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Published: August 4th 2008
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Well, as it worked out in my contract I was alotted 3 days vacation (5 including Saturday and Sunday) until Christmas so I decided to make good use of my time. I had thought about what I was going to do with my time for ages and I knew I had to get out of the city, but where? I had waited for a friend of mine to decide if she was going to come with for some time and she never really decided so I held off booking anything and before I knew it the time had come.
So Wednesday night I packed a bag and was out the door Thursday morning to some place that wasn't here. I headed to the train station and decided to buy a ticket to a place called Mokpo. It lies in the southern portion of South Korea and there is a major ferry terminal that heads out to numerous islands to the south and west of South Korea. I ended up getting to the ferry ticket office 30 minutes after the last boat had left for Jeju-do so I had to spend the night in Mokpo, which was fine for me as I
had never been there before. The ferries for the next day were sold out but because I was a foreigner they made a special arrangement to get me on the ferry the next morning. So, that afternoon I decided to climb a miniature mountain, but since I am not in the greatest shape it felt like Everest! The stairs never seemed to end and I was drenched in sweat and thought of turning back numerous times but I kept on in hope for a nice photo. Turns out I did get some good pics at the top and it actually felt like I had accomplished something. Anyway, now it was time to go down which I thought would be the easy part, boy was I wrong! Down the other side of the mountain was a beach that I want to check out so I started down in what I thought was the right direction and everything seemed to start out fine. However, the first of many forks in the path that I hit on the way down brought arrow signs written in Korean. Shit, I knew it was a pure gamble which way I went and since I enjoy the
odd gamble I thought it could be fun. But, the forks kept coming and I would go down, then back up to another fork and then down and back up again. I thought I was never going to get off the mountain, as it is tree covered so I couldn't see which way down was. I finally kept making my way down and near the bottom I was just making my own path: Down! I ended up popping out in someones backyard which was kind of funny. I headed back for a shower and some food and that was pretty much it for me for the night.
The next morning I did catch the boat and it was well worth the 5 hour trip as the air was clean and the scenery was such a fantastic change from the dullness of Seoul and Incheon. However, in my enjoyment I forgot to apply sunscreen and paid the price of a sweet sunburn that left me looking like a tomato for the remainder of the trip and then some. Jeju-do is known as Korea's holiday and honeymoon destination so there was definitely love in the air. However, is it entirely necessary that
these couples wear identical outfits???? It was very strange for me to see and I got a nice chuckle out of it all. Upon arriving in Jeju the question was where now? I don't know...get on a bus I guess. So I grabbed a bus and headed down to the southern portion of the island. It was worth it as the views were great and there were a few waterfalls to check out, it was quite soothing. The only thing about travelling here is that there are always loads of people everywhere you go. In Australia, I pretty much had complete isolation when I was travelling the southern portion and this was quite different. Not to mention it's like 40+ there everyday. Regardless, it was beautiful.
The rest of the trip was pretty much a plethora buses, beaches, temples and taxis.
All in all, I am glad that I got off my ass and did something adventurous. There's nothing that beats travelling when you have no idea of where you are going and how you are going to get there. My last night there I stayed in a motel called the Topdong. I suppose it's ironic that I stayed there
since I do consider myslef to possess one of the best dongs out there! lol ! The icing on the cake was the sunset in capital city on my last night. Check out the pics! Travelling back to my apartment took close to 12 hours leaving me quite exausted for work the next day but I made it through. Anyway, enjoy the pics and I hope all is well back home.
cheers!
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