The following is Part 1 of a 6-part series about my trip to the islands of Ulleung-Do (울릉도) and Dok-Do (독도) from 20(Fri)-22(Sun) August 2010. In this installment, I discuss the first 12.5 hours of day 1, from 02:00 t0 14:30. Please see related posts (Part 2: Dok-Do Is Our Land--Don't Fuck With It; Part 3: Sundown; Part 4: Naribunji; Part 5: Over the Mountain and Through the Fields; Part 6: Why) for additional photos and comments.
It's the official English slogan for Ulleung-Do: "Mysterious Island." I'm not sure that the island is particularly mysterious by any definition of the word, but it is exotic in some respects and spectacular to a degree: the high, sheer cliffs completely surrounding the circular island's perimeter like the walls of a cylindrical fortress, as well as the quirky rock formations scattered along the shore like defenders of the keep, aptly named for the animals they eerily resemble--all of which was formed by volcanic eruptions way back when; the impossibly turquoise waters of the surrounding ocean; the vibrant verdure of the interior. Not too shabby for a day or two of look-see.
In person, closer up, the rock formation in the left background
actually looks like an elephant dipping its trunk in the ocean
--hence the name "The Drinking Elephant"
Ulleung-Do, part of the Gyeongsang-Buk-Do (경상북도) province, lies about 120 km off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. Boats from the mainland depart from ports in both Donghae City (동해시) and Pohang (포항), generally twice daily at each port, weather willing.
From left (circled in red): Seoul, Donghae, Ulleung-Do
Satellite image from Google Maps
Our trip begins in Seoul, where 21 members of Backcountry Camping agree to rendezvous in front of Lotte World at 04:30. Some of us gather earlier, as early as 02:00 (me, 03:00), the reasoning being: better to stay up, get a head-start on the festivities (i.e., drink), and sleep soundly (under alcohol-induced sedation) on the bus, rather than grab a few measly hours of sleep in bed at the risk of oversleeping and missing the whole show--the bus waits for no one.
The Tribe
Garlic busts out the pseudo-sausage pancakes, a Korean school-lunch classic
The bus, which is operated by some quasi-governmental tourism agency and runs between Seoul and Donghae City 3-4 times daily and costs 40,000 won per person roundtrip and requires a reservation, departs from Lotte World at 05:00--all members accounted for. With one potty break at a rest-stop en route, we arrive at Donghae's Mokho Port (목호항) at 09:00. In the terminal, we eat breakfast, unanimously deemed the sorriest excuse for a 6,000-won meal any of us have ever witnessed.
On the door of the bathroom stall at the rest-stop
Mokho Port Terminal
Standard Operating Procedure for Soupy (left, with cart) and Garlic (right);
that's mostly food, we all hope
Breakfast for 4: rice with doenjang jjigae (된장찌개) (bean paste stew) and various sides
At 10:30, we board the boat for Ulleung-Do, not exactly a hydrofoil but the kind that sort of skates on two ski-like things (that's the extent of my nautical vocabulary). It costs 107,00 won per person roundtrip for an upperdeck seat, "first class." Due to the unusually calm waters that morning, the boat ride is short, as short as it gets: we arrive at 13:30. Reportedly, the ride from the mainland can take as long as 5 hours on a bad day. Most of us have applied anti-seasickness patches behind our ears--unnecessarily, it turns out.
The not-exactly-a-hydrofoil that sort of skates on two ski-like things
From left (foreground): MtG, Thinker, Potato Stew in "first class" style;
other BC members are seated behind
Ulleung-Do on approach
The port at Dodong (도동), the island's main village
Fishing boats equipped with heat lamps for drying squid,
Ulleung-Do's culinary claim to fame
The aforementioned squid,
though inexplicably not being dried with the heat lamps
Me, waiting anxiously to disembark,
with my new Mystery Ranch Grizzly
The terminal at Dodong Port
Upon our arrival, we eat again. And drink. Adjacent to the wharf, which is lined with squid boats and teeming with women processing the day's catch, we sit down at a small "restaurant" consisting of a refrigerator stocked with booze and a collection of rubber basins filled with various species of living but soon-to-be-eaten creatures and a cutting board and a knife and a few rows of cheap plastic folding tables and chair and parasols, right along the water. We consume, all raw and prepared on the spot, dipped in soy sauce and wasabi and red chili vinegar paste, washed down with makgeolli (막걸리) (unfiltered Korean rice wine), sea urchins and sea snails and oysters and sea squirts and squid. It's more fun than it is tasty.
Clockwise from left: sea urchin, sea snail, oyster, sea squirt, squid (center)
After lunch, at 14:30, we get back on the boat, the same boat, this time the boat for Dok-Do.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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