Udo Island

After we experienced the glorious sunrise we indulged in a touristy treat, Dunkin Donuts :)

As we were sipping our coffee, it was only 7:30 in the morning and it already felt as if we had accomplished so much for the day. Ashley mentioned she had heard that spending the day on Udo Island was one of the best things to do, so we decided that is where we would head next. 

We swung by our wonderful motel to grab our backpacks, told the manager that we wanted to extend our stay for another night, and headed out to hail a cab. We were successful within minutes. But, as we tried to communicate that we wanted to take the ferry to Udo, our cab driver failed to understand our intentions. He showed us a message on his phone that read, "We have a very fast bus system in Southeast Asia." 

...I don't even think he knew what he was saying to us. We were stumped as to how our American accents were butchering such a simple word as "Udo." Luckily, we had pictures of Udo on our cameras from our morning hike. We flash the cab driver the picture and he knew exactly where we wanted to go. 

We arrived at the ferry terminal at 9:00 am only to find out that it wasn't opening until 10:00 am because of the holiday (Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving). Luckily, this put us at the front of the line. The whole place was packed by the time the tickets opened and not everyone was able to board the first ferry. 

Luckily, people seem very eager to help when they see lost/confused foreigners. 

Translation: "Two round trip tickets to Udo, please."

11,000 Won(KRW) = $11

Be right back, Seongsan Ilchulbong!

Hello, Udo Island!

Arriving in Cheonjinhang Harbor

Our friend who helped us purchase our ferry tickets also helped us to rent bikes to ride around Udo.

The circumferance of the island is ~13 km. We were instructed that it would take us about 3 hours, and that we should budget 1.5 hrs for bike riding and 1.5 hours for taking pictures. 

All we need to do is stick to one road...

Translation lesson:

do = island

So, technically Udo Island is actually U Island

ro = road/street

si = city

We live in Jeju-si on Jejo-do :)

We ran into Yunji and her friends, she's the one who helped us with translations to get to Udo! 

View of Seongsan Ilchulbong from Udo

Welcome to Beautiful Udo

Situated on the eastern end of Jeju Island, Udo Island was named because it resembles a lying cow. It boasts fertile soils, abundant schools of fish, and scenic sights; local heritage (female divers, stone walls, and stone tombs) and natural attractions abound on the island, making it a miniature Jeju-do.

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264182

It is literally heart breaking the amount of trash there is on both Jeju and Udo. 

It is such a shame considering the fact that the Jeju is considered a natural world wonder :(

Sculpture of Haenyo, woman diver, real-life mermaid.

This family might belong to a Haenyo, notice the wet suit on the dog house?

Seobin Baeksa, coral beach on Udo.

This is where we spent the rest of our afternoon after our bike ride was over. It was nice to catch some sun as well as a nap and finally truly take advantage of where we are living. 

Nothing gets better than a beach day :)