By Via Grey Curley’s Twitter feed comes his latest CNNGo contribution, which is 25 of Asia’s most overlooked destinations. On the list Korea had two locations listed which you can see at the link.
So my question for everyone is, what do you think is Korea’s most overlooked destinations?
Here is what my nominations are:
I based these nominations on the fact that when I visited them I didn’t see one other foreigner and that none of these sites are big on the foreign tourism itineraries in Korea. Additionally each of the sites are extremely scenic and definitely worth checking out even though they are off the beaten path. I have a few more I can think of, but I want to see what everyone else comes up with.
9:19 pm on April 18th, 2010 1
Ullŭngdo is high on my list of must-see places, but I never am able to find the time, since there's always a possibility of getting stuck there for a few days if the weather is bad. Maybe this summer, but that's what I said last summer.
9:37 pm on April 18th, 2010 2
When I went there I was stuck there for a few days as well because of the weather. You definitely need to plan a few days extra in advance when visiting the island to account for the weather. However, checking out the island is well worth the effort to get out there and see it.
11:11 pm on April 18th, 2010 3
I would definitely add Komundo to the list. Komundo is an island group (3 islands) that was once known by the British as Port Hamilton and was "preventively occupied" by them from 1885-1887. There are still a number of British graves – well taken care of by the Koreans – located on the main island. Beautiful place.
4:14 am on April 19th, 2010 4
I spent several weeks out on Ullungdo back in the late 80's, as part of a survey we were doing. We stayed on the north side fo the island, at Cheonbu-dong. As I recall there were no places to stay, per se, so we put up with the old lady who ran the butcher shop.
We also had an aviation unit from Humphreys fliy in several times with Blackhawks, and these created quite a stir.
Basically the economy was seaweed, squid, and mountain greens. In exchange for rides around the island, the villagers freighted up the aviation guys (all married to Korean women, it seems) with tons of good seafood, including abalone. The fishermen were by no means doing poorly, as a lot of what they caught or gathered was sold straight to Japan.
At the time there was a fast ferry running during the summer from Kangneung, and a slow (11 hours) ferry from Pohang. I and my buddy loaded a jeep on the slow ferry, and settled in for the ride…or so we thought.
The surviving members of the 1935 class from Pusan Girl's High School were on board for a reunion trip, and these old bags had been partying pretty hard since dawn. Each old lady got on board with the "family-sized" plastic gallon jug of Soju. Needless to say, it made our trip interesting, as once these old ladies discovered young men on board to dance with, it was off to the races. I still have pictures of my buddy being forced to strip to his underwear and dance for the appreciative grannies. They did not let up for the entire voyage, as they seemed to party in shifts.
What I do remember was that Ullungdo islanders speak the most impenetrable North Kyeongsang dialect, as I think back a hundred years ago, they were forcibly settled there by the Japanese from places between Pohang and Pusan.
The makkeoli was quite good, but we had to get used to seeing squid in all of its forms, 3 times a day at meals.
The thing they said about the island was that it had 3 things: clean water, rocks, and women. We did not get close to any of the women, but Cheonbudong had 3 tabang's staffed by girls from Taegu, out on TDY; apparently fisherment would hang out on bad weather days. The girls said they were pulling down 1.6 million a month, which was a hell of a lot of money in those days.
The weeks we spent out on that island were the most fun I ever had in the Army.
4:19 am on April 19th, 2010 5
Burma Bob, that's a great story. Thanks for sharing.
Um, did the island have any natural beauty at all?
12:37 pm on April 19th, 2010 6
As a matter of fact, yes, the island is quite beautiful, but the beauty is all nearly vertical, as the place is basically an extinct volcano. It looks like Hawaii.
Since I was there, I'd have to guess that roads have been put through everywhere, but back in the day, hiking was the way to go. Trails crisscrossed the island, with a few miles of jeep-able roads. At the time, to get a vehicle from one side of the island to the other, an LSM landing craft was used.
3:25 pm on July 15th, 2010 7
chickenhead, you obviously don't have any kids. be careful, the more you judge kids' parents for their behavior, the more horrendous your own kids will be when you have them! i used to think like you. now i have a daughter who i have to physically restrain so she doesn't run amok in restaurants and she still tumbles off chairs and spills everything all over herself and screams and is generally uncivilized. she is a typical toddler! i blame lack of high chairs with restraints in korean restaurants. can't get a bite in, so we usually just stay at home or go to a kid's cafe
. anyway, don't be so rough on korean parents, they are probably just exhausted. you interact with their kid for a half-hour or so and they are with them all day long. try a little empathy.
3:33 am on September 28th, 2011 8
OMG, I’ve never been any of them in my entire life in Korea. Shame on me…-.-
4:17 am on September 28th, 2011 9
Visiting Ullengdo will be very convenient when the airstrip opens. See, I told you the airstrip has its uses.