Sat, Jul 31
After the last day of English camp, my epic three-week summer vacation finally begins. This morning, my friend Michaela and I catch the bus to Geoje at 9:20. It's a two hour ride, but soon enough we're entering the underwater tunnel that'll take us to the island. While we wait for Christy's bus to arrive, Michaela and I get kimbap and dumplings and then walk a sweltering 15 mins to a cafe for bright blue drinks. We meet Christy back at the station and take a taxi to our hostel. It's kind of off the beaten path so there are some nice countryside vibes here. Weirdly, a guy we randomly met at the bus station also showed up to the same hostel minutes after we did. Half concerned for our lives and half baffled by the coincidence, we quickly hop on a bus to our first destination - Maemiseong fortress.
We walk down this small winding road crowded with shops to the pebble beach where this fortress stands. It's not technically a fortress, just one man built the stone structure in 2003 to protect the coastline from storms. It's very aesthetic and exactly my vibe, plus the weather is perfect now that it's late afternoon. We spend a while exploring and taking photos, even waiting in line for the perfect shot, before trekking back up the hill for some soft serve. We decide to take the scenic route to the cafe so we head back down to the beach just in time for a gorgeous sunset. The clouds seem to explode in reds and pinks as we stumble over rocks and up some stairs to the air-conditioned bliss that is the Discovery Pool Cafe. We chill inside and then out on the balcony as night falls over the sea.
We take a bus to an absolutely delicious Italian place with garlic bread and ravioli to die for. You know it's legit when there are Italians sitting at the table next to you. We miss the last bus to our hostel by minutes and have a little fiasco running across the street then running back only for our taxi to come on the opposite side of the street. We make it back eventually.
Sun, Aug 1
First off is fancy brunch - french toast for me - at a place near the hostel overlooking the countryside. To escape the sudden rain, we then duck into a cafe across the street. It's so cute! I get homemade lemon tea and we take our shoes off to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.
Buses are a bit of a hit or miss around here so we take a taxi to our first stop. We get stuck in traffic for a while and end up having to pay a lot more. The sailing tour place is not doing sailing tours today and there's nothing else to do really in this area. The bus times at the stop nearby aren't updating, probably because of the standstill traffic. It's scorching hot and a wasp is harassing us so we're all feeling a little dejected. Luckily the bus eventually comes and we soon make it to Gujora Beach.
It's incredibly beautiful with the glittering blue water surrounded by mountains. We temperature check, then rent an umbrella and swim for a bit. It feels so nice to cool off in the waves.
Now we're on a time crunch to make the last boat tour so we change and catch a cab down to Dojangpo Port. We speed walk down a huge hill and make it just in time for the last boat at 5pm. It's about 45 minutes around the south side of the island. The main draw is Haegeumgang rock, called the Diamond of the Sea. Surprisingly they take us in between the giant cliffs. It's a really cool ride along the coast and the sea breeze off the ocean is so refreshing.
We get a quick dinner at a local seafood restaurant, the specialty around here. Christy and I share sea urchin seaweed soup and abalone rice porridge. Michaela gets raw fish bibimbap. It's all delicious.
At sunset, we take a short hike over to Windy Hill, famous for its windmill overlooking the incredible view. A perfect end to the day.
We get so lucky and immediately catch a bus back to our hostel. Also we find out no buses or trains are running to Yeosu tomorrow... Taxi it is...
Mon, Aug 2
In the morning, we take an incredibly expensive 2 hour taxi west to Gwangyang just north of Yeosu, have a quick lunch, then take a 45 minute bus to our hotel at the south end of Yeosu.
We drop off our stuff, meet up with our new friend Vilma, and walk to the Angel Mural Village, known for pretty murals in all the small alleys.
We take a break for smoothies at a cafe with an amazing view over Yeosu and the bay. We get a call from our hostel in Geoje, the taxi driver accidentally overcharged us and drove all the way back to the hostel where he picked us up so he could contact us to refund us. We're surprised by his honesty and give him a tip for all the trouble even though tips are rarely given here.
Next, we walk around Yi Sunshin Square on our way to get burgers for dinner. There's a statue of him in the middle and a replica of the turtle ship he invented nearby. He's an important historical figure in Korea, having been a Joseon Dynasty war general with many victories over Japan.
After dinner, we get to the cable car hill at sunset and it's absolutely gorgeous. There are so many people and we end up waiting two hours until our numbers are called to ride. At first the black view from the cable car is underwhelming, but we crest a hill and the whole bay with its glittering buildings and suspension bridge comes into view. Just stunning. I play Yeosu Night Sea (by Busker Busker) while we cross and hope the ride never ends.
We land on a small island and continue to take in the view from the observation point. A lady named Jiyeong overheard our English conversation and introduced herself to us. She was so friendly and dragged her reluctant son (Jason) over who turned out to be an English teacher who'd lived in America for a few years. We make conversation for a while, Jiyeong starting a group chat, inviting us all to her home in Anyang, and clearly trying to initiate "friendship" between us and her less than interested son. It was fun, hilarious, and so sweet.
We say bye and taxi to our hotel for the night.
Tue, Aug 3
Starbucks for breakfast then bus to Ungcheon Beach to swim. Koreans almost always swim in full swim shirts and shorts so we foreigners get a few looks. It's overcast but the water is nice.
We walk to tiny Jangdo island just because and take some photos in some shells. One passing lady makes it clear to us that it's a "nice pose!"
We get ice cream then bus back to Yi Sunshin Square. It's boiling hot so we take refuge in a cafe before dinner. There's a cute dog inside!
We get pork belly bbq for dinner and head back to the hotel for a few games of uno.
Wed, Aug 4
It's a 2 hour bus west through the countryside to Boseong, a tiny town known mainly for one thing. We have about two hours to spend here, but it should be plenty.
We take a taxi to the Boseong Green Tea fields, but once we arrive we aren't sure what to do with our bags. The taxi driver offers to hold them in his trunk while he works and then return when we're ready to leave. In any other country I would never do this. But it's Korea, the land of trusting strangers with your things. We enter the magical tea fields bagless. It's really like walking through a Studio Ghibli movie, the woods with the rushing stream are so peaceful, even with the cicadas. The hills tiered with green tea plants are beautiful and not too crowded. When we get too hot we buy green tea ice cream and souvenirs.
I call the taxi driver and in broken Korean tell him we're ready to leave. He says we should have a short wait. We walk out to the road and ten minutes pass, no taxi man. It's getting down to the wire, our train leaving at 3:08. There are no other buses today and the next train doesn't leave till 8pm. It's about a 12 minute drive to the train station, but 2:55 and still no taxi. I call him again and he says he'll be here soon. He shows up right at 2:58pm, we hop in, and desperately try to explain our situation. He laughs and shakes his head but points to the "best driver" sticker on the windshield, says he's "number one," and steps on the gas and does not take his foot off the whole time. We fly over the thankfully traffic-less roads and make a 12 minute journey in only 8. We pay, leave a tip, and grab our bags that are miraculously still nestled in the trunk. We made it, just as the train is pulling up. We all collectively sag into our seats after boarding. Then my phone rings. It's the taxi driver calling to make sure we'd gotten on the train. What a legend.
The train to Gwangju is an hour and a half. We check into our AirBnB, say goodbye to Vilma, and crash for a minute
For dinner, we eat a Gwangju specialty - tteokgalbi, grilled beef short rib patties. As usual in Korean restaurants, they bring out all the sides first, plus lettuce wraps we can use with the beef. Then a beef bone soup that's so good. We all down the soup so the staff brings over a giant bowl of the stuff so we can serve ourselves. We order the hanwoo (premium) and regular tteokgalbi and find they're both delicious but think it wouldn't have made much of a difference to get just the regular. We're stuffed and see what everyone says about Gwangju having the best food in Korea.
We go to Ponte Vecchio cafe (bringing back great memories of Florence for me) for red bean shaved ice and nice conversation.
Then we wander back to our hotel which is located in a historic market - 1913 Songjeong Station Market. It's a charming street lined with shops and restaurants. Each storefront must get strict permission to remodel and must keep at least one original element - signboard letters, shop structure, or store color. Metal floor plates state the origin year of each store, ranging from 3 years old to over 100.
Thu, Aug 5
We start the day off with a trip to Daiso for a cheap hat then another Gwangju specialty oritang - duck soup - for brunch. We take off our shoes and sit on the floor traditional style at this restaurant. The soup is served on a burner with a side of water parsley and perilla seeds to add in as needed. I'm enjoying it but my companions are feeling a bit under the weather and do not.
We briefly venture into the May 18th Memorial Park which commemorates the democratic uprising that started in Gwangju in the '80s when Korea was under a martial law government. Protesting university students were murdered by police and the conflict escalated. There's a lot of controversy and mystery shrouding the event following government cover-ups and lack of media coverage due to the city being blockaded from the rest of the country. It really was a horrible event full of atrocities, but it sparked the democratic movement in Korea.
It's excruciatingly hot so we get gelato and chill in a bakery/cafe playing cards for a while. We do some thrift shopping then fail to find a place open for dinner.
On our search for food we stumble across Democracy Square, the spot where the uprising mostly took place. We pass by the Jeonil Building, also called the 245 Building because of the 245 bullet holes found along the outside shot from a helicopter-mounted gun. A huge fountain occupies the center of the square so we get a few photos, cool off in the refreshing mist, and then make our way back to our place. We order another Gwangju specialty - cold buckwheat noodles - for dinner and chill.
Fri, Aug 6
We're out at 8am to catch the train to Jeonju, the last stop on this leg of the trip. Arriving two hours later, we head to our hotel - a traditional hanok - to drop off our bags. Tonight we'll be sleeping on futons as per tradition.
We briefly walk around town a bit and stop by a handicraft exhibition hall/shop before going to a traditional paper shop. The teacher isn't in, but the artist who has some works displayed here is and he tells us to come back in an hour. He even lends each of us a paper fan to take with and give back upon our return. The trustfulness of Koreans is truly surprising sometimes but in the nicest way. Thank god he did though because we regret even thinking of going outside in this sweltering midday heat. Christy isn't feeling well so we walk to a nearby pavilion for some rest. It feels so good to take off our shoes, lie down, fan ourselves, and nap in the shade.
An hour later we return, give back our fans, and start the class. Each of us take turns dipping the sieve into the mulberry husk/glue mixture, picking flowers, and sandwiching them between the paper we made. From there we fold the notebook papers and bind it all together.
It's 5pm by the time we get back to our hanok and find a place for dinner - Veteran. They have really good kalguksu - knife cut noodle soup - that I've been dying to try again.
After dinner we take a break at a rooftop cafe with some fruit smoothies to calm the heat. All the hanok roofs look beautiful in the evening light.
The weather is more bearable now that it's nighttime so we wander the hanok village a bit just looking around. We get some street food - octopus skewers for me, spicy chicken skewers for Michaela, and candied strawberries for Christy - then head back for the night.
Sat, Aug 7
We sleep in a little and have breakfast on the second floor of our hanok - coffee and fruit juice with jam toast on the house. We check out then walk around a bit more until we can't bear the heat and have bibimbap at Hanguk-jib for lunch.
Then we go to Gyodong Dawon - a traditional tea house - to chill and soak in the peaceful vibes.
We pick up our bags and head back to the train station to catch our 5:30pm train to Gunsan. Christy and I say goodbye to Michaela who's going back home.
We arrive at 6:30 and get a cab to our hotel where we meet Kat and Jamie who will be joining us for the next leg of the journey.
Stay tuned for part 2! Thank you for reading~
Here's my video about week 1 of my summer vacation!
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