The beginning of fall in Korea is filled with long weekends and days off of work.  One of these breaks happens to be for Chuesok weekend, which is similar to Thanksgiving in the U.S. With Chuseok quickly approaching once again this week I’m taking a moment to look back at last year’s holiday and how much I’ve learned since then.

After a long month getting used to life in Korea and working with kids each day some friends and I decided that a little beach get away would be a much welcomed escape from our new chaotic lives. Living in Incheon, we are lucky enough to have an amazing little island just about an hour away called Muuido Island. We hadn’t done a great amount of research prior to leaving for the island and were planning on seeing where the weekend would take us. Adventure time!

We left early Saturday afternoon for an overnight stay on the island. Catching the subway and bus were fairly easily, and we got only slightly turned around once we got off at our stop. The next bit of the trip was much more memorable as we realized we would have to walk across an incredibly narrow bridge, lacking any kind of guard rail, as cars and busses drove by; some slowing down to avoid us and others not so much. After about ten minutes of cautiously creeping our way along, a middle-aged man offered us a ride across the rest of the way. And just like that we graciously accepted the offer hoping the backseat of a stranger’s car would be safer than the treacherous bridge. It was a good call too because we ended up just making the last ferry of the day. Once on the island we found a local bus driver to take us to the beach, and made it right in time for sunset.

When we arrived the tide was over a mile out which was surprising, but turned out to be really interesting. We walked all the way out as the sun was setting to really put our feet in the water. Once we were back on shore we headed to one of the few restaurants on the island for some soju and Korean bbq on the beach.  After dinner it was time to go back to our little hut on the beach and enjoy a good nights rest on the heated floor.

Day two was an amazing day of zip lining, hiking, sitting on the beach, and exploring when the tide was out. It was exactly what we needed. We were even invited to Chuseok lunch by the sweet Korean family in the hut next to us. We met three generations of family celebrating the weekend on the beach and enjoyed a delicious traditional lunch with them.

 

 

At some point during the day we decided to ditch our plans of going home and stay an extra night.

During round two of soju and Korean bbq we heard something very rare for us now. It was an English conversation being spoken only a few tables over. We were then invited to join a group of four fellow English teachers from England. We had a great dinner together ended up having a fun rest of the night sitting around a bonfire on the beach, lighting some sparklers, and listening to Shania Twain. Doesn’t get better than that.

We woke up the next morning, had a quick breakfast on the beach while the tide was in, and then sadly departed to get back to normal life on the mainland. Luckily our journey home was simpler than our adventure getting there. In those two days this island stole my heart. It was by no means tropical, but it was relaxing and exactly what we all needed for the long weekend.

Chuseok 2016 is now just days away and having been in the country already I had much more time to plan for the five-day break from school. I’m so excited for the upcoming trip out of the country. Any quick break from work is a reason to do some more exploring. Be sure to follow along on Instagram. I look forward to sharing the journey.