A Trip to Deokjeokdo

Two weekends ago, Richy and I planned a trip to the island of Deokjeokdo for my birthday weekend/Buddha's Birthday holiday. We had read up about the island a bit in our Lonely Planet guide and planned on leaving Saturday, after my Friday night birthday party. We ended up not going to bed until around 4 am, so of course we got a bit of a late start on Saturday. We weren't really that worried about it because I had read in the Lonely Planet guide (and I think in some random place online) that the 50 minute passenger ferry from Incheon to Deokjeokdo would run until 7:30pm. So we took our sweet time, and by the time we got to the ferry terminal in Incheon it was about 6:30pm. We knew we were in trouble when we walked through the main doors of the terminal, only to find all the lights off and completely deserted except for one confused security guard. So we grabbed some ferry schedules, got out our travel guide, and sat down to try to figure out both where we went wrong and what our next step should be.

Taking the two hour subway/bus trip back home was kind of out of the question, since it was my birthday and I didn't want to spend four hours of it on the subway for no reason. We decided it might be best for us to head back toward downtown Incheon to try to find a motel and somewhere decent to have dinner. Just as we were trying to figure out what time the ferries actually ran another group of foreigners with backpacks on walk in the door. They looked about as bewildered as we probably did, and they asked us:
"Where are you guys going?"
"We were trying to go to Deokjeokdo."
"Us too. Isn't there a 7:30 ferry?"
"Apparently not."
"But Lonely Planet says they run until 7:30."
"Yeah, we know."

Just then, the security guy brought us over some more ferry schedules and shooed us out as he locked the doors. I think he was afraid he was about to be over run by angry foreigners. So Richy and I got back on the bus headed toward downtown Incheon. We wandered around for a few minutes until we saw the first bright 모텔 (motel) sign. Along the way we spotted a rare Turkish restaurant advertising lamb kebabs and falafel, and made a mental note to come back for dinner. The motel was the ubiquitous Korean-style love motel, which can be rented cheaply by the hour or all night. This one was actually pretty nice, with free ice cream provided in the lobby, a big screen HDTV, and a computer in the room. Not to mention several porn channels and all manner of lotions provided (eeew). The sheets looked clean, but we still used our trusty hostel sheets. After chilling out for a few minutes, we headed off to the Turkish restaurant for something that would seem like a nice birthday dinner despite our less-than-well-planned situation.

The first good sign at the restaurant was that it was full of actual Turkish (or at least Middle-Eastern looking) people. We decided to order the set menu, because at a restaurant we've never been to before, we usually assume it will offer the best sampling of dishes. Unfortunately the dishes came out in a strange order, so by the time we got the bread and rice at the end, we had already eaten most of what it would have gone well with. Overall it was good though, and it's always nice to escape the Korean flavor palette for a meal or two. We finished off with a dessert of ice cream at the Baskin Robbins (strangely found almost everywhere in Korea) and spent the rest of the evening wandering the streets of downtown Incheon. At one point a man and his young daughter played a game of following us for several blocks, all the while daring his daughter to practice her English on us. It was obvious they were following us because we were practically walking in cicles. Kinda creepy, but also kind of cute at the same time.

The next morning, we rose early for a breakfast of MacDonalds (usually the only accessible and affordable Western-style breakfast in town) and took the bus back to the ferry terminal. This time the terminal was very much open, alive and bustling, and we caught the 9:30am ferry to Deokjeokdo. When we bought the tickets, the man behind the counter advised us that the only return ferry open for the next day was not until 5:10pm, which was fine with us because we wanted to spend as much time on the island as we could at that point.

When we got to the island, the only two buses there were waiting by the ferry dock. One of them was crammed full of people, and the other was only half full, but the driver seemed to be refusing to let any foreigners on. So we kind of stood around, trying to figure out how to get to the touristy place with the beach and places to stay, which is the perfect demeanor to have if you want to be approached by someone trying to make some money.

An ajumma (middle-aged Korean woman) approached us and asked us if we wanted to go to the beach. We told her yes, we did, and she motioned for us to get into her van. I asked her "Olmai-ay-yo?" (how much?) and she said "Sa man won" (40,000 won, about $40) which is pretty average for a room for two in Korea. So we looked at the van and deliberated for a moment over whether this woman was going to put us in a really shitty room. We decided that there weren't really any other options and got into the van. It made me feel better that there was one other foreigner in the van and several Korean tourists. The room we were provided was less than ideal, but cozy enough and close to the beach.

After dropping off our stuff and getting a bit settled, we headed for the beach. The beach was nice, sandy, and sunny, but the wind blowing off the water was downright cold. In spite of this fact there were several foreigners sunning themselves on the beach in bikinis. This is a very un-Korean behavior since most Korean women hide from the sun at all costs in an effort to keep their skin white and young-looking. Then we wandered around the town, realizing with each turn that about 85% of all the businesses in the little town were closed for the season and that there was really only one open-looking restaurant with Korean food we were familiar with. We realized that since we hadn't come with a large group of friends, weren't camping on the beach and weren't planning on getting drunk that we probably weren't going to have the best time on this island. There's a fine line between relaxing and boring, and this was definitely more boring than relaxing.

The highlights of our time on the island: eating a few meals at the only welcoming restaurant, finding a few shells on the beach, making a small campfire on the beach, and lighting off a roman candle. Other than that we were just cold and wondering what there was to do. The next day, the woman with the van had disappeared, and around 11:00 a woman kicked us out of our room because she wanted to clean it. We were kind of stranded, with six hours to kill. So we wandered up the beach, tried to find a hiking trail that would lead us back in the direction of the ferry dock, and instead found a dead end. We decided just to hike the 7 kilometers back to dock along the winding, hilly road, on which traffic was very infrequent. It took us about 2 hours. Along the way we had a snack on another beach (this one more geared toward the fishing rather than sunbathing crowd). While we were munching, a little Korean boy, all alone, about 4 or 5 came up to me and told me (in Korean) that he hurt his finger. He had a tiny little scratch, and I showed him my sympathy by giving him a little sucker I had in my purse. Richy asked him (in Korean) where his parents were, and he pointed to a nearby building, and Richy told him to go to his mom, and the boy dutifully obeyed. It always amazes me how independent and trusting of strangers small Korean children are. I think it testifies to both the relative safety of Korea and the fear-mongering we embrace for our children in the West.

We finally came to the ferry dock around 3 pm and spent our last few hours on the island waiting for our ferry, reading our books and eavesdropping on the conversations of other foreigners.  As more ferries left, the island seemed to become more and more deserted. On board our sparsely filled ferry, which was the last one of the day, we found cozy seats in the top deck first class area. We were looking forward to going home, a little bit anxious to catch our subway because we knew it would be a long trip and we didn't want to get home too late for work the next morning. Of course, just when we seemed well underway, the ferry abruptly stopped dead in the water and a serious-sounding announcement (only in Korean) came over the loud speaker. The only other group of foreigners on the ferry called over to us to see if we understood the message, and when it was apparent that we didn't, they sent one of theirs down to see if the English-speaking concession worker could translate. She found out that apparently there was something caught in the engine, and it was unclear how long it would take. We waited patiently as a few frustrated crewmen ran back and forth between the main cabin and the engine. After a few minutes, we were underway again, only to stop again, start again, stop again. We finally made it to Incheon around 7:00.

Moral of the story: don't go to a remote Korean island unless you go with a lot of friends and plan on getting drunk the whole time. Or, at least go during the summer so there will be more stuff open.