Jebudu Island, West Sea

We arrived in S. Korea 6 1/2 months ago. For the most part, we have only been in Seoul and Bundang. We have not traveled to other parts of Korea due to mostly time and money. I'm not complaining about what we've been able to see but I want to experience a little more of Korea.

I've been asking Todd for over a month if we could take a trip to the sea. I've been feeling a little claustrophobic. Tall buildings, people, mountains--everywhere. I just need open space, a view of the horizon and a place where there's not so much concrete. I close my eyes often and picture a prairie in Kansas or the rolling hills and distant views of fields and trees of Missouri. I've actually made a date with my friend, Ami to find a field in Kansas and just lay in it for a few hours, after we have a beer and burger in Westport, of course.

Last Thursday, I was having a hard day, I will go ahead and say, I've been a hormonal mess for about 2 weeks, and said to Todd, "You must take me to the sea this Saturday." It was probably more like a command rather than a request. I was feeling pretty desperate.

Friday evening we explored our options. The closest and cheapest way for us to get to the sea would be to visit Jebudu Island along the West Sea. Let's do it.

We left our house at 11am and traveled two hours on three different buses to get to the island. We all enjoyed the drive. We were able to see farm land and a different part of Korea that we hadn't experienced yet--and there were no tall buildings.

The bus drops passengers off at the entrance of the island. There were several stores and street vendors so we decided to grab some water and fruit for the day. The street vendor would only sell us a case of oranges. After trying multiple charades to say we only needed a few oranges we decided, "O-kay, we'll take the case." We would find people to share them with along the way.

As we walked towards the entrance to the island there are restaurants lining the street. Each had a man or woman shouting and motioning for you to come and try there place--each of them were so animated and convincing. We kept walking. We were here to see the West Sea!! I do love seafood though and did want to try something but most of my family would not go for that--and poor Darlin' is allergic to shell fish.

Looking lost at the entrance to the island a lady stopped and asked if we were wanting to go to the island. Yes! She said the walk was quite long with children but there would be a bus that could take us around the island if we walked back a little ways. So we did. Thankful, for the kind woman from South Africa. She lives on the island and teaches English.

We spent almost three hours on the island. It was quite cold and the breeze from the sea was biting but it didn't matter--it was beautiful. open. quiet. I can't tell you how good it was for my soul to be away--even for the day. For all of us, it was a beautiful and exhausting day.

When it was time for us to leave the island we were trying to soak in every little moment. I didn't want to leave. We were already talking about when we could return. Spring!

It was time to leave and we began wandering around a bit looking for the bus stop. When we found it, we waited for over 40 minutes and there was no bus. We finally saw a taxi and I flagged him down. He already had a passenger but the sweet woman said she would share with us. We thankfully hopped in and she in her broken English asked our names, where we are from and if we liked Korea. Ms. Cho. So grateful for her kindness. She insisted that we not pay for the tax ride so we shared with her a few of our oranges.