Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Chuseok and myserious Ulleungdo

So I'm now writing about something that happened in the beginning of October and it is now almost November, time flies so fast when you work so much and rest so little. Anyway, this is all about what I did for Chuseok, it is a major Korean holiday.. kind of like Thanksgiving. We did many traditional things. I even got to wear hanbuk, the traditional Korean clothes.
First we had a traditional tea ceremony.



Me with my adorable babies.








Then we made seong cheong (or something like that), which are little dumpling balls filled with sugar, cinnamon and sesame seeds.









Then we did some traditional wrestling.








And a traditional stick throwing game, which teacher won (hohoho!).



My kindergarten! ALL MINE! I love being a kindergarten teacher more than I ever thought I would. They are the highlight of my day.




The best part of this holiday was getting Friday off!!!!! 3 day weekend! For this rare and special occasional I decided to go to the mysterious island of Ulleungdo. Ulleungdo is about a 3 hour ferry ride from Donghae(about 40minutes south of where I live). Everything I read about the island said it was was known for its rocks, pumpkins, squid, no snakes, and beautiful women. I can personally attest to the first four. Ulleugdo was absolutely amazing, the most beautiful place I've seen in Korea so far if not the world. It almost didn't feel like Korea aside from the Korean and drying squid all over the place.

Mukho <->Ulleungdo!




And the boat that brought me there!






First view of the island.. looks like Jurassic Park!

























After checking into the hotel we went on a bus tour around most of the island. Every rock here has its own name. We stopped at turtle rock, pictured below but too big to be actually pictured. There was also lion rock, llama rock, "I'm coming" rock, elephant rock, 3 angel/fairy rock, and nose, hand, and triangle rock (named by me).





















We saw a peaceful temple. At the temple my friend and I got invited inside to eat some potato pancake and sugar dumplings, the best I've ever had.














Views~!











We stopped at the only flat land on the island, inside an extinct volcano. Population of this town was 120 or something, population of all of Ulleungdo is only about 10,000.
At the village we had some pumpkin makkoli(the milky rice wine). I know that in a previous entry I said that this stuff tastes like "fermented cow jizz," but I'm glad I give it another go. It really does grow on you and makes you very silly indeed.










We woke up early the next morning to rain, but then the rain stopped and we went on an "easy" hike. PAH! yeah right! Just the road up to the trail winded me. Cement going straight up is killer for me. I much prefer walking through wooded trails.


"death"
But the way up got easier and the views were amazing.












Until the stairs came. And didn't end. At least my short legs had the advantage on the way down.












I am Mountain Conqueror!
At the very top of the mountain, you could see the Dokdo rocks.... the long contested territory between Korea and Japan.



On the way off the mountain.. we must have taken a wrong path somewhere. We came out on the highway with the city a million miles away. All the roads in Ulleungdo are in curvy cues, it would have taken forever to had gotten back. Yup. I hitchhiked! First time in my life, a nice family picked us up and dropped us at the hotel. 2 hours trekk back turned into a 5 minute drive. Thanks Korean family!



After lunch, we headed to the sea for a swim. The water was actually still warm. And so clear that you could see giant jellyfish, the biggest I've ever seen, floating far far in the distance.












My favorite meal in Ulleungdo was the mussel rice, it was so delicious! Second favorite was pumpkin pizza.



The streets were very tiny, and all one way. Also, just about everyone has a jeep here.. very different from mainland Korea where tiny cars rule.











Goodbye beautiful Ulleungdo. I will miss you!!!
The boat ride back was rough for most people, I took some motion sickness pills and zonked out. But a lot of people got really sick :( If you're going to Ulleungdo, I'd suggest you take a pill!










PS. I hitchhiked again on the way back to the bus terminal! hoho