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Published: June 23rd 2012
Cheongsando slow roads
the snail indicates preferred paceAs I have been rather slow of late, particularly yesterday, it is with some interest that I am able to report to you that today was officially a "slow day" on Cheongsando, an island about 50 minutes on the ferry from Wando. It has been certified as the first Cittaslow (slow city) in Asia so you are told to slow down and just cruise! It is a little peculiar to see all these signs with snails on them and Cittaslow, which is a really weird combination of the Italian word for city and the English word which is not Italian for "slow". I was somewhat surprised to see that there is actually also a Cittaslow in Australia - any nominations? maybe Warrnambool or somewhere??
it was really only because I roused myself from the hotel at a halfway reasonable hour (well at least compared to yesterday) to go down to the ferry terminal to enquire about the times of ferries to Jeju tomorrow Sunday. Even according to the Korean tourism site it said that the car ferries went at about 3 PM. I was therefore somewhat surprised that there was also now a fast ferry (which only takes 1h 50
Wando ferry lady parker
having to back on not good - 3 men "assisting" mins) at either 9 AM or 3.30PM. It did not take me long to decide that I should be on the 9 AM ferry as that way I can maximise my time on Jeju and get out of there to fly to Busan and then resume my travels on the mainland (which will likely only be restricted to Busan or the near environs before I get a fast train to Seoul next Monday). So I bought a ticket for that and then asked where else I could go to another island. So I was boarding the ferry to Cheongsando (island) - which is only about 50 minutes away - at 2.30pm with a return on the 6:30 PM ferry. This would give me three hours to look at something on the island.
Little did I know that the island has been officially gazetted as the first Cittaslow until I got there and saw the snails on the signs. However before then a Korean man next to me began speaking to me in English. This proved to be Martin (Korean name Myunghak) and his friend with him was called Sung No. They were both in their 50s ywere off to
stay the night on the island. So as I only had three hours before the ferry returned to Wando we decided that we would do one of the "slow walks" on the island. There are six altogether, all fitting with the concept of the "slow city". It has all the become most famous to Koreans at least because it provided filming locations for a film called Seopeongje and a TV drama called Waltz of Spring. There is a house towards the top of one of the hills which was used in the TV drama and it probably draws a lot of Korean tourists in a Lord of the Rings kind of way.
The island is also somewhat unique because of the number of stone walls, which makes it look alarmingly like Donegal or something out of Ireland. There are all these blue wiggly arrows painted on the footpath to guide you in the direction of Path No.1 which takes you out of town, through the old stone houses and walls (once again like Ireland) and around the edge of a large bay. This is full of large pontoons which Martin suggested likely had seaweed growing in them (not oysters
as I first thought). Anyway it was a very nice amble to the top of the hill and then the spot of the house which featured in the TV drama - with cutouts of the characters so that you could pose with them of course.
Although the suggested time of the slow walk was 90 minutes I think this must have been one way and we had to turn back rather than go the full distance around the headland, or else I would have missed my ferry. We had some time before the ferry left so I suggested that we have a farewell drink. Martin suggested some of the local makkeoli (mild rice wine, in this case a very mild curry flavoured one!). This was enjoyed in metal bowls and I was assured it was only about 6% alcohol so seemed relatively harmless. We also had some small marine type snails, which you pick out with toothpicks. So that was an interesting four hours or so. They were staying the night on the island so I said goodbye to them to get on the ferry.
I went back to the restaurant where I had had my fried fish
last night but was told by the ladies either that they were now closed (it was only 8 PM) or else I was too much trouble to deal with! - (they had some people in when I came back past later). So I went to another one and decided that I would have hoe (raw fish) this time which they were prepared to do. So I ended up with a bit of crabs claw, some more marine type snails, bits of crab in shell, a plate of lots of thinly sliced snapper or similar fish, for dipping in soy/wasabi and also lettuce leaves to roll it up in if you felt that way inclined. And all for 20,000Krw ($18). The Lonely Planet bangs on about overpriced raw fish and so on in these sorts of places but I would hardly consider this over pricing. Th e LPrecommended as a non-fish option a BBQ place that does fried chicken etc. However I was equally horrified that that would have cost about 18,000Krw anyway! - which seemed to be ridiculously high considering that I ended up having a whole small fried fish for only 9,000Krw!
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Huddo
non-member comment
Slow times.
Hi Mike, How cool is that, a slow city, like the snail concept. Great you meet Martin and others on the road. The cut-outs on the Movie house were really good. Loved the ferry shots, watch that parking! Huddo.