Holiday at Muuido Island

여러분 안녕하세요! It's me again.

Today I will share one particular experience I had in South Korea. This happened during 추석, also known as Korean Thanksgiving Day. This year, it was celebrated on September 26th to 29th. 추석 is one of the most important holiday in South Korea.  Korean families normally spend it together to worship their ancestors or spend their time together. As for us, we planned to go out of Seoul. First, we planned to go to Busan. However, many people were also going to Busan during that time so we decided not to pursue our plan. Instead, we decided to spend our holiday in 무의도, also called 무의도 Island.

   

at the metro (subway) early in the morning   

무의도 is about 1-2 hours far from Seoul depending on what type of transportation you will use. It is located near Incheon airport. Me and my friends decided to leave early to avoid the rush hour. However, things didn't worked well as we planned. First, we have to take different routes for the subway because some stations were not open during holiday. Second, we missed the first bus going to the ferry so we ended up waiting for another hour to take the bus. Third, after our five minutes ride on the ferry, we rode a bus, which was way worse than riding a roller coaster. Fourth, the room or the pension house is quite small for five people (but we just let it slide since we were just going to stay there for one night). Fifth, it was quite boring since we didn't prepare anything unlike the other travelers.

          

Sunset hike with bits of photo shoot

Though we started setting on the wrong foot, our whole stay in Muuido was still worth it. I had lots of memories that I would cherish and would be happy to share to others especially our hiking. We didn’t really plan to hike but one of the local people recommended us to hike the mountain since the scenery above the mountain is spectacular. So, we agreed to do it since we don't have anything else to do. It was already 5 and the sun was about to set around 6. We hurriedly climbed the mountain to watch the sunset. Luckily we were able to see it well even though we weren't on the top yet. We took a lot of pictures of us and of the sunset too. After watching the sunset, I asked my friends whether or not to continue hiking ( I was quite worried since no one knew the way and we were just following the paths). One of my friends said that we should continue since we were already halfway through the top. As we headed up to the mountain, the path was getting harder and harder for me, for it was already dark. I was really scared. We don't know whether we were on the right track or not. The hike going up seemed forever. We spent about two and a half hours going up until we reached the peak. Well, our crazy little adventure didn't end when we reached the top. As you all know, we  still have to go down. It was really dark during that time so we depended on the flashlights of our phones (luckily I charged my phone before going up). The path to go down was harder than going up (or we were just really scared that something might pop up in front of us). There were many stairs made up of stones/rocks that weren’t stable. We took care of each others back and kept on guiding each other if there were any obstacles. During that time, we built a strong relationship with each other since we helped each other along the way. We were doing good until at one point, we cannot see a trail. We were hesitant on where to go because everything felt weird and quite dangerous. But, one of my friends (the only guy in the group) decided to take the lead to cross the rocky path. 만세! (Hooray!) He made the right choice. We were able to go back after one and a half hour going down. 

As we reached the peak of the mountain, we took a photo to commemorate our success.

After our hiking, we decided to treat ourselves by eating a delicious dinner. I ordered 바지락 갈국수 or clam noodles, while others ordered bibimbap and fried fish. The foods that were served to us are really delicious.

Then morning came, we watched the sunrise even though we were still sleepy and didn’t had a good view to watch it. It was really cold that morning but it was worth it since we were doing it together. Once again, we took many photos individually and by groups until we were satisfied. Then in the afternoon, we have checked out and go back to our own dorms.

   

Good morning Muuido!

Stairway to Heaven memorabilia

Oh I forgot to mention, Muuido is the shooting location of some famous Korean Dramas namely Stairway to Heaven and Boys Over Flowers. So, if you are interested in visiting drama locations, Muuido might be one of the places you should go.

Good Bye Muuido! Thank you for giving us a wonderful memory during our stay.