Chuseok this year was great! It fell on a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday, so it's five-day weekends all around. Such fun!!
Elizabeth, Joseph and I decided to head down to Wando and check it out, find the beach, and have a nice relaxing couple of days. And that's exactly what we did!
We left Gwangju Thursday morning at 10am and immediately ran into some traffic. Actually, a lot of traffic. It took us an hour to get out of the city, and the 2 hour bus ride ended up taking 3. But.. not to worry, it was a fun and scenic trip.
The ride down (and up again) was on mostly back roads because there isn't a direct freeway to Wando. Instead, we passed the pear fields of Naju, the city of Yeongam where the annual Formula 1 takes place, beautiful and rocky Wolchusan Mountain (and spa resort), and finally reached Wando. The bridge into Wando took us over some of the most beautiful light teal water I've ever seen.
Once we arrived at the bus terminal, we took a taxi over to Sinji-do Island, right next door, and headed to Myeongsasimri Beach. We read that it was a fairly big beach for Korea with more of a sandy-beach feel to it, and it was. The sand was perfect, the beach was wide and practically empty, and it probably stretched for a couple of kilometers. I would say it has my vote for being the best beach on mainland Korea, and it seemed like the perfect place to spend the rest of the day. (Jeju's Woljeong-ri Beach was a lovely rival, but it's only reachable by airplane or ferry.)
After an afternoon on the beach, we started to get hungry, but quickly realized the only places open in the vicinity of the beach were GS25 and 7/11 just on the other side of the sand and trees. We sat outside on some picnic tables for a while, making new friends and trying to decide what to do for dinner. Elizabeth and Joseph decided to head back into Wando to see what was open, while I decided to go to a BBQ some new friends were having at their pension. It was fun, but I left after a little while to meet back up with Elizabeth and Joseph. At one point, I went out to the beach that night to enjoy the moon over the water, and I ended up watching some beautiful fireworks that a family brought to the beach to celebrate Chuseok. None of my pictures turned out, but it was really beautiful.
We left the hotel and went back into Wando to see Wando Tower. The taxi dropped us off pretty close to the tower, but we still had to do some hiking to get there. I kept thinking, 'This isn't so bad! There's a path, this isn't so steep...' But I was quite tired when we got to the top. The tower has an entry fee of 1,500won, so after some outside photos, we paid the fee and took the elevator to the viewing deck at the top. From there, we could see almost the entire island, as well as many surrounding islands. It was very beautiful, so we stayed up there for a while, looking and then looking again.
After a while, we left the tower and began the hike back down the mountain. It wasn't far from the sea at all, and the hike looked very short. It was! Except it was almost a 45 degree angle down the mountain via stairs and flat paths. I'm sure one would be able to slide all the way down on ice in the winter months! By the time I got to the bottom, my legs felt like jelly. But the walk down was lovely, with rose gardens and domed lattice work to walk through, shaded areas on the side to take a break from the hiking, and the most stunning views of the bay, that turquoise water, and the surrounding islands and their mountains in the hazy distance.
We had to wait a little while for our bus, and then the bus ride back to Gwangju took the normal 2 hours without much traffic at all. Elizabeth and Joseph went back to Daejeon last night so they could sleep in their own comfortable bed instead of spending another night sleeping on the floor. As for me, I think it was one of the best night's sleep I've had in a while.
Elizabeth, Joseph and I decided to head down to Wando and check it out, find the beach, and have a nice relaxing couple of days. And that's exactly what we did!
We left Gwangju Thursday morning at 10am and immediately ran into some traffic. Actually, a lot of traffic. It took us an hour to get out of the city, and the 2 hour bus ride ended up taking 3. But.. not to worry, it was a fun and scenic trip.
The ride down (and up again) was on mostly back roads because there isn't a direct freeway to Wando. Instead, we passed the pear fields of Naju, the city of Yeongam where the annual Formula 1 takes place, beautiful and rocky Wolchusan Mountain (and spa resort), and finally reached Wando. The bridge into Wando took us over some of the most beautiful light teal water I've ever seen.
Once we arrived at the bus terminal, we took a taxi over to Sinji-do Island, right next door, and headed to Myeongsasimri Beach. We read that it was a fairly big beach for Korea with more of a sandy-beach feel to it, and it was. The sand was perfect, the beach was wide and practically empty, and it probably stretched for a couple of kilometers. I would say it has my vote for being the best beach on mainland Korea, and it seemed like the perfect place to spend the rest of the day. (Jeju's Woljeong-ri Beach was a lovely rival, but it's only reachable by airplane or ferry.)
On Friday morning, we were all sore when we woke up from sleeping on the floor. It was the only way we could get a room to sleep three people, so we took it. It's not something I want to do again, but it wasn't bad.
We left the hotel and went back into Wando to see Wando Tower. The taxi dropped us off pretty close to the tower, but we still had to do some hiking to get there. I kept thinking, 'This isn't so bad! There's a path, this isn't so steep...' But I was quite tired when we got to the top. The tower has an entry fee of 1,500won, so after some outside photos, we paid the fee and took the elevator to the viewing deck at the top. From there, we could see almost the entire island, as well as many surrounding islands. It was very beautiful, so we stayed up there for a while, looking and then looking again. 
After a while, we left the tower and began the hike back down the mountain. It wasn't far from the sea at all, and the hike looked very short. It was! Except it was almost a 45 degree angle down the mountain via stairs and flat paths. I'm sure one would be able to slide all the way down on ice in the winter months! By the time I got to the bottom, my legs felt like jelly. But the walk down was lovely, with rose gardens and domed lattice work to walk through, shaded areas on the side to take a break from the hiking, and the most stunning views of the bay, that turquoise water, and the surrounding islands and their mountains in the hazy distance.
At the bottom, we recovered for a few minutes from the hike, and then decided to walk to the bus terminal, which wasn't very far. On the way, we passed this natural waterfall that the main road on the island was built around, and had to stop and take some pictures. I'm so glad they built the road around it instead of destroying something so naturally beautiful.
We had to wait a little while for our bus, and then the bus ride back to Gwangju took the normal 2 hours without much traffic at all. Elizabeth and Joseph went back to Daejeon last night so they could sleep in their own comfortable bed instead of spending another night sleeping on the floor. As for me, I think it was one of the best night's sleep I've had in a while.
I definitely want to go back to Wando, and next time I want to take the ferry over to Changsan-do Island and explore that area.
It's nice to leave a place feeling that you want to return.
It's nice to leave a place feeling that you want to return.
im glad you had a good time, the wando area looks nice. love, mom
ReplyDeleteBeautiful -- looks like a great place to keep visiting!
ReplyDeleteJenny