Geomundo Island

Over Children's Day weekend, us Seoulites escaped the city and ventured way down south to a tiny island for a bit of an island getaway. Geomundo is located halfway between the Korean penninsula and Jeju-do. It's pretty small, and very secluded (there isn't even an ATM on the island) and that made it the perfect place to chill out and forget about being a kindergarten teacher for awhile.

We left Seoul on Friday and rode a bus through the night. We got to the coast around 6 am, ate a quick breakfast and then boarded the ferry to Geomundo. Along the way we took a tour around the Baekdo Islands, which are a collections of over 100 small islands that are just chilling out there in the ocean. They all have creative names and great stories about their history - but the guide only spoke in Korean so we just took pictures and revelled in the bright blue water and clear sky.

Once we got to our hotel we had lunch at a local restaurant and then bummed it on the beach for the rest of the day. There were about 40 people that went on the trip - all English teachers of course - and we spent the afternoon getting to know one another and relaxing. Not many people swam, because the water was pretty cold. I thought it was refreshing - but it was too cold for most everyone else. (I can't lie, that made the Southern Californian in me a bit proud - I miss the Pacific Ocean. That night we shared dinner at another local restaurant. I ate rice since the main course was random fish soup and crab. Of course by crab, I mean those tiny 2 inchers we used to catch with bologna on a string in science camp as kids. They served them up whole, shells and all. Everyone just popped them in their mouth and crunched away. I passed and grabbed a coffee after dinner.

Here's a few photos of the day... I'll post more about the awesome Korean folks we met and our hike tomorrow. But for now, enjoy!

Two sunkissed blondies.

Dean-o was owning Ultimae Frisbee.

The girls on the beach. :-)

This was our home for the weekend... I miss it!

Sunset in the evening.

This was the main drag of the island. I loved the reflection in the harbor.. If it wasn't for the neon Baz Luhrmann cross, you might forget you were in Korea!

A typical Korean ajumma avoiding the sun like it's the plague.

Some of the 100 (I said the were small) Baekdo Islands...From the back of the ferry.

Very Lord of the Rings, right?

It was pretty windy on the boat.

So wonderful..