So for all my dedicated blog readers it shouldn't come as a surprise that I haven't "blogged" in quite a while. I am limited on the amount of time I have to write about my last month because in 4 days I will be leaving Korea for the Philippines...and I will want to write about that when I come back. So I am going to write about the last 4 or 5 weeks as briefly and detailed as I can. (I'm not going to lie...I have been dreading writing this for quite some time.)
Brett and I bought tickets to go to Jeju Island sometime around late April/early May. Jeju Island is like the Hawaii of South Korea. It is south of South Korea. The plan was to go with Bill, Jess, Ryan, and Diana. We were going to only splurge on the flight (about $180 round trip) and then sleep on the beach when we got there. "Ahhh...how nice it would be to sleep on the beach and wake to a beautiful sunrise!!" (Of course everything sounds better in theory!!!)
When June 12th rolled around (our trip dates were 6/12-6/14), Brett and I booked it from work to the airport. We met Bill and Ryan at Gimpo airport, and Diana and Jess were scheduled to meet us the next morning in Jeju. SOOOO....that meant I got to spend the night with three guys (something that might have seemed more exciting if I was still a giddy freshman...in high school.) Actually it wasn't too bad...they're great guys.
Bill, Me, Ryan, and Brett
Our flight was about 50 minutes, so that meant I had just enough time to open my book and read about 5 pages.
We decided it was best to stay near the airport because we would have to go back in the morning to get the other girls...and frankly we had no idea where we were. Of course none of us had done any research (I guess it's part of our "fly by the seat of our pants" charm.) We took a cab somewhere...and then walked to somewhere...and then decided to pull up a chair outside some restaurant. We weren't eating there, so Bill was convinced that if we spread out the map on the table they wouldn't make us leave. He figured we could pull the foreigner card, and it would look like we were lost or something.
We stayed there for about 1 1/2 hrs and I got to listen to the boys divulge some pretty embarrasing stories. Then the people at the restaurant called our bluff and made us leave. We walked around some more until we found a place to sit down and have a few drinks. We spent the rest of the night laughing and posing for the camera with some new Korean friends.
When 4 a.m. rolled around and the bar closed, we were out on the street again. None of the guys wanted to pay for a motel so Bill came up with the brilliant idea to sleep at the airport...great. Turns out that didn't mean sleeping IN the airport, it meant sleeping on the sidewalk halfway down the street, as the airport in Jeju closes at night.
The Hobo Deluxe -- I'm the lump in the front of the picture...and Ryan is the guy in the back.
I didn't realize how cold it would get at night. So I wrapped up in my beach sheet and tried to at least get 1 or 2 hours of sleep. Get to say I've done it...NEVER want to do it again!!!
what you look like when you sleep on a sidewalk and bathe in an airport sink
We rented scooters to ride around the island for weekend, so while I waited for the girls, the boys went and picked them up.
hahahaha
We ended up gaining two others on our weekend excursion...Connie and Brenda (they are both Korean and very helpful to have around.) Connie rented a car for the weekend with a navigation system...so we followed her around the island on the scooters. We looked like a regular gang riding those scooters in our vintage helmets...watch out Hells Angels!!!
Our wheels
some of the gang
Jess, Diana, Me
hahaha...Ryan
The first beach we stopped at was Hyeopjae Beach. It was gorgeous...white sand and clear water!! I could see my feet all the way out. I realized then how far away from Galveston I was. We spent a good part of the day relaxing on that beach.
snails
the sky
if we were a band...
After a while, we decided to scoot to another beach. Somehow we ended up at Jungnum Beach.
The sand was a completely different color and texture. It was beautiful though. It seemed like we were on a different island. Connie brought some wine, and we all enjoyed it on the beach. About thirty minutes later, Brett realized that he had lost the keys to the scooter while we were enjoying the wine. Finding keys in the sand didn't sound very promising, add to that a rapidly setting sun and chances of finding the key became very slim.
me searching for the keys
everyone searching for keys
Group consensus: Look for the keys tomorrow...or send Brett an hour back to the airport to get new ones.
After dinner that night, we went back to the beach and started a fire. We hung out for about 2 hours...just enough time to finally get the fire going.
Bill, Jess, Diana, and Brenda decided they wanted to sleep on the beach. Brett, Ryan, Connie and I decided against it, so we stayed at a nearby pension (for $7 a piece.) I think that was one of the best decisions I have made in my life.
The next day Brett and I scooted back to the airport to get a spare key for our scooter. (We scooted on another one of the 3 scooters we rented.) Scooting is fun, but this ride wasn't so much. Brett had locked his sunglasses in our scooter, so he had to wear mine so he could see while he was driving. By the way, don't be fooled when I say we rode scooters. Those things can go!! I was sitting on the back of a fast scooter with tears streaking my face (since I had no sunglasses) and I'm pretty sure if I would have opened my mouth my cheeks would have been flapping and I would have had spit flying behind me. Oh...and the wind was FREEZING cold on the scooter (That's why I was dressed so sexy for most of the weekend.)
We did accomplish our mission, and got a key for the scooter, but unfortunately the man didn't have a key to the brake lock/alarm. (Brett lost that too.) So in place of a key we were armed with a hack saw. (I got to sit on it the entire scoot back to the beach.) Hahaha...poor Brett had to hack saw the silly brake alarm off...and it was going off the entire time. We looked a little ridiculous sitting outside the Hyatt resort...me in my beautiful attire and Brett trying to break into a scooter. All ended well though. We threw the still ringing alarm into the scooter trunk and rode off to another beach.
The third and final beach was Iho Beach. It was closer to the airport and not quite as spectacular as the previous two, but still nice.
The sand was a little darker at this beach. Brett and I had dinner here. We ate a bowl of bibimbap with raw fish on top. For our appetizer we were served kimchi (duh) and some snails. I had 2 but got grossed out because you could see something in them that looked like poop. Brett liked them though.
snails
pulling out "poopy" snails with a toothpick
eating a "poopy" snail on a toothpick
"the spread"
We laid on the beach for a little while longer then took the scooters back and said our goodbyes. Our flight left out at 9:30pm...we got back at 12:15 am...and woke up for Kid's College at 6:30 am.
P.S...Jeju gave me some sweet burn lines...
...maybe not as cool as Ryan's though!!!
