Ulleungdo and Dokdo Trip

So, I've taken a little break from uploading the information for my Around the World Camp series...and writing in general...because I had a lot to do.  I've made a lot of life decisions and been working hard to direct myself again, but more on that later.  In addition to having the 4th camp in the Around the World series to plan and put together...and teach...I took a mid-semester "educational trip" to Ulleungdo and Dokdo, hosted by the Dokdo Foundation.




Ulleungdo is an island in the "East Sea"/Sea of Japan...be careful what you call it because it is a sore spot with a lot of Koreans.  It is quite famous for squid fishing and really a beautiful place.  It's rocky, no sand, and there's no reef so there are no big waves, but it's probably one of my favorite places that I've been so far.  Tiny and rural, but so peaceful.  It's not easy to get there either.  I went downtown the night before and hung around convenience stores until it was time to meet the transport.  Now, if I had been smart I would have gone down in the afternoon and stayed in a hotel until time to meet, but I honestly thought there would be at least one 24-hour cafe downtown, but there was not.  We had to leave Seoul the middle of the night and took the bus 4 hours to Hupo (although you can also leave for Ulleungdo more conveniently from Gangneung or Pohang) to catch the ferry.

Now, when I imagined the ferry, I imagined it being like the Staten Island ferry or the ferry boat that you go to tour the Statue of Liberty, but it was more like movie theater seating on a boat.  I'm not a big "boat girl," but a half-hour conversation with the local pharmacist in Seoul I was promised that I had the comparable medicine to Dramamine.  At any rate, the tour company also handed out motion sickness medicine and I figured it couldn't hurt and double-dipped by taking it too.

Motion sickness medicine, powder and pill form

Like I said, I really liked Ulleungdo.  It's super quiet and would be a nice place to "get away from it all."  We stayed a mountainside "resort" and had wonderful view.  What I didn't enjoy was the Korean -style tour, where its activity after activity crammed into a day, but not having enough time to enjoy any of them.  Just on the bus, off the bus, constantly.  I'd like to go back sometime when I have time to enjoy the island.

View from the room

Dokdo is somewhere really special.  Not just because its political history (it is quite the point of contention between South Korea and Japan), but because its two tiny islets (not islands) in the middle of the sea and incredible peaceful.  Or it would be if you weren't crammed onto a ferry with hundreds of tourists and scrambling to make the most of your photo op in the allocated 30 minutes you are allowed on the limited dock space on the islet.  True story.  You only can only go along the dock on the east islet for 30 minutes before you are forced back on the boat back to Ulleungdo.  All that being said, it's an incredible feeling to be somewhere not many people go and almost completely surrounded by nature.