Saturday morning Pam and I woke up with different ideas of which island to visit off Incheon. There are plenty to choose from, but they vary in size, number of visitors, and ferry cost. I was anticipating a small one near shore with plenty of transportation options while Pam fancied a distant island, but didn't realize it came with an $80 round-trip price tag. It looked like the trip might get scrapped before we even left her apartment.
After sausages and coffee we decided to just head to the port and figure something out. The schedule didn't help much, but luckily the man selling tickets spoke English and pointed us towards Ijakdo. It was a nice compromise - not too far but secluded enough. We bought our tickets and headed to the "Incheon Total Fish Market" to kill the two hours before sailing.
It was another seafood market, but they never get old. There were scallops the size of tennis balls, crabs the size of monkeys, and shrimp the size of really big shrimp. The people were really friendly and would hold up live squid for you to photograph and not press you too hard to buy it. They were pretty used to tourists, I think. After a while, the smell started to wear us down and we headed back to the port with a lot less photo space left in our cameras.
On the ferry ride we read through the worst collection of English sentences ever constructed. Plastered through this brochure of the islands were sentences like "If you go to this place you can play in the place", "it has many famous movie picture taking places", and "the sea night moon and water combine for harmony and beauty in kind and beautiful spirit." I think someone must have lied on their resume to get that job!
When we hit Ijakdo, we expected people to meet us at the pier to offer us accomodation. There was nobody - not quite summer yet. But the island was only 4km long so we headed down the road (THE road) looking for a place to stay. Past the main town (all 15 buildings) we came upon an older lady waiting in the shade for us. She told us that she rented rooms in her home and that we should follow her. And then she farted. I don't know if people fart a lot because of all the spicy foods, or if they just don't care and have no problem letting them fly. Either way, they do fly. At her home we met her husband who spoke some English and they put us up in an apartment usually reserved for 20 people. But the island was deserted. In fact, there are only 100 permanent residents.
Just a few hundred meters away we found our own deserted beach. We were able to wander around, search through all the interesting stuff that washed ashore, and I wrote my name big as a house for all to see. The sky was a perfect sky blue and it was such a different place from the concrete cities of Korea.
On our way to the other beach we passed a junkyard. Now for most people, especially girls, junkyards are full of... junk. But not for Pam, the artist who likes to put together scupltures of spoons and rust. (Does anyone remember Nick from Family Ties? "Heey-ee, Mal-a-ree!") Anyway, we played around the "antique shop" until Pam had enough chopsticks, bolts, and wire to satisfy her. I managed to keep the jokes to a reasonable level.
By seven o'clock we'd worked up quite an appetite and went into the house for a tasty homemade meal. We each got our own bowls of rice and soup, but everything else comes in tiny plates and bowls that you share. There were a couple of small fish and lots of spicy greens that I can't really identify, but they're tasty! During dinner they showed us pictures of their son who is probably one of Korea's top opera singers. He lived in Italy 16 years and has performed in big venues in both countries. Now he's back and teaching in Seoul. How did someone from this tiny island become a star? I dunno...
The next morning our host put us in the back of his pickup and drove us up the mountain for a panoramic view. We could see about ten other islands scattered through the sea, all looking as peaceful as ours. But it will all change come summer.
We walked to the far end of the island and were amazed to find the famous movie picture taking place! It was an old abandoned one-room schoolhouse. It was the setting for a 1967 film called "Island Teacher." It was exciting but a little creepy to search through all the old desks and chalkboards - we even found an old track hurdle. On the walk back we argued about what the movie would be about. We agreed that it must be a love story about a male teacher who brought his "big city" ways to the island community. Sparks fly with the local lass but they are both stubborn in their ways. But love conquers all of course.
I'd been craving McDonald's all day, so we found one in Incheon. Most of you probably can't imagine "craving" McDonald's, but it happens. And damn it tasted good. Then it was a long subway ride into Seoul that we filled with I Spy and Twenty Questions (I was Queen Elizabeth.) We arrived downtown and immediately saw more foreigners at the parade than we saw PEOPLE on our little island. I still get freaked out seeing foreigners I don't know. Must be a throwback to rural Japan.
We finished the weekend at the the lantern festival. We arrived mid-parade and were suddenly surrounded by thousands of people. Quite a change from the serenity of Ijakdo. But it was a photographers dream with colors, candles, monks, bands, and giant inflated elephants. We finished at the temple scrounging, again, this time looking for spectacular paper lanterns to hang in our apartments.
In the end I had a 500m OJ Simpson impression to my train and I made it with about sixty seconds to spare. End to end it was a great weekend.
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