Sunny Sunyudo

Just take a train ride away from all the crowds, the heat, and the politics of Seoul and find the port of Gunsan. Board a ferry, bustling or ramshackle, and transport yourself to the relaxing sandy beaches of Sunyudo. Twenty minutes biking the shoreline, or walking barefoot in the wet sand, can counter-act several hours of commuting on sweaty subways with pushy Seoul businessmen...

We weren't able to get two round trip tickets to Jejudo this past weekend (and, alas, we can't move there), so this is exactly what we did. We didn't make our plans until the last minute, so we ended up on the slow train to Gunsan station. It was a nice, relaxing ride. I was feeling very Seouled-out, as this time of year the heat and the crowds bother me more. I felkt my stress level decline as we left the station. Also, my boyfriend has the travel Scrabble game, so I was able to relish the moment when I actually beat him on board the train! (This may never happen again; he plays a strategic game. But just this once: I won! :) )

Once there, we checked into our hotel. Our Korean friend helped us find it-the humorously named Ritz-Plaza (if both names are taken-just combine them! :) ) Now that we've made the trip, I'd recommend staying in one of the cute, small pensions (guest houses) on Sunyudo itself, but the hotel was still very nice. Also, it had a good, clean bathroom with a nice bathtub!! This can be a rare find here. There was a fancy function hall at that hotel that hosted a few weddings while we stayed there-so there was also good people-watching. Women in pretty hanboks and cute children running by in fancy clothes. :)

We got directions from the front desk and jumped on the next modern ferry to the island. It was a newer, well appointed boat. We took anti-sea sickness medicine, so we got a little drowsy, but neither of us threw up. (That's always good! :))

As the train had taken longer than we'd expected, we could only stay on the island for a few hours in the afternoon. Still, it was a gorgeous day. The weather cooperated, the sand lay softly beneath our bare feet, and the locals negotiated with us about the price of renting a bicycle-built-for-two. The beaches weren't very crowded, but we did see a few groups of older Koreans who seemed to be clamming (or digging for crabs? or Octopus?) on the beach, and filling up buckets and plastic bags with their catch. We also passed a friendly trio of Koreans hunting for wild herbs in the underbrush by the side of the beach road. Biking was a fun way to get around the island, which was just big enough to stay interesting.

On the creaky, older ferry on the way back to Gunsan city, there were about a dozen "Airmen," (although some of them were young women, so I don't know why one doesn't say "Airpeople?" Militray tradition? I don't know). Most of them were pleasant and respectful. A few of them were obviously in their 20's, and acting a little loud and drunken, since they probably spent the day on the beach, and are usually stuck on Kunsan Air Base. The three rowdy ones were climbing the ladder to the top of the pilot house, and sleeping on the life jackets, which didn't look so safe, or give the Air Force such a great image with the local Koreans. But the rest of the "Airmen" were nice, well tanned, and well behaved. We spoke to one guy (30ish, with a wedding ring on) about local restaurants. He was very nice and respectful.
One cute Korean grandmother sitting next to me, gave me a bunch of cherry tomatoes. She was sharing with her family, so she shared with me, too. Very sweet of her! :) I felt bad that I had no food to share with her. As the boat was docking, another Korean man asked us where we were from. When he heard that we were American, he was proud to point out that he had worked for the US Embassy in Seoul before he retired to Busan. When I travel with my boyfriend, who is in his forties but doesn't really have the stereotypical crew cut military style of haircut and wardrobe, I notice that people are often curious to find out what he is doing here in the ROK.

Saturday night, we took a leisurely stroll around the lake near our hotel, and watched the local fishermen catch fish. Then we happened upon a traditional Korean music festival on an outdoor stage. Randomly, it was sponsored by the Gunsan area YMCA/YWCA. :). We were starving, and heard that the Ritz-Plaza had a good menu, so we played it safe and just ate at the hotel. It was nothing exceptional, but they allowed us to eat outside on the patio, and that was a lovely thing to do on a warm, less buggy night.

Sunday morning, we didn't really have time to get back out to the island. So, we visited a park by the river and took in the Gunsan Migratory Bird Observatory. I'm no ornithologist, and the birds tend to migrate from colder Russia to relatively warm Korea in the fall, but it was a pretty place to stroll around on a sunny Sunday morning. They had a fun, tropical bird habitat set up inside a greenhouse, with smaller uncaged birds flying free. The larger birds, like the Macaw and the parrots were still in cages. My boyfriend spent a good five minutes trying to get the parrot to parrot him-in any language. The very lively Macaw did a better job repeating sounds, I thought.

I don't think they are native to Korea-but the observatory also had a "mountain bird" habitat set up inside a dome outside. They featured two gorgeous peacocks. We also completed our mandatory tourist photo-op with the local mascot. In the case of the observatory the mascots were two giant, plastic migratory bids dressed in Korean hanbok. Unique, anyway! :)

At the end of our leisurely visit, we had to find our way back to the train station. We saw a bus stop, but couldn't get our hands on a schedule. So we asked the ticket booth man (in our best Konglish) to do us a favor and call us a taxi. He agreed, but something must have been lost in translation, as a while went by and nothing occurred. By that time, it was probably too late to take a bus. So, we approached a second ticket booth employee about calling a taxi. This man was very agreeable and instantly understood. He called right away, but it was Sunday, and he was told no taxi was willing to come out to the bird observatory (it was just outside the town). I started to get worried about the time. So, I showed him my train ticket and tried to ask him if there was any other way we could get to the station in time fort our train. He looked at my ticket, repeated the time, and went back into the ticket booth. Then he very generously unlocked his car and offered to drive us to the station. :) This kind of generosity can be rare in American cities nowadays, unfortunately. He even refused to take any money for gas, which is ridiculously expensive here now. The sweet man drove us quickly to the station, we thanked him profusely, and we made it onto the train on time. I was impressed by the pleasant people of Gunsan. :)

If you are ever in Korea with a weekend to spare, I suggest a trip to Sunyudo.

(Posted here are some pictures from our recent trip to Sunyudo....Now who's that young, sprightly babe on the bike?)