Monday, April 20, 2009

Muuido, an island off the west coast of Korea...

Hello everyone and welcome to one of S.Korea's many islands...Muuido! This island is on the West Sea (Yellow Sea) and very close to Seoul, just off Yeongjongdo which is another island that the Incheon International Airport is located on. So, roughly 1-1.5 hrs. from Seoul.
A friend of mine Eun-jung and I head out for a weekend on the island. We left Seoul, it was super hazy out and we were wondering if we should of headed away from China, since the haze may have been the "Yellow Dust"....anyway it was sure to be a fun time. It's always nice to get out of Bundang and Seoul. So here goes.....



We made it to the end of the road and now it's time to take the ferry. This is located in Jamjindo, therefore it's the Jamjindo-Muuido Ferry. We were excited, although the trip was only about 4 minutes. You can see Muuido in the background.



Seagulls flying around the ferry begging for food!



Well we made it to one of the beaches.....sorry but the photo's are in random order.
This is Hanagae Beach. Eun-jung is checking out a tourist brochure....It's not too warm but very comfortable.



I think this might have been the largest Hover-craft that I have ever seen, pretty cool eh? I guess it's a way the police roam the area between the many Islands.



A family fishing on the break near Saemgumi....



Dried fish for sale....



Enjoying a ride on the Hanagae Beach.



ajumma (older lady) hard at work cracking shells in the fishing village near the Wharf.....



her and her husband carrying up yet another net of shells....



getting ready for the fishing season ahead....some yearly maintenance.



Hey there....did I put my face in the wrong hole?!? hehehhe!



A shark fin, saw tooth shaped island in the haze. This was on Saturday...towards the afternoon it did clear up and Sunday was a beautiful day. If you look closely at this photo, you'll notice shellfish hunters digging up and gathering shells.



Here's a closer image....interesting how at low-tide the area turns into mudflats allowing the harvest of shellfish and crabs.



a boat stuck at low-tide in the mudflats....



washing off some shells....



Hanagae Beach front huts.



Saturday evening we were able to catch the sunset looking off to the west towards China. Eun-jung and I grabbed a bottle of wine, some glasses from the pension we were staying at, and a tarp and headed to the Hanagae Beach.



Enjoyed a relaxing time.....



Our wine holder.....



a better view.... :)



my all stars worked perfectly to hold our cups...



just after the sun went down...



a couple taking some photo's after the sun set....



Mudflats and boats....



a convenience store Starbucks....so I'm convinced, you can find Starbucks just about anywhere...



an old fishing boat at low-tide....



this is on Sunday near Silmido, an uninhabited island where the Korean movie called "Silmido" was filmed. I want to see it, I believe it's about the government training a group of men to go into North Korea and assassinate the leader, and I think it never worked out and they ended up killing the men in training. Anyway....to get back to the photo....this post and rope is usually covered during high tide, therefore it's covered in barnacles....



close-up of the barnacles....



fishing boat off of Saemgumi...



hunting for shells near Silmido, a little island you can walk to during low-tide.



a beautiful sunday near the sea....



tiny island off of Saemgumi, the southwestern part of Muuido....



Saturday's sunset....



Back to Seoul for the Sunset in the concrete jungle...this is taken from the balcony at Luca's place...he was back in Italy and let us stay at his place and use his car for the weekend....



a Chopper in Itaewon, Seoul....



the Seoul Tower...look closely near the base of the tower and you'll see patches of cherry blossoms...



a bee enjoying the Cherry blossoms



Magnolias...



a beautiful time of year....Spring has sprung!

Hope you enjoyed my weekend trip to Muuido....I sure did!!! ;)

See you soon!!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Clubbing N Carbonara...

A few weeks ago was a fun night out in Seoul....Cyworld party, Drinks at the Bungalow, Clubbing at B1 and a Carbonara breakfast at Filippo's...
Below are some pics from that night that I finally got my hands on...ENJOY!



After the Cyworld party we met up with some others at the Bungalow in Itaewon.
Luca, Giuditta and I before the night gets going!



At the B1 in Itaewon, the ties come off and the dancin' shoes are on!
L to R....Filippo, Luca, Me, Viviana, the French Journalist (Name?), and Giuditta



Luca and Filippo getting there groove on, notice Filippo scanning the crowd :)



Enjoying the night out...



two cool or is that "too cool" Italians...hehehe



a little blurry pic, but a funny one!



all smiles!



the dancin' shoes were on.......



the French guy tearin' it up on the air guitar...






well....it's 5am or so and we decided to stop by Filippo's since he left before us....
Pasta Carbonara was the decision, and man....it was tasty....!
Luca, "at home" in the kitchen.








The "Italia" chef



time to eat.....530am....I guess you can say, "Breakfast of Champions" except I'm not about to head out on a 100 mile road ride, but instead heading back to Luca's to crash. However, later that afternoon I managed to enjoy a nice MTB ride in Bundang.



homemade Italian Pasta Carbonara....probably the best I've had. Interesting point to mention, all the ingredients are from Italy except for the eggs.
So I can say "molto deliziosi"

ci vediamo presto! Ciao!