Sightseeing in Seogwipo

Despite being here for three months, I have yet to visit many of the local tourist stops in the Seogwipo region; last weekend I got the opportunity. Brian, Mike, and myself, were showing around a newcomer to the island, Virginia. She has only been here a few weeks and I know exactly how she is feeling. Its funny, I never thought I would be the one showing someone else around.

Now that the tables have turned, I'm going to extend the same gratitude that others have shown me upon first arriving here. Since it was a nice day out, our first inclination was to head somewhere befitting the weather. We all got into a cab and headed down past the harbour, to the famous lookout spot, Oedolgae.



Its a popular spot for locals, and even more so since it was used as a location set for a popular Korean drama. There is even this life size cut-out of the actress that starred in the drama, that you can pose with for pictures. There is a photographer who will even take your picture with your loved one(s), but we opted to avoid the stereotypical group pose in front of the rock.

Walking around the path, we moved closer onto the cliff that overlooks the great rock. Its the perfect spot for a picnic, too bad we only had our cameras.



We took a moment to take in the open sea, and the islands before us; it was a beautiful sight, but very windy.



After spending a few minutes taking photos, we decided to go around to the other side, where we spotted some fishermen down by the rocks on the shore. As we were walking in that direction however, we stopped for some drinks and a snack: homemade makgeolli and pajong, a korean pancake containing squid, flour, and greens.

We quickly downed the makgeolli and pancake and continued about our walk. As we approached the other side of the rock, we found this lady yelling out at the sea. Virginia first thought that she was yelling out to her fisherman husband, but I knew better. Koreans, for some reason, often yell out into open spaces when in nature. I've seen it before, out on Mt. Halla. Perhaps its part of some sort of meditation process, or maybe its just a tradition that Koreans do.



Looking out over the cliff, we could see quite a few people down by the water fishing. All of them seem to be content with themselves, so after some deliberation, we decided that we would make our way back to the harbour, and take a boat tour.

The only problem with coming out to Oedolgae is that there are no cabs going back into the city, however, there are buses that leave every now and then. We decided to get some exercise and walk it to the harbour. Twenty minutes later, and we arrived.

We paid our 10,000 won admission for our boat tickets and grabbed some refreshments. The tickets read: "Upon Return, please do as favor to the crew," what that means, I'll never know.

Brian spotted some people heading towards the boat, so we followed in suit, and made our way to the loading dock. Around the harbour there is a lot of construction going on, as they are building a bridge to a nearby island. The bridge has a popular sailboat design to it, and once finished should be quite impressive.



Only a few minutes later, and the boat was underway. All the seats topside were taken, so we just settled for some shelter from the flock of seagulls hovering above. This flock followed us all the way out along the tour; it didn't help that everyone was trying to get them to catch chips and snacks they were throwing off the side.



The boat tour is basically a loop around the harbour, sailing by Jeongbang waterfall, Oedolgae, and a few of the nearby islands. It was a pretty windy day, but the fresh air did me good.



We spotted the submarine tour as we came closer to one of the islands. Strangely, it was being pulled by a tugboat, I'm not sure if that's standard procedure, but it seemed to be getting the job done. The islands are all very high, carved by the ocean and formed by volcanic rock, millions of years old.



As we made our way around this island, we spotted some more fishermen on the rocks, as well as some scuba divers. It definitely got me in the mood for going scuba diving, something that I hope to take up during my stay here on the island. At first I thought they were Haenyo, but Brian, with his ridiculous sized lens, informed me that they were only scuba divers. They were probably exploring the nearby caves; awesome.



On our way back into port, they played extremely loud noraebang music, which are these private karaoke rooms, over the intercom; it was incredibly loud and annoying, and I wasn't the only one to think so. By the time we docked again, we were thanking ourselves that the music had come to an end.

Another benefit of being down near the harbour is that we were really close to Cheonjiyeon waterfall. I've never been before, and neither has Virginia, so we added that to our agenda. Both Brian and Mike suggested that we go there around dusk, when they light up the waterfall. We had an hour or so to kill, so we went to Teepee, a nearby cabin/bar of sorts, for some more makgeolli and snacks.

Once it got dark, we got our things together and walked five minutes down the road to the waterfall. The admission is free to locals, and anyone with an alien registration card. That's another thing I've noticed, that a lot of places will give you a substantial discount if you show your alien registration card, which works out great if you like to explore the island.

Its not a very long walk before you reach the falls themselves, maybe another five minutes. The moon was shining brightly, as was a planet I think, and the waterfall looked quite impressive with the lighting.



As it got darker out, we were all pretty hungry, so Brian proposed this Dokdo restaurant. For those of you who don't know, Dokdo is this small rock/island that both Japan and Korea have been making territorial claims over. From what I hear, it is a part of Korea now and the Japanese don't really think much of it anymore, the Koreans however, love to bring up the debate.

Though it is a Dokdo restaurant, littered with posters and pictures of the island, I believe the seafood there actually comes from someplace else. We were served some fresh cuts of tuna along with wasabi and all the sides dishes. It was a good meal, but a bit expensive, around 30,000 won each. We only had three orders, since neither Virginia nor I wanted to eat that much, so it worked out it alright.

The rest of the night we showed Virginia around to all the popular spots in downtown Seogwipo, stopping for drinks along the way. It felt good to finally sit and relax after all we had done during the day, but I'm glad we got to do and see so much. I feel like I know the area better, and that next time around, I won't be such the tourist.