jebudo

teens of jebudo

deery-lou.
on sunday i found myself going to jebudo with mr. bae and his son jun-ho. the last time we had an outing it was off to daebudo, an island in ansan. we planned to meet up at 10am near my old apartment building. i stopped off at holly's to get a coffee to warm me up. it was cold. i decided to go with a sweet potato latte which was actually quite good. surprise, surprise. mr. bae and jun-ho were already there when i arrived. i was told to get into the backseat and off we went. jun-ho kept trying to talk to me but his english was very limited. he's so cute. we did our best to communicate and ended up bonded over sour cream pringles. our first stop was gungpyeong harbor in the city of hwaseong. there was a long concret pier on either side of the market area. the harbor was filled with people fishing. some were even having picnics between cars. boats were everywhere. some out at sea, some docked, and some stranded in mud. at the end of the pier fishing boats would dock and sell their catch right off the boat. it was definitely interesting watching all the people gather around the fresh, and i mean fresh seafood. mr. bae stuck his hand into one of the containers and pulled out a giant shrimp. i wanted to throw him back into the water but knew i'd probably end up joining him if i did. we took a walk along the other pier too. jun-ho wanted to go to the pagoda. the air that day was crisp and cold. it made you feel alive. i love the ocean air smell. as we walked around i kept thinking to myself "i really like it here". yeah there are times that i miss living in the states but overall life is just so simple here. my only stress is wondering if i'm going to get my black belt. mr bae told me it was time to head off to jebudo. apparently we have a small window to visit: 8am to 2pm. once 2pm hits the tide starts to come in and covers the bridge leading to jebu. how exciting. as we crossed over to jebudo i looked on either side of this cement bridge. all i saw was mud. i had a hard time imagining that the water actually came in this far and covered both sides. perhaps this was just another one of those stories. mr. bae then told me how jebu is like a miracle much in the sense of how mosses parted the red sea, this sea parts too, allowing folks into jebu. the island itself is quite small. there were all these purple tiny tree-like bushes in the mud. along the beach were nothing but restaurants. there was even a very small amusement park. we parked at the end of the beach strip and started to walk to the three giant rock formations. these were the draw of jebudo. mr. bae told me that at high tide these rocks get submerged. we were there for a while and then the whistle blower came. it was time to head out. the tide was coming in. before leaving we stopped at the amusement park. jun-ho wanted to ride the viking. i tried to tell them that i didn't like the viking but it was no use. there was no one at the park. mr. bae tracked down the ride operator so we could get on. i sat with jun-ho and mr. bae was in front of us to take pictures. did i mention how much i hate this ride. we hadn't even picked up speed when jun-ho started to cry. i did my best to console him by putting my arm around him. however, i was secretly happy for i knew the ride would be over. sure enough the operator stopped the ride. hee hee. that was the shortest ride ever. when the hand rail was going up my arm got stuck in it. the operator had to release it again so i could free myself. i love little beach towns. they are so interesting. i saw a bunch of teenagers walking around the park and wondered what it would be like to grow up here. especially since they are so isloated. in a weird kind of way it reminded me of when we would go to wildwood, nj for the summers. wildwood was a beach town where we'd go to the beach, go crabbing, and spend our nights walking the boardwalk. the amusement park was ten times better than jebudo's. i can still here the tramcar ladies call out "watch the tramcar please. watch the tramcar please." we left jebudo to beat out the tide. as we crossed over the bridge the water on the right side was very close to the bridge. once across we stopped for lunch. the restaurant had a view of the bridge and i watched the water continue to grow. we had giant jumbo shrimp which they cooked alive in front us. it was cool to watch them go from their brownish color to a reddish cooked color. they were tastey too. by the time lunch was over i looked out and notice that the bridge was now submerged. off in the distant i notice the 3 rock formations from earlier. they too were halfway covered in water. after mr. bae dropped me off i went into jungangdong to do some shopping. it was such a great fall day to be out.

be well...

click here for jebudo photos