Having just gotten back from a weekend getaway to a nice little island, it occurs to me that I’ve spent a lot of my time with this blog doing exactly that – going to islands. It started all the way back with my very first trip on The Journey to Borneo, continued throughout Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and more recently brought me to Ulleungdo last summer. Maybe its everyone, but I’ve always enjoyed the experience, and maybe I should be keeping that more in mind as I continue my traveling in the years to come.
But before that it’s important to note that islands are not the only places I go to explore. The last month or so has seen me seek out obscure places within Seoul itself, and it is my duty to inform you as best I can about all of them.
End of April
When last I had my week off, I happened to wander around the edges of Seoul and the Han River, to a sort of eco-park focused on wetlands. At the time everything was a bit dry, but I did find a nice tower viewer that lets me see across the river. I saw a man walking around what appeared to be a tiny shrine on a mountainside, with no other discernible landmarks that indicated how to access it. So I dedicated my weekend to finding it.
Turns out it was a rest area on a short hike around the mountain accompanying Haengjusanseong Fortress. The site of an important victory during the Imjin War, it is today a river-side picnic area where families come for the weekend to relax. I spent about an two hours there and found the view to be spectacular.
Beginning of May
Way back when the Playgroup of Destiny worked to move Francis from one place to another, he had made mention of an area that was famous for having a lot of women during its night life (compared to man-inundated Incheon or Seoul). He called it Cheongna, some area I’d never heard of, but that sits just north of Incheon and across from the international airport. I’d taken a brief interest in the area after visiting the War Museum when I discovered that the majority of this area were tidal flats until maybe the early 90’s. Most of the land was not there, not to mention none of the people or buildings. And so I decided to go give it a gander.
I happened to really like it. Running from the closest subway station at Gajeong on Incheon’s Line 2 and nearly all the way to the coast was a very well-crafted stream-centric park. Every two blocks or so the stream gave way to pools with restaurants or café’s surrounding and community rest areas in the center with a smattering of art. Children ran to-and-fro, adults enjoyed americanos at a table, and a solitary man kayaked down the calm waters. At the end there was a fairly large lake with a beautiful fountain show and buildings for concerts. There were also a few historical education installations around the it. The exact center was closed, sadly, as they are currently constructing a subway station for people to come directly here. Which is good, I suppose, as the walk from the subway currently takes around an hour and a half.
To be honest, though, I quite liked the walk. It was very much unlike Seoul, and oddly enough, it reminded me strongly of the K-Town in Shanghai that a previous girlfriend lived at. A quieter life, but with all the amenities you could want. I’d happily go back for an afternoon with friends if given the chance.
Ijakdo
Here we come to the most recent excursion, in which three colleagues (Rachel, Cathal, Cassandra) and myself headed to an island. Korea is a very mountainous country, and that sort of geography gives rise to archipelagos. While chains of islands spur the imagination of picturesque island living, modern society doesn’t always lend itself to ensure the perfect island paradise comes to fruition. Size matters, children need to go to school, and unless your island is ideally placed for tourism the best jobs tend to be elsewhere. Regardless, the locals tend to love their unique origins. They work hard to make it a place worth living, sometimes worth visiting, and many will go out of their way to help you feel welcomed. Ijakdo was no different.
About an hour away from Incheon by ferry, the name originally derives from words meaning “Pirate Island,” which is pretty cool. During the Imjin War, many Koreans fled the mainland and hid out on the island. Once the Japanese were chased out and the home islands closed their borders, some Japanese made the islands their home as well. From there, it became a base for some of the Wokou Pirates operating in Asia at the time. While I can’t seem to find an exact population for the island, someone made a few comments suggesting it was between 150 and 200. Small, but with a lot of character.
They had an awfully nice Grandma Spring, which has water with the miraculous power to grand pregnancy to those who drink it. By all accounts, I should be pregnant any day now.
They also had a very lovely beach. It was cold. Very cold. And we continuously made the joke we were in an early 2000’s videogame because all the fog prevented us from seeing too far off into the distance. A beautiful sunny beach vacation, marred by the fog of the sea. We chatted on the beach for a few hours waiting for a chill to break that never did. Not what we expected, but a unique experience we all never-the-less enjoyed. Some of these rocks are over 2 billion years old!
The “towns” were full of beautiful whimsy as well. As far as I could count there were about 3 communities, two on each side of the island, and one somewhat in the center of the island. Cassandra, our wonderful island guide who lived here for six months, said they competed for tourism and were headed by a “village elder.”
The center community was distinct but not governed as such, mainly serving as a way-station to the popular southern beach nearby. The café in the photos played the latest hits from the 1970’s on a one-hour loop, but the two folks running the place had Knick knacks from all over the world, ranging from worn baseball gloves, to hand-carved dinosaur statues, and a working crossbow.
There was also an old film produced here way back in the day. Called Island Village Teacher (섬마을 선생) (1967), it involved a teacher from the mainland coming to the island to teach and facing the challenges of life on an island lagging behind the development of the world. They built an entire set for the film, though I am unsure if it was ever used as an actual school at any point. Its… seen better days, but still attracts a great deal of tourists hoping to visit.
In the short 48 hours we visited Ijakdo we did no less than: hang out on a beach; ate a delicious BBQ dinner with locally sourced crab; drank; slept in a modest pension; walked along another beach; climbed a peak to be greeted by little more than mist; ate some amazing fried chicken with a local blueberry yogurt shake; and left having giggled ourselves nearly to death over the entire weekend. It was a stellar time.
Time is speeding up on my end here in South Korea, but it was nice to take a break with good friends to explore the smaller parts of the country. I’ll end up having about two weeks in country to explore as I see fit once the job is over, and I’m hoping to get articles out like I did before, chronicling the step-by-step exploration of the world and its people on The Journey. See you then.
Onto the next!