Chuseok 2013: Busan, Ulleungdo, & Dokdo

Chuseok is Korea's Thanksgiving.
Many Koreans go an spend time with their families during this time. Most foreigners see it as an extra vacation to go on an adventure. This year was a lucky year and the holiday lasted for 5 days due to the lunar schedule and the weekend. It can be as short as 3 days and as long as 5. Kelly decided she wasn't going to be heading to Seoul but wanted to travel this year. After much discussing an deciding, we finally chose to visit the mysterious island of Ulleungdo and try to see Dokdo while we were there. Unfortunately we waited too long to book our trip and at first we thought we were not going to be able to go. Luckily through connections of my director, we were able to book a 3 day guided tour for the last three days of the holiday. With our two extra days in the beginning, we decided that on wednesday we would visit Busan and test out one of their city tours. Thursday was our "date" day and we went out for a steak dinner and to a movie. We saw separate movies, however so it really wasn't like a date.

Busan City Tour:
I visited Haeundae and Busan quite a bit when my parents were here, but with any city in Korea it seems, there is always more to see. We chose the more coastal bus tour and luckily it was an area I had not yet seen, but had wanted to. Our first bus was a double decker (they all are) but this one had an open top! It was a beautiful sunny day so it was quite a treat. The bus for the day only costs about $10 and is a hop-on-hop-off tour. We started with 75 Square. It is a coastal course that has a stunning view and a nice trail for walking. The highlight of the day was seeing Taejongdae. When we hopped off the bus we were immediately greeted by a man in a van to take us to the dock for the tourist boat. It was a little random to me as a foreigner, but Kelly didn't seemed phased so we went for it. It was rather inexpensive. Just $10 for about a 40-minute boat ride. The views from the boat were really exceptional and I was able to get some really nice photos. After our bus tour had finished we did some exploring on foot. Our last stop was to BIFF Square. BIFF stands for Busan International Film Festival. It is quite popular and runs every October. There are a ton of movies playing from all over the world. The square is basically a marketplace of food and vendors selling various things such as imitation brand name handbags, watches, socks, and your traditional Korean souvenirs. A lot of the theatres that play movies for BIFF are along the square as well. At first we treated ourselves to some Turkish ice-cream. It was pretty good. Kelly really wanted a fake Chanel wallet and we found one for a pretty good deal. She kept asking me why I didn't want to buy one, and I had to explain how things like that have no appeal to me. I think she was confused. It's just not the Korean way! We also stumbled upon a watch stand that had a ton of different kinds all for $10. We couldn't refuse. In the end Kelly and I bought the same watch and it's our joke that we have "couple" watches now. If you weren't aware, Korea has this huge fascination with couples having and wearing similar items. Usually its the same shirt, or hat, or shoes, or watches, or all of the above at one time. When I first got here I thought it was really quite cute, but now I think it's ridiculous haha. Our last stop was at a sock stand and I bought some to send home because they have some really interesting and hilarious pairs.










Ulleungdo & Dokdo:

Our trip to Ulleungdo was not a short one. We first had to head to Ulsan University area which was where the bus was going to pick us up to go to Pohang. Pohang is where the ferry port is. Our ferry ride was going to be about 3-4 hours. We made sure to get some anti-sea sickness medicine because all the blogs I had read mentioned getting sea sick. We arrived in Ulleungdo just after lunch time. The first view of the island is beautiful. It is quite small but most of it hasn't been developed and is really natural. Our tour package included our lodgings, basic food with options to upgrade for an additional fee, and bus tours each day. I was the only foreigner in our tour. It was really insane when we arrived and I think that on average, there are most likely more tourists than locals on the island constantly. Our bus tour took us to a waterfall and a beautiful observatory. Both were not easy to get to and required quite a bit of hiking. Once we returned to Dodong City, we were given free time to wander. There was a really nice walking trail along the edge of the island. During our walk, we came across some foreigners who were jumping off one of the bridges into the water below. Koreans believe the swimming season ends in August no matter how warm it is in September. You could tell they were thinking "crazy foreigners" as they were talking by haha. They were quite friendly and we exchanged pleasantries. We ended up going to bed rather early the first night.
Our second day started early. We were going to be able to head to Dokdo! Most days you can't head there due to visibilty and water conditions. The ferry ride was about 2 hours one way. I really liked the ferry ride there because our tour all sat together and everyone was sharing whatever food they had haha it was quite comical how much food I was being given. Once the boat gets to Dokdo, we only have 20 minutes on the actual island to take our photos and then we have to leave immediately. There is also only a limited area civilians are allowed to walk on. The island itself is guarded by a number of soldiers and some of them are quite serious and others are quite friendly. All of them gladly take photos for you.  If you don't know the history of Doko, I highly recommend reading up on it. It is quite interesting. Those 20 minutes flew by and after taking many photos, we were headed back for Ulleungdo again. The soldiers waved us farewell and I couldn't help but think how lonely they must be to stay there constantly.
After Dokdo, we had some lunch and then got ready for another bus tour. This was a long tour and the majority of it was spent on the bus. We stopped at places for short spurts of touring time and to take photos. All the places we went were really stunning and beautiful. Ulleungdo is known for their dried squid and pumpkin products. I am not a huge fan of dried squid but I did try some and it definitely was the freshest of dried squid I have tasted.  We bought some to bring back as gifts. Our last stop on the tour was to the pumpkin bread store so I purchased some pumpkin bread and pumpkin taffy for my students. When we got back on the bus the driver surprised me by buying me a bag of pumpkin jelly (similar to jujubes). I think he felt bad for me because the whole tour is in Korean haha. For dinner we headed to a beef shop and the food and service were less than desirable, but I got complimented by the group sitting next to us for my ability to eat Korean food. I think they were referring to my style. I guess they expect foreigners to fumble with their chopsticks and have a look of uncertainty. Luckily I have observed Kelly well and love all Korean food. It felt nice to get a compliment like that.
Our last day was a free day where we got to choose from a selection of things. Kelly and I chose a boat tour and riding a cable car. Early in the morning we were told that the boat tour was cancelled due to the weather, but we were still able to ride in the cable car and saw beautiful views. Lunchtime was when tragedy struck. Kelly received a call from our tour coordinator that the ferry back to Pohang had been cancelled. It was due to the weather and the water conditions. We were stuck, no other way off the island. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, however the next possible ferry was not until 3:30 the next day (if it was safe enough) and we start work at 1:30...That means that our academy would have only one teacher all day long to teach all the classes...We knew this wasn't going to go over well but there literally was nothing we could have done. Our director reacted pretty badly and stopped contact with us all together. This had us panicking and worried about our fate at work when we did return. It turned out that we were able to leave the next day and as much as we were eager to get home, we were also reluctant to face our director. It ended up that she didn't say anything to me and pretended like it never happened. I guess my job is safe! Haha
Overall I loved this vacation and am really happy I had the chance to see both Ulleung and Dokdo Island!