So I'm off the mountain (see previous post). I wandered along a road until I came to a beach. I found a dseerted dock with a bunch of beached fishing boats and sat down to read my book. My guidebook said that this is a popular recreation island for Seoul-ites, but so far I've barely seen a soul, and none of them have been tourists.
This is a great spot, though, and I'm expecting that I'll be staying here for the rest of the day. Just me and my book. Then I hear some yelling from a house a little ways down the beach. I turn to see a man waving. He must be waving at me because I am definitely the only other person within about a 1/2 mile radius. The man ran up to me and in halted English asked me what I was doing. I did not need a translation to understand his surprise that I was there. His name was Sok, and he invited me to lunch.
Sok
He ushered me to his house, went inside for something and came out with another man who appeared to have some sort of developmental disability. I'm pretty sure the man was a little scared of me. We climbed into Sok's small pickup truck, and he drove us to the only restaurant that I saw on that side of the island. Once inside, we met up with another man, and they ordered several dishes to share, including a seafood soup that was outstanding. While this island may have a lot of Korean tourists later in the summer, it was pretty obvious that they don't get a lot of foreign tourists. While we were there, I noticed several middle-school aged children peek into the restaurant, stare at me, and then giggle and run out. Every time they came back they had more kids with them. Even a few adults came in just to get a glimpse of me. Sok explained that it was very unusual for the islanders to see anyone who wasn't Korean.
After lunch, Sok offered to take me on a tour of the island. I accepted. (I'm sure this was against several regulations for US service members overseas.) I was so glad I did. We spent hours travelling around the island, exploring places I would never have seen without a vehicle and a tourguide. We stopped at beaches and points of interest along the way. I felt a little bad taking up Sok's entire day, but he never acted like he had anything else he preferred to be doing. It was a beautiful island, and after about 6 weeks in Seoul, I needed a peaceful weekend.
According to Sok, this beach is packed in late July and August, but it sure is peaceful on July 4!
Another beach I would not have found without Sok's kind help.
We took a short hike to get to this beach on the other side of the island. Not too far away, we met an older couple who were gathering sealife on the beach. They had buckets of small shellfish (looked like tiny limpits) and octupi. Sok talked them into letting me help gather the small octupi. If I understood correctly (they spoke no English), they used some for themselves and sold some at a fish market. It was really neat for this island-girl who is pretty comfortable pulling crab and clamming to have that kind of cultural experience.
Toward the end of the afternoon, Sok and I passed this house and stopped because it is unusual to see such a traditional Korean home being built.
We visited with the two women who were building the house. The woman kneeling must have been in her late 70s and only had one eye!
It was a lovely day made possible by the kindness of a stranger and a little bravado on my part. (Didn't seem so extraordinary at the time, but looking back, I see why my parents were always anxious to know I had gotten home safely at the end of every weekend.)
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