Itinerary: Weekend in Heuksando

Background: Heuksando is a mountainous island 60 miles off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula. It is about 7 square miles and, according to Wikipedia, 3,300 people live there year-round. We decided to go and experience another part of Korea over the long weekend. The trip turned out great — Seoul is such a modern, futuristic city it feels like you might be living in a science fiction novel or something, but Heuksando was definitely a trip to the past, a place where rapidly-disappearing ways of life are still how people survive. (Aka — it seems that everyone on the island fishes and farms in order to eat.) We had a great time.
Lodging: We stayed at somebody’s house who had an extra room because the hotels were full.
Best Food: Probably the maeungtang (spicy fish soup) made with a fish we picked out and watched get cleaned before it was boiled into our dinner.
Best Activity: Bus ride around the island. Tour boat trip. Being there.

Saturday:
Morning: Catch train from Seoul to Mokpo.
Afternoon: Take a high-speed ferry from Mokpo to Heuksando. Find our homestay. Catch the bus outside our new front door with a whole bunch of Korean ajumma fisherwomen. Ride around the island while all the women get dropped off in their villages carrying baskets of freshly-caught fish.
Evening: Cuttlefish, soju, fresh snails and kelp on the pier as the sun goes down, then spicy fish stew for dinner. Late walk home in the dark along the seashore.
Sunday:
Morning: Walk into town and buy tickets for boat tour of surrounding islands. Lunch of kimbap and odaeng at sidewalk stand.
Afternoon: Take bus around island. Hop off in quiet village. Sit by the sea for an hour. Realize no more busses. Start hiking. Wave down first car we see (an hour later). Get ride back to town.
Evening: Abalone stew for dinner, with dried kelp and squid and the strongest (re: oldest) kimchi yet encountered. Bottle of makkeoli to drink on the beach before bed.
Monday:
Morning: Wake up early to catch the 8:05 bus around the island.
Afternoon: Take the ferry back to Mokpo.
Evening: Train home to Seoul.