Muuido

Well ...the long weekend was a bit of a bust ...for a couple of reasons.  Number one of course being the fact that it rained all day Saturday, Sunday & Monday.  That being said, our long weekend started on Friday which was one of the most beautiful days that we have seen this season.  Unfortunately, we did not 'see' this day until approximately 3pm in the afternoon, which was the time that we literally pulled ourselves out of bed, into the shower and to lunch to get our day started.  This might have something to do with a little soju and a 5:30am bedtime the night before.

Regardless, it was an interesting and fun weekend - and even though we got rained out and had to come home early, I'm still happy we ventured away from home.

Muuido is a small island (only 400 people actually live there) close to the Incheon Airport, which isn't too far from where we live.  The island is so close to the mainland that if you were to line up 3 ferries beside each other, you would be able to walk across. 

Once you get off the ferry, you need to hop onto a bus that will take you to the beach which is about a 20-30 minute bus ride away.  Sadly we did not know this.  We got right off the ferry, started following the closest people and then realized about 30 minutes later that we were still walking and were now alone.  Over 90 minutes later we arrived.  Another tiny disaster - we had, had a Korean friend help us book the 'hotel' where we would be staying (dammit, I just realized that we didn't take any pictures of where we stayed, details to come!) and somewhere around the 45 minute walk portion of our afternoon we realized that she had booked the wrong beach, and we aren't even sure to this day that she even booked us into a place near the beach ...or in Muuido for that matter.

Here are some pics from our 'hike'

Anyways, I was a bit panicky at this point.  The place was absolutely rammed.  It was a long weekend and foreigner/tourist city on this beach.  We watched as couples went up to the booth and were turned away, we even watch a couple fight for a room that they apparently booked, but was not left open for them. Thankfully (once we were told that they were full) we found a park that had vacant rooms.  And by room, what I mean is a little hut (and that's really not the best word for it, but the best that I can do) which essentially had 4 walls (2 walls were just windows,) 3 moldy pillows & 2 blankets for the 5 of us.  Do the math ...even without the dirt factor it wasn't great.  Not that sleeping on the floor is ever my first option.  Apparently I did not need to bring my straightener or hair dryer - there would be no showering in my future, or running water for that matter.

But we absolutely made the best of it ...even when everything we ordered on the menu at the one restaurant that didn't serve fish was sold out, and even after we watched an extremely drunk bunch of foreigners (I swear, sometimes they make us all look horrid) flash each other, while yelling obscenities from across the beach.

But we only lasted one night.  It was an incredible beach, and so nice and small that it was almost quaint ...but as soon as the rain started pouring on Saturday, and we looked up into the sky and saw no chance of reprieve, we called it a day and packed it in.  And after 3 bus rides and a ferry ride home, we were completely soaked to the bone, but happy to be home, drinking wine and showering:)