Around the island
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2009
1
12
48
Trip End
Sep 28, 2010
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Where I stayed
Sanchang-jang Yeogwan
Ulleung-do, Korea Rep.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The seaside trail was quite interesting, carved into the base of the cliffs and winding its way through caves around to the Dodong lighthouse. From here there was a fantastic view out over Jeodong-ri, the second largest town on the island, and out to the small island of Jukdo. On the other side of the headland I could see the seaside trail continued right around to Jeodong-ri, although for some reason it was barricaded and I had to take a fairly steep trail through a bamboo forest instead. I arrived there around lunch time, and as I was contemplating where to eat a local came up to me and said he had seen me the previous day. I asked him where I could get a bus to Bongnae Pukpo waterfall, at which he offered to drive me up himself. It was only a short 2km drive up the hill behind the town, but it showed me how generous the island's inhabitants were. It was another short but steep hike up to the waterfall which was quite impressive, save for the digger at its base. It was here I worked out what I would do with the rest of my day, and as soon as I had done that I raced back down the hill to the bus stop and jumped on a bus back to Dodong-ri.
After some vegetable bibimbap back at my hotel, I jumped on another bus headed back around the island to Cheonbu. Rather than go all the way I jumped off at Taeha, as I had the inkling the views from the lighthouse would be pretty spectacular. A Korean girl on the bus (next to her silent western boyfriend) had a book about Ulleungdo with her, and on the cover was a photo of some spectacular sea cliffs. This, I felt, was what I would see at Taeha. It took less than half an hour to get there, after which I jumped off and made my way through the small fishing village to try and find my way up to the lighthouse. Along the docks was the longest squid drying operation I had seen, with possibly hundreds of thousands hanging up the entire 300m length of the dock. At the end of the dock I came across a monorail, but no apparent trail leading up to where I thought the lighthouse was. There was no one around, save for one young girl working in the huge modern building constructed for the monorail. It was about $4 for a ticket, so I picked one up and waited about 20 minutes for it to come down and pick me up. The ride up was ridiculously steep and a little unsafe, and before long I caught sight of a trail up, which I immediately regretted not finding earlier. It was a short walk from the top round to Taeha lighthouse which did provide the views I was expecting, although for some reason all of the viewpoints were barricaded like the seaside walk to Jeodong-ri. Nevertheless, I was able to get a few good shots, and jumped the barrier to get a closer look at the Chinese juniper forest on the headland.
It was about 4pm by the time I decided to make my way back down to Taeha, where I jumped on a bus back to Dodong-ri. However, there was still a couple of hours of daylight left, so I jumped off at Namyang and made for the Sunset Point Pavilion, another steep 15 minute walk above the town. There were terrific views out over the ocean here, and without a soul around I took the opportunity to relax for a while and enjoy the sunset. Knowing there was a 6pm bus back to Dodong-ri, I made my way back down in order to make it, but for the second time that day a local offered to drive me. This time it was a young man in an SUV who spoke no English. The most I could gather was that he lived on the island, and taught IT or something at the high school. He had a top notch SLR camera too, and quite proudly showed me a few of his sunset shots. As much as I loved travelling light, I couldn't help but wish I had a camera like that. I spent the evening relaxing in the lone PC Bang on the island and later in my room.
My boat back to Pohang didn't leave until 3pm the following day, so I rose early and jumped on board the round the island cruise. After climbing the highest peak on the island and exploring a few of the headlands, I figured it would give me a different perspective before I made my way back to the Korean peninsula later in the day. Once the boat left the harbour we were swamped by gulls who followed us for about 20 minutes. They were obviously used to the Koreans throwing food to them, and it was quite an interesting sight. The boat trip offered a close up glimpse of some of the unique rock formations around the island, namely elephant rock and three angels rocks. The best part was the opportunity to chat to a few young Koreans though, who were very intrigued as to why I had come out to the island alone. Two young girls studying biology in Seoul, Joyce and Euniss, told me they were heading to Mukho on a 1pm ferry. I wasn't aware this ferry even existed, and given Mukho was much closer to Suwon than Pohang I figured I could probably make it back home a couple of hours earlier if I went with them. As soon as the boat made it back into Dodong, soon after 11am, I picked up a ticket and found a place to get my last meal on the island.
The three days I spent on Ulleungdo didn't pass too quickly, and I left feeling I had seen as much of the island as I possibly could given the time I had there. My only disappointment was the cloudy weather I encountered at the summit of Seonginbong, although the views over Nari-bunji and around the coast more than made up for it. It was a special place, and I was really glad I made the effort to get out there and see it while I could.
