waiting for pictures is vindicated here because you can see the views for yourself. We timed our trip with the aim of being at the top for the sunset. Gladly we made it in time but it meant a pretty hairy journey down in the dark with unpredictable ground and lots of tree cover and strange animal noises. I was given the task of leading us down and luckily we made it safely thanks to a decent light on my mobile phone screen but the descent took a while longer than the climb! For those of you familiar with the recent wanderings of a certain brother of mine, this climb was probably quite pathetic in comparison. By my standards though, it was great.
At the end of the long weekend, it was a real wrench to leave the island. It had been a brilliant adventure all round
and I could happily have stayed there for much longer. At least there was consolation in knowing that the locals, although few in number, were probably very glad to see the back of us and already dreading next year’s invasion by uncouth foreigners (again, not me!).
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Dad
non-member comment
nice schmice.
Looks like you had a brilliant weekend. Great to see some pics, well worth the wait - keep them coming. Speak soon, Love code D