Jindo and Boseong

This weekend, Gianni and I did our first tour in a while. We headed to Jindo and Boseong with Enjoy Korea. Niall was actually the bus leader for the bus leaving from Daegu, so it was nice to hang out with him this weekend. We met the bus on Saturday morning and drove around 3 hours to get to Boseong, which is on the way to our main stop, Jindo. Boseong is the largest producer of green tea in Korea, and it is supposed to have the best quality as well. It was really rainy on Saturday, but we didn't let it get us down. We walked around the muddy green tea fields. The fields were beautiful--rows and rows of green tea hills. There were a few different paths that wove around the fields, and we ended up climbing a really steep hill to get to the highest vantage point. It didn't much matter, though, because it was so foggy that, once you were up the high, it was hard to see anything below. We walked back down and behind the fields, where there was a cedar forest. You could smell the cedar in the air, and it was beautiful. Afterwards, we got bibimbap at the restaurant. The rice in the bibimbap was green tea flavored! It was really delicious. We also got some green tea ice cream for dessert. I got a few green tea products from the gift store for my coteacher and myself--the cookies and chocolates are really good.

Here's a view of Modo Island from Jindo during the day-- it's kind of a far walk.

After a few hours, we drove the rest of the way to Jindo, which is an island off the south-west coast. We spent some time looking around Jindo town and ate dinner with Niall and his girlfriend, Tara, at a chicken restaurant. The chicken burgers we got had SO MUCH mayo on them. It was kind of gross. It was just a bit further to get to our hostel. We shared a room with our friends Lily, Jonathan, and MJ, and it was nice to have some time to hang out with them. Before going to bed, we checked out the massive statue that was across the road from the hostel as well as the walking path along the beach. The reason we were in Jindo was for the Sea Parting Festival. A few times a year, the tide recedes enough that there's a walking path from Jindo to Modo, and the festival occurs once a

Sexy, rubber boots

year. This year, the tide was lowest at around 4am, so we headed out from the hostel at 3am to go to the beach and get our tall, rubber boots and torches for the walk. The weather wasn't that cold, but very windy. I was a little disappointed because I thought the sea would part in such a way that there was a sand and rock walking path, but really the water only parted enough that you walked in water up to your ankles at lowest and knees at highest. There were old Korean men and women actually picking seaweed, fish, and clams out of the water! This is so Korea. The old men and women find any way to scavenge what they need. It's kind of amazing how industrious they are here. Still, it was cool. It is actually kind of a far walk to get to Modo, and we didn't actually make it because, with all the people, it's hard to make it across in time. When the tide starts to go back up, the guides tell everyone to turn around and head back so no one gets stuck. There was a really beautiful fireworks display as we walked back also. It was awesome to get to watch fireworks with a waterfront view!

massive cotton candy ball

Once we were finished with the walk, we headed back to the hostel for a few more hours sleep before going back to the festival area for the afternoon activities. There was a global area of the festival with different foods and performers from different parts of the world--in the odd Korean style where things aren't exactly authentically foreign...it's kind of "this is what we think German food is" or "here's some Korean's doing a Jamaican performance." But still, it was cool. There were also a ton of people selling food,
 and we stopped for lunch at one. I got some pumpkin rice porridge (juk), and we both shared a sea food
pancake (jeon). I bought the most massive stick of cotton candy I have ever seen for dessert, and I got some very strong rice wine made with a root that turns the alcohol red. It's a special alcohol made only in Jindo.

Grandma Ppong state of the beach

We walked along the beach a bit and took pictures of the statue of Grandma Ppong (Mulberry Grandmother). Not sure exactly why they call her that, but her story is the reason the Sea Parting Festival happens every year. The story goes that tigers were plaguing the village in Jindo, killing many people. Everyone fled the island to nearby Modo, but Grandma Ppong got left behind (not sure what happened that they left her or why they though it was okay to leave an old woman!). She prayed everyday to be able to see her family again, and one day her prayers were answered. The sea parted, and her family walked across to her. She died in the arms of her family members that day, and the sea parting festival is held to continue that tradition of the sea parting each year and to remember this story. As we walked further down the beach, there was a huge crowd of

Jindo Puppy!!!

people watching the Jindo Dog performance. Jindo dogs are a special breed of dog that you can only find in Korea. In fact, you aren't actually allowed to take a Jindo dog out of Korea because they are a national treasure. It's really sad because they are such cute dogs. I wish I could take one home. Although we couldn't see much of the show, I caught a few shots of a dog that was trained to paint a picture. Jindo dogs are supposed to be really smart. Next to the show, they had some puppies out in an enclosure for guests to pick up and play with. Gianni and I posed for some pictures with an adorable little jindo puppy! It was so cuddly and sleepy! We only spent a few hours at the festival before it was time to head back on our 5 hour ride back to Daegu. It was a really great tour--way better than our Seoraksan Tour experience! Thank you Stacey Kim and Enjoy Korea for putting the trip together. Highly recommend Enjoy Korea to anyone looking into tour groups!