The sea that never parted!!

                                                 

           So a few weekends ago the Irish and the Texans set off on an adventure to trek through muddy sand, catch fish with our bare hands and camp out for a night. It didn't all exactly go to plan. Here's what happened:
          So Friday evening after work, Kyle, Ness, Dee and I headed into Seoul and after a nice (huge) western style meal we headed to the jimjilbag to stay the night before an early start on Saturday. We chilled and chatted for a while before heading to sleep in our gender separated areas! Next morning bright and early we woke and went to meet the buses for our trip. Roughly 80 people were attending this particular trip, the main aim of which was a sea-parting which supposedly occurs at set times during the year due to tides. To start there was a lot of confusion as to which bus we should be on and all that but we eventually got sorted. Dee and I ended up sitting in front of 2 loud, obnoxious girls (Americans of course.... to all my American friends ye know ye obviously don't fall into that stereotype :P )!! Not the best place to be for a six hour bus trip but time went fast enough thankfully and despite a few mix-ups and changes of plan we finally arrived at the sea parting location.
           Relieved to have arrived we excitedly hopped off the bus and were greeted by a VERY MUCH INTACT sea. Needless to say we were disappointed but with promises of the parting happening later that day due to weather patterns we agreed to watch the net-fishing. Kyle, the only one of the four of us who actually took part, proved himself to be a true man's man as he came back, with not the estimated 5 fish that people would probably catch, but 23!!! Nessa need not worry while she has Kyle providing for her anyway.. Bear Grylls eat your heart out.

The net fishing.                                                                                                                                                                                     After  the fishing we made another attempt to see the sea.. but alas it wasn't to be. We decided to drown our sorrows and soju quickly came into the equation of our sea-parting/camping weekend!! Set on still making the most of the trip we pitched our tent and happily ate some burgers. Then came one of my favourite parts of the weekend... the search for firewood! I know, how sad but it was so much fun. Most people stayed back at the lodgings while a few of us ventured into the dark in search of anything which would catch light. We made a few feeble attempts at first with what ended up to be barely kindling in the end. But then our competitive streaks set in. The aim of the game being who could find the biggest piece of suitable wood. After uprooting a small dead tree I felt very proud but we pressed on and next thing four of us were trekking through dark woods with a tiny torch, jumping at our own shadows and discussing how it was scaringly familiar to so many horror films we'd seen. Thankfully (as you can guess) we made it out alive, and with a very impressive stack of wood. Back at the camp the boys set about getting it all lighting while the girls chilled with our drinks. A few minutes later an impressive campfire was in full swing complete with melted marshmallows! Sing songs of course followed and the night ended up being a lot of fun.

The dead tree I uprooted.

          Next morning we decided to stroll along the beach by our camp and somehow Roxy ( a girl we'd befriended on the trip) and I ended up spending our time trying to capture the little scuttling crabs in the rock pools! This surprisingly became a joint first place with collecting the firewood for the highlight of the weekend for me. I felt like a little child as we hopped along the beach peering under stones and into the pools of water watching for movement....and then the chase began. Believe me those little crabs are faster than I had ever given them credit for. By the time Kyle, Dee and Vanessa had turned around from there walk and were back to meet us we had caught a grand total of 14 little crabs.

After letting them go Kyle successfully taught me how to skim stones. Once again I felt like a child for the second time that morning, as for the first time in my life, I watched a stone that I had thrown take 2 little hops along the water's surface.                               
          After our chilled morning we went back to camp and Kyle once again proving his Bear Grylls traits showed us how to gut the fish he had caught the day before. I was surprised at how simple it was and by how it didn't make me squeamish as I assumed it would. They turned out to be a yummy lunch before boarding the bus once more to make the long trip home.
          Luckily there was one stop on the way home at the Jindo dog training academy. Jindo dogs are a native Korean dog only found in that particular area and are known for their loyalty and tracking abilities with one story of a dog being lost on holidays and tracking his way half way across Korea back to his home....3 months later. Amazing. The dog show was cut short due to the extreme heat but from what we did see (the dog opening the fridge, getting milk, closing the fridge and bringing it to his trainer, turning on and off lights and raising the korean flag on the flagpole) we were impressed.
          After a long trip home we were happy to be back but a weekend that had started in flames had somehow managed to rise from the ashes and prove to be fun after all..... despite the sea that never parted!