SOUTH KOREAN SECRET
Another island you’ve never heard of
IT must be said that I am not a morning person. I treasure my sleep the way others treasure oxygen. And so, when I found myself waking up before the crack of dawn to catch a bus one day in September, I grumbled something along the lines of, “This better be worth it,” while I cradled my coffee life-support.
As it turns out, Ulleungdo Island in South Korea is worth 1 000 early mornings and sleepless nights.
One of my life goals was to see as much of Korea as possible while I was living and working there.
I had set about achieving this goal with great fervour, marking off every place I’d been to on my map of Korea, from small rural towns to huge overwhelming cities, drinking in the unique sights and sounds and smells.
Ulleungdo was barely on my radar, as it had been overshadowed by more ostentatious places such as Seoul and Jeju Island. In fact, when I told my friends that I was going, some had never heard of it.
When I had no plans for the threeday Chuseok holiday, I made a spontaneous decision to book a four-day trip to Ulleungdo Island with a tour company.
This was how I found myself on a bus with a bunch of people I’d never met before. It was the beginning of a journey that would create many new memories for me.
It was a long journey. We travelled through the night to get to the ferry terminal but our ferry would only be leaving at 9am, so we had four hours to kill. We booked into a jimjilbang, also known as a Korean sauna (see box).
The notion of sleeping on the floor was a very new one for me. Maybe I was just exhausted from all the travelling but I slept like a rock.
Later that morning we boarded the ferry. The seas were rough and it was a long way but the island’s jagged cliffs finally came into view.
We checked in to our motel and were told to get ready for some “light hiking”.
Our trip leaders had never been to Ulleungdo before, so they were not familiar with the hiking trails, but they had a map and they felt confident about the excursion. We set off in the early afternoon on a hot summer’s day feeling fresh and ready. Over four hours later, we no longer looked or smelled fresh, and the only thing we were ready for was collapsing on the ground in a pool of our own sweat!
Our leader had underestimated the hiking trail and our “light hike” became a trek that resembled scaling Mount Everest itself.
However, once we reached the Seonginbong Peak, at 984m, the views made it all worth it.
From the top of the mountain, we could see most of the island in all its raw and natural beauty and the neighbouring smaller islands.
From up there, immense cliffs jutted up from the turquoise water. Mountains were covered with emerald green trees. Colourful squid boats floated in the harbours. It was paradise.
The next day we explored the little fishing village. It is a very small island, so the population is small and it is easy to drive around the island’s perimeter in a short space of time. We went on a beautiful cliffside walk that involved walking down spiral, seethrough stairs that never seemed to end. Not for anyone afraid of heights!
In the fishing village, we saw thousands of squid on drying racks.
On the final day, we could do whatever we wanted. Some of my friends were planning to go kayaking that day, so I decided to join them. We all crammed into the bus like sardines in a tin.
It was my first time kayaking and, much to my delight, the kayak was see-through. It was so peaceful out in the open ocean, marvelling at the surrounding emeraldgreen sea. We nearly missed our bus back because we were enjoying ourselves so much. It was a very long trip back due to the holiday traffic. In fact, it took 13 hours to get back home. But it was so worth it. I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful Ulleungdo is. Not even the pictures do it justice. It is so raw, rustic and untouched. If you really want the rural island feel, you should go. — © Michelle Nel
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