Our second day in Ulleungdo was more organized compared to our first-day misadventure. As I’ve previously shared, the marine police were there to help us book a tour. The tour costs 80,000 won (about 3,500 pesos) per person, inclusive of lunch and a disc of our photos. For a day tour, it was a bit costly but I’d say it was very worth it. First, the driver/photographer took great photos (A must for every trip!). Karla and I even had some real candid (Hindi scripted! Lol!) photos together. Yay! Second, the tour was jam-packed but not rushed. We hiked one mountain (the path was called a healing road) for about 2 hours. There was a point during the tour where I and my cousin were jokingly asking when the tour will end. All in all, we visited about 8 places, four or five of which involved long walking and hiking.
There were many reasons why we fell in love with Ulleungdo.
First, the island is filled with trees and mountains. Literally a breath of fresh air. In Seoul, even though there are mountains and parks with trees, the air is not clean because there are many buildings, factories, and cars. There is absolutely no sign of pollution in this island.
There are beautiful rock formations everywhere.
Because there are many mountains in the area, it is a good place to go hiking.
If you are more of a ‘vitamin sea’ type of person, Ulleungdo won’t disappoint you too. There are areas where you can swim. We didn’t get the chance to do that but just looking at the sea and enjoying the fresh air were more than enough.
Trying to come up with a picturesque shot…
…but failed miserably. Lol.
The bridge above leads to an underwater viewing area.
We also hiked to see a waterfall. It’s not as stunning as other waterfalls I’ve seen before but the path leading to it was refreshing. We walked for about an hour before reaching it.
Now, let’s take a walk to my favorite place during the entire trip…
After crossing this bridge, we had to hike again. At this area, you can see and hear many birds. The air is so clean in this area that’s why it’s a haven for the animals.
After a steep hike, we saw this magnificent view…
Of course, on every trip, food is very important. As expected, there are lots of fresh vegetables and fish in the island. We ate vegetable bibimbap (mixed rice) under the tree. It was good but I still hoped there was meat. I can never be a vegetarian, I guess. Haha.
Playtime (bata?? Hahaha) after eating lunch…
Every trip, Karla and I make sure to try some rides. Actually, the two of us are not brave to try amusement rides so our idea of a ‘ride’ is… cable car or monorail. Lol! Extreme ride na para sa amin yan. Guess what? Ulleungdo has a monorail too! Instead of trekking for hours, you just need about 5 minutes to go to the top of a mountain. Who doesn’t love shortcuts?
Lastly, and probably the biggest reason why we enjoyed our trip, was the good company! Ulleungdo is not a very common travel destination for Koreans. We didn’t see any young tourist there, mostly were ahjummas and ahjussis on a group tour. They were really surprised to see us, young non-Koreans, there.
During our trip, they took care of us like their own children. Some of them spoke to us in English, some in Korean. They shared their packed food during the entire trip. While hiking, they were fond of randomly trying fresh fruits and vegetables they saw along the way. And then they made us try it too. Even though they are 20 or 30 years older than us, their stamina was no joke. I wonder where they got so much strength to hike and walk for hours.
Even though it is impossible to meet them again, I am happy to have made good memories with them. They made the beautiful Ulleungdo even more perfect!
Although it took me almost a year to post about Ulleungdo, I hope you had fun reading it. 🙂
