Doing the Goeje

This past weekend was spent relaxing on the shores of Goeje Island, the 2nd largest of Korea. 4 of us took the ferry from Busan and made the hour trek, in which I felt mildly nauseous (I hate that I often suffer from motion sickness)...Upon our arrival, we were starving and were hoping to find a quick orange cafe (cheap food, quick service, virtually EVERYWHERE in Korea) but nothing but seafood restaurants lined the streets. I hate seafood, which again sucks, but we finally found something similar to an orange cafe and got a taxi to the beach. Charlotte, a native to the island, wanted to take us to a nice sandy beach, but because Goeje is somewhat known for pebble beaches our taxi driver felt it necessary to dismiss her directions and take us to the main pebble beach instead. After seeing the pebble beach in Busan, I didn't find it necessary to spend a day at another one - it kind of makes for uncomfortable sun bathing. Frustration crept over me as we stomped through the stones, but it was already approaching late afternoon so I was fine with just relaxing on tubes in the ocean.

Pebble beach and the infamous yellow tubes, yellow tubes dot the shorelines on most (if not every) beach in Korea.

That evening we took another taxi to two look out points. Again, our taxi driver kept suggesting other places in which he wanted to bring us, but Charlotte put her foot down and told him where to go (she's often quite shy). Anyway, we got to our destination and the scenery coupled with the time of day made for some beautiful sites. Goeje reminded me a little of the British Virgin Islands without the touristy glam, ritzy sailboats and huge cruise ships.

We spent the night in a minbak which was a big room with a bathroom and half kitchen for $60 (split four ways). It was like an attic room with no air conditioning and 3 windows (one which was literally 2 inches tall). It was a hot and semi-uncomfortable sleep but cheap enough. Sunday was sizzling and we went to the sandy beach we originally tried to go to. Because buses are so few and far between we decided to hitchhike. After the 2nd or 3rd vehicle to pass, a kind man with a van from Busan picked us up and brought us to the beach and saved us at least $20 had we taken a cab.

The beach was sandy, so I was happy, and we were all really really really hungry. Again, it was a search to find something cheap and non-seafood but we did and while Charlotte and I stayed there to eat, the boys went a little further to find some kimbap. We paid the worker/owner woman and she started chatting it up with Charlotte and myself...of course I just stood there and smiled and nodded my head and then realized they were talking about me and how I look Korean, but don't speak Korean (gasp) and how I was adopted and don't know my birthparents and yaddi yaddi ya. As we left she yelled for us to come back and she refunded us the money we paid for lunch. Apparently, her nephew was put up for adoption when he was a baby and she often wonders what ever happened to him. I guess the fact that I too was adopted, and back in Korea, struck something in her that made her feel compelled to buy us lunch. We said our many thank yous and went on our way feeling as though luck was on our side.

We relaxed all day and I got a tad burnt. We all got banged up in the most unsuspected ginormous wave that threw us under and scraped us on the seafloor, but it was a great day. The beach wasn't nearly as busy as in Busan so we were able to stretch out, play frisbee, and rest.