Treasure Island Trip

so a couple weekends ago we had a long weekend for 'memorial day' its called. the plan initially was taipei but since its crazy rain season there we figured it would be better to just save the cash and go somewhere in korea where it wasnt rainy. so we decided on Baekdo Island aka Treasure Island. It was a good choice in the end since we ended up meeting up with friends who were also on the trip and the weather was gorgeous. We left Thurs night from Seoul and then the bus drove through the night to the ferry (we got there about 6) then off to the island. Once we arrived at the island we hopped right on another ferry for the 'islands tour'. this was a boat ride around all the little islands aka rock formations. it was reeally nice and there was even a nice korean tour guide who didnt speak any english ahah. it lasted about 2 hours i think . i was up on deck for most of it until the tippy'ness and the waves started to get to me and i thought i was gonna be sick. thank god for seasickness pills somehow remembered to pick up before we left. so after the tour we headed back to the island and to get settled into the 'hotel'. see, they dont really have beds here in korea at hotels so they give your a pile of blankets and a pillow and you get to enjoy the floor. also, apparently there was a trip cancelled before this wknd so there was double the people who need a place to sleep. so we ended up at this scuzzy place. our friends were at the nicer one. pretty much a palace compared to ours. i never thought i'd be describing a bed less hotel as a palace, who knew. the bathroom was siick. so after leaving our stuff in the room and meeting the roomie (aka a 30something lady from ausbeckistan who has been in korea for 10yrs) we headed to the lunch place. usually the food here comes with 'side dishes' aka leaf like plant things and kimchi to go with either lettuce sandwiches or something else. the side dishes were lunch. that was it. maybe about 10 mini dishes of plants and then some 4 slices of fish in the middle. and i dont eat fish. oh and soup with fish heads in them. mmmmm. so it wasnt quite what i expected after not eating since dinner thurs night (its was like 3 sat afternoon). so after lunch we just headed down to the beach and then met up for dinner later which was more of the same. the island is a fishing island so i guess why there was so much fish. we just met up with friends for a drink after dinner and then im pretty sure i went to bed at like 930 cause the seasick pills did something funny to me and i was off all night. it was nice to get a good nights sleep anyway since bus travels are never fun. so sat morning was hiking time! we met up for breakfast at 10 which was, if you can believe it bigger than both previous meals combined and deelicious surprisingly. it was this hot soup with tofu and various other things in it. with rice. yumyum. so after that the hike began. i think koreans like to stretch the truth a little bit when to comes to answering questions you ask them. i think a lot of it is because they think we (aka foreigners) will freak out on them if they tell us the truth or something that isnt what we expect. which is also why they apologize a lot. i think 'sorry' is the first english word most of them learn. so we were told the hike was 40min to the lighthouse and 40min back. i think it took about 40min to get the first peak. like it wasnt even close to what he said. the views were insane though, ive never seen anything like it. once we got to the first peak, we had the option to climb up one of the rock formations. the other girls didnt wanna do it but justine and i figured, WHY NOT! so we did. the climb up actually wasnt that bad and the views were out of this world. soo gorgeous. so once we made it back up we continued on the journey. i think it was about 3 hrs in, after going down stairs for 20 min we made it to a water area. and at this point the lighthouse seemed about halfway. ridiculous. so we figured there was no point continuing, so the 7 of us decided to head back. i forgot to mention the weather, it was at least 30 degrees outside not counting the humidex and no wind. so about 5 min in this wonderful pickup truck drove by and we hopped into the back and got a ride back to the beach. fantastique. so we spent the rest of the afternoon chillin in the sun, waiting for the beach to form. when the tide comes in every morning, the beach goes away. it re-appears around 2 or 3. so when i couldnt stand the heat anymore it was time to test out the water. it was pretty cold but tres refreshing. after that we headed back to shower and get ready for dinner. no need to elaborate on that meal, back to thursdays style, aka gross. after din, we headed to the other girls room (in the palace) and drank there and watched the csi marathon ahah. when we couldnt handle anymore csi, it was norebong time. whats norebong you ask? KAREOKE. you should remember from now on since i do it pretty much every weekend. there was a wait, the people before us we lovely old ladies. i am not even kidding they were like 60-70. kareoke was soo fun, the lady had to kick us out. sun morning we just got up, packed and headed to the ferry to journey back to seoul. on the way we stopped for a buffet lunch. ive never had a korean buffet before but it was pretty delicious. lots of selection. then about an hour after that we stopped at a korean folk village. i'd never been to one before so it was cool to see. lots of little shops and straw houses where people actually live. and a gigantic swing. too bad the kids were on it so i couldnt try it. funfun though. then it was back on the bus..it started to rain, got stuck in traffic. finally made it back about 10ish and then cabbed it home. overall a nice relaxing weekend!