Thursday, April 21, 2005

Chandra's Bday Celebration In Jebudo Island

Birth day: 16th April-Yes its my birthday. Every year it comes with loads of excitement and pleasent surprises from Kumar. I always love to visit sea beaches and this time the surprise was Birthday Celebration at Jebudo Island .Yahoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About Jebudo
: Jebudo is a small island in the west coast of S Korea. The island boasts of a long costal line (12Km) and has Maebong (three rocks of different shape and size) at the end of the sand flat. When the tide is out, the water parts and a 3m-wide road appears.The left side of the road is muddy while the right side contains sand and gravels. As the tide is up, the water comes again and the road and flat go down under the sea. The tide remains high for about six hours a day, but the time can be different everyday. Jebu Island is small in size but, once on the island, there are many places to visit. There are Maebawi (meaning Hawk Rock) where hawks nest and a 2.5Km long sand beach where many sea shells are found.
All these information were more than enough to lead us to this island. We took a bus from Suwon station early in the morning. It took an hour and quarter to reach Soshin-The Entry Gate of Jebudo Island.
Jebudo Home Page: This website is in Korean. Refer this site to get updated timings of Gate opening and closing.

The fun filled Walk
: We reached the Gate right on time. There was a long queue of vehicles of all sizes and shapes waiting to get into the island. The 2 Km long narrow road to Jebudo was still immersed under Sea water. In the meantime we were just eyeing all those nearby restaurants which sells fresh sea food. People from far off places come here to enjoy fresh sea food.
Soon we could see the road reappearing and the sea water getting away.The gate opened right at 9:30 am and the good news was that, on that day the gate would remain open throughout the day. All the vehicles started moving in one by one. We decided to walk thru the road so that we could enjoy the beautiful sea while reaching the island. It was a kind of bold step.We did not find anyone else walking down. Its a very narrow road which was just enough for 2 vehicles to cross. We really enjoyed the cool breeze and the sight of sea water slowly getting further and further was really nice.
The road was still wet and we could find lot of shells and moses on both side of the road and many small sea creature and their remains. The journey was very enjoyable and soon we reached the island. We were happy that we had decided to walk.


On the way to Jebudo


Sea water had not moved far yet


Say Cheese

The Island:
The small island was an independent town. It had everything and specially it had hundreds of sea food restaurants of all sizes. After walking for some time we reached at a high platform which is meant for fishing purpose and we could see many fishing boats unloading their catches. Kunjal was very happy to see all these and she was shouting and inviting the attention of fellow tourists. Many of them took pictures with her.


In front of one of the Restaurants


On top of a High Platform meant for fishing

The Wooden Bridge
: We then reached for the wooden bridge. The bridge was hanging around the island. One side of the bridge was mountain and Sea on the other. From the bridge we could see lots of people collecting clamps and shells from the sea shore. After a long walk the bridge finally lead us to the huge beach area.


On the Wooden Bridge


On the Wooden Bridge

The Beach: The beach is very nice and the water is very clean and blue. There were very few people on the beach.Thanks to the cold breeze. Summer is yet to set in. Near the beach there were many condominiums and beautifully decorated restaurants. The waiters were standing on the way and doing funny things to attract the customers. It was lunch time so many of them were fully packed. We were hungry too but since most of the restaurants specializes in raw sea food items so it was not a good idea to have lunch there. By now we had almost seen the full island and decided to head homeward. This time we took the BUS for our way back
.

The beach was empty because of cold breeze blowing

Our lunch in Akeyung:
We reached Suwon station back at about 2:30pm and decided to have lunch at Akeyung Deptt store food court to celebrate my birthday. One can find cuisines of many countries there but we opted for our favourite Korean food. Our selection was Bhossam(a meat dish)and rice (mixed with 5 kind of beans and served very hot in stone pots) accompanied by many many different side dishes and soup. It was a delicious meal. After the meal we looked around Akeyung for some time and returned home.


Having Lunch


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, The island looks cool. I live in Icheon and, beyond weekend trips to Seoul, haven't seen enough of this country since I arrived in September. The Spring weather is making me restless and I want to see this place. I was wondering if it was good for a day trip or an overnighter. You answered that question. That picture of you on the island road. Is there no guard rail? That might make me nervous with the traffic passing by.
One more question. I don't speak Korean. If I make it from Icheon to the Suwon Station, should I ask for a ticket to Jebudo Island or is there a nearby town with a bus terminal I should ask for?
Thanks for your post. It makes it easier to prepare for an outing when someone else has mapped the way a bit.
Thanks, Edward