I am very sorry for taking such a long time to write a new post. We have
been very busy with work, and exploring different areas over the
weekends. One of those weekends was spent on the Island of Jindo, which
is located near the southern tip of Korea. It was a 6 hour bus ride down
there, but the experience was definitely worth it.
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| Jindo Bridge connects the island to the main peninsula of Korea. It is the longest bridge in Korea. |
Jindo is a unique little island. It is a sea town; very small with farming communities and fishing villages. A phenomenon happens every year between Jindo Island and a small neighboring island called Modo. The Yellow Sea parts, and a narrow strip of ocean floor is exposed and creates a pathway to Modo Island. Every year there is a festival, so we figured we could not pass this up.
We went with a group called Seoul Hiking Group, which is organized by this guy called Warren. He is pretty funny. He is short, wears tinted glasses, a fanny pack, and a giant smile. There were fights in the hostel we stayed at, there were stresses of not enough places to cook food, one of the buses broke down....but this guy was happy and smiling the whole time. Whenever he got the chance when talking with everyone, he would throw up the peace sign and say "I love you!". It was quite hilarious.
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| This guy organizes giant events for giant groups of crazy foreigners. A brave soul, if I've ever seen one. |
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When we arrived to Jindo, we dropped our belongings off at the hostel and made our way down to the festival walkway/entrance to the beach. There were thousands of people. Many tourists, but also a lot of locals. The big benefit of the sea parting, other than the money that comes in from out-of-towners, is that when the sea floor is exposed, a lot of sea creatures are stranded in the clay mud that lines the ocean floor. Since Jindo is a giant island of sea villages, all of the locals come out and start digging for clams, muscles, crabs, etc. You can buy a small bag and some gloves for 1000 won, which is about 1 dollar, and dig and collect to your heart's content.
When the sea began receding, people walked right up along the water's edge. Some to get the amazing experience of seeing the ocean part before their eyes; others to get prime real estate on clam digging.
Even Moses made an appearance....
The next day (Easter Sunday, of all weekends), we were bussed to the Jindo Dog Kennel Club. Jindo dogs are the famous. They are very smart, very obediant, and have a lot of energy. I was told by my friend that if they do not get walked or played with enough, they get anxiety and just go crazy. We saw many of these dogs in the kennel, as well as puppies in the open area. They were so cute!
Honestly, it was really cool to see these dogs, but I was trying not to think about the bad stuff that they do to them to make them do tricks. Just outside of the kennel club, I saw several of these dogs chained up beside the road, some of them in cages with no flooring, with some sort of skin disease. It was very sad, but that's a different story.
After visiting with the dogs, we went on a hike along the coast. It was the first time I had seen the ocean in months, and the first time that I could take off my sweatshirt and lay out in the sun.
After our hike, we saw a traditional Korean Arirang performance that included drums, singing, and dancing. It was great, and very interesting to experience this cultural celebration of history and music. I have been raised to really appreciate the music and dance of other cultures, so this performance was very special for me. The whole time, I kept thinking "My mom would love this!!!"
All in all, it was a great experience. We arrived back at our apartment very late (due to one of the buses being out of service), but the trip was worth the tiredness the next day. This is something I would definitely do again, and if you are ever in Korea during early spring, I highly recommend going to this natural phenomenon! Mother Nature is awesome!
Sidenote: I've been getting news that more people want to hear from Kyle. I will try to get him to write more posts : )
