For those of you traveling from Seogwipo, the bus is 3,000 won, and takes about an hour and a half to reach the waterfront; the bus doesn't drop you off exactly out front of the ferry terminal to Udo, but within 500m walking distance. Take a left once you step off the bus and follow the road going right until you reach the terminal at the end of the harbour.
It's about another 5,000 for a return trip on the ferry to the island; last ferry returns at 6:00 pm. After I met up with the other three, we grabbed our stuff and got onto the ferry for the island. The weather was cloudy, but I had been informed that the sun was going to make an appearance in the afternoon.
Pulling into Udo port gave me a better idea of what kind of community lives there; a small town catered completely towards tourists. Buses, scooters, and bikes, were all available for whatever experience you were looking to have.
Some people even choose to walk, but for anyone looking to checkout the island in an afternoon, the scooter is the best option for speed and freedom to roam as you please. For 15,000 won, you get a scooter for two hours.
Brian and I decided to share one, while Naomi and Ryan shared another. Driving along the coast we got a pretty good view of Sunrise peak.
The funniest thing was that the rent-a-scoot place only had one helmet that would fit my large head; he literally said "Hitler, hitler!" and laughed as he handed me a helmet that looked like it had once been in use by the Third Reich.
Brian and I were ahead of Naomi and Ryan, but were soon passed due to the fact that we stopped for photo opportunities every five or ten minutes. The first was some haenyo that we spotted down on the rocks by the water.
Our next brief rest was to try and capture some egrets that were hanging out near some cows. Udo in Chinese translates as cow island; somehow I thought there would be more cows on the island.
There were these red-headed egrets everywhere, but every time we tried to get close enough for a picture they would just fly away. Brian was disappointed and kept bringing up the idea of him purchasing a teleconverter that would help with taking bird pictures. Matt recommended as such, so you know it's a bird sanctioned option.
We even spotted some great egrets along the rocks. There were about three of them, but like the other egrets, they cleverly foiled our attempts to get in close for a picture. They didn't seem phased by the scooter engines, probably used to it by now, but the closest we could get was within 50 metres or so.
There is also a very nice beach on Udo, which I've heard some positive feedback about camping on. I'm thinking next time I come back I wouldn't mind bringing along a tent to try it out for myself, an afternoon on Udo just doesn't seem long enough to really relax and enjoy all it has to offer.
There are some really unique caves on Udo as well, you can climb down to them from some stairs near the cliffs, but we decided to leave them 'til next time because of our limited time.
Apparently, at noon, when the sun is high and shinning brightly, you can see its reflection on the ceiling inside the cave, which looks like the moon; the cave is known as Dongangyeongul.
As we past the caves and headed up towards the summit of Udo island, Brian and I drove up and down a few roads before we finally found the route leading up to the light house. There is a parking lot where the buses stop and people have to leave their scooters behind, as the path ahead is a walking route only.
We passed Naomi and Ryan coming back from the lighthouse on our way up. I guess our photo and video shooting had slowed us down quite a bit. Naomi mentioned that there were two routes up, one of which, the left one, led to the lighthouse and the highest point on the island. The other went along the cliffs, facing the other side of the island closer to the mainland.
There are many horses available to ride on the way up, as well as a field of cows along the base of this mini-oreum covered with graves.
The view from midway up was spectacular, I can only imagine how much better it would have been had it not have been cloudy.
At this point my camera battery died on me, so I couldn't get any shots from the lighthouse looking out onto the sea or back towards the mainland, both of which are equally stunning. I'm definitely going back there again.
With our time almost up with our scooters, we headed back down the summit and to the harbour. From the lighthouse, the port is only a five minute scooter ride. We returned our bikes with the infamous hitler helmet and got back on the ferry for the mainland.
The sun finally did come out, only as we were leaving...
Photo by Brian Miller
1 comment:
The orange-headed egrets are Cattle Egrets.
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