Life is a beach... at least it was supposed to be

Before coming to Korea, we were told that Mokpo, our new home city, had a big glorious beach. This was all Steph needed, and her heart was set. Unfortunately, the beach fell dramatically short of its hoopla (damn you Mr. Shane) and has left us (well, Steph, with me in toe) looking for a beach near our hometown.

Last weekend we headed to Jindo, home of the Jindo breed of dog (The type you think about when people mention Korea) and our first beach attempt. The sky was black the whole day (the whole weekend) but the beach was nice (34°26'4.59"N 126°21'17.98"E) even though it turned too cool to sit out on it. At low tide, the sea parts and you can walk on the seabed, a mile out to an island off the coast. (34°25'21.20"N 126°20'56.17"E) Neatish. Not everything we (she) was hoping for!

This weekend we tried Wedaldo (34°46'52.49"N 126°17'37.25"E), a small island that is being developed 50 minutes from Mokpo by ferry. $7 was all the ferry cost for a return ticket. We were surprised by the number of Koreans at the Island (especially those that felt the need to bring their cars since the island was really too small to drive around) and were amazed by the good sized water playground area that was obviously just put in.

Our Brit contingent, Hugh and Anoushka, accompanied us, and we headed to the beach.
After picking up some Raman noodles for lunch, a couple of Korean groups stopped by and gave us half a watermelon and 4 cokes. Just another example of Korean kindness! We swam in the 3-foot deep "designated swimming area" for a while and basked a little longer before we were rocked by an unimaginable disaster! Out of the public bathrooms came Hugh, a gash over his eye from an apparent animal attack! Well... it wasn't really a gash, and.. the attack came from an unidentified large bug teamed with a strategically placed shelf... but it definitely was unimaginable! Poor Hugh!

The day ended shortly after that, and Hugh was taken to the ER where he was fixed up nicely. He miraculasly bounced back enough to join us for a drink later that night. What a trooper!