A string of national holidays in October leads to a number of long weekends in the beginning of fall and a lot of opportunities to explore the country. One of these holidays is National Foundation Day which is a celebration of the founding of Korean as a nation. While this year I’ll be doing some adventuring outside of the country, last year I used the the extra day off work to explore Nami Island {one of over 30 islands in Korea} with a friend.
Nami Island is interesting because it’s not a beachy or mountainous island like many of the other ones are. Instead, Nami Island feels a little more artsy. It’s a small island filled with sculptures, art installations, and interesting bohemian attractions, think ostriches and sky bikes.
We arrived on the island later in the afternoon after stopping for lunch on the mainland and catching a quick ferry ride over. We were greeted right away by a gorgeous walk way filled with trees and what appeared to be balloons of some sort hanging between the limbs. We strolled through without a plan, ready to simply enjoy anything the island had to offer. And it did have a lot to offer.
It didn’t take long for us to stumble upon the ostriches. While they weren’t exactly free roaming, they also weren’t fenced in with much at all. I kept waiting for one to nock the rickety wooden barrier right over and start exploring the island for itself.
After a few selfies with the ostriches we continued wandering the island passing sculptures and art installations galore. Then one quick turn and we found the sky bikes. These were small two seater bikes complete with seat belts and cannopy as you pedal through the sky on a raised track around the island.
Towards the end of the day we went off the beaten path a bit and discovered a quiet area on the edge of the island by some water to watch the sunset. As we started making our way back to catch the ferry home we realized that those “balloons” from the tree lined path were in fact little white lanterns that magically lit up the trail as we waited in line for the ferry. A perfectly charming ending to a long and exciting day.
I had no idea what to expect from Nami Island, but I quickly fell in love with this island and look forward to going back to continue exploring. National Foundation Day is quickly approaching once again this year which means a three day weekend and another quick getaway. As always I’ll be posting about the trip on Instagram so be sure to check it out!
Day four in Thailand was mostly a travel day with the morning spent in Ao Nang and a long ferry ride over to Ko Phi Phi. We made it to the island for sunset, a bit of beach time, a late dinner and some island exploring. Getting off of the ferry, Ko Phi Phi was already very different than the main land of Krabi had been. It felt more touristy, yet still like we were in a different world. There are no cars on the island, and it’s made up of twisty and turny brick roads filled with people, shops, and carts. It took nearly our entire stay there just to feel like we knew our way around. While it didn’t feel quite as authentic as our stay in Ao Nang had, it was a cute island none the less and certainly had its own highlights. Small yellow flag garlands welcomed us above all of the main streets, the beaches were out of this world, and the tree house bars were really exciting.
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.
Our flight left on Christmas day, which luckily made being away from home for the holidays a little easier. We woke up on the 26th ready to explore Bangkok and see everything.
was packing my bags to the brim and not allowing enough room for extra souvenirs, though I have every intention of going back to that market at some point in the near future.
We enjoyed a smorgasbord lunch at some of food stalls, before wandering our way out of the market. Then it was back to our hotel where we grabbed our bags before heading to the airport and continuing the trip in 
Just over a year ago I ventured out on an unexpected journey. I decided to give up a fantastic job that was quickly blooming into a lifelong career, a charming little apartment in Chicago, and, really, a life that I’d been planning since the age of nine.
bbm travels 