We went to the beach!

So the beach was in Incheon, and it was close to the airport.  Kind of fun to be on the ground and see what it was I flew over that day in Feb, which seems so long ago.  LOL.

To get there, we got up at met at the bus stop at 8am.  That's right 8 in the morning (it's early for us, ok).  We got on the bus and took it to Seoul Station (about 45 mins), then we got on the subway and took that to Incheon (about another hour and a half), then we took a bus to where we thought the beach would be and walked the rest of the way.  When we got to the beach, our friends that we were meeting were nowhere to be found, and neither was the water!  The tide was out, so the water was WAY far away!!  We were pretty bummed.  So we found our friends at a coffee shop, and then noticed that the tide was coming back!  So we had coffee (which I REALLY needed) and then went out and sat on the beach waiting for the water to come in.  Some people played soccer and volleyball, others of us sat and read our books (me, that was me).  I've been reading The House of the Seven Gables cuz I hear it's supposed to be good/creepy.

We spent most of the day at the beach, went swimming/floating when the water came in, and then decided to head home via Itaewon where we had dinner at Vatos.  It was a good day to celebrate A's b-day!  Juanita was a friggin' trooper in that boot of hers!  We got back to Dongtan at about 11:45 pm.  So today I'm planning to do laundry, clean, go get some stuff from the mart, make an omlette cuz I don't want more stuff going bad in my fridge, and go to Mass.  Here's to a lazy Sunday!

Oh and to compare - Jeju had nicer beaches/water, but the water yesterday was nice and warm as opposed to friggin' freezing!  Although to be fair, Jeju probably has great water now... it was early May when we were there, after all.

 The map of Incheon islans

 The random-ness of Korea.  I friggin' love this place, sometimes.

 The beach... there was supposed to be water... as you can see, it's all MUD!

 As we were walking to our friends, we found this.  I think it's a war memorial.  It was a really pretty little area with a nice place to sit.

 I love the flowers in Korea... I think this was next to a sea food place... there's a LOT of sea food places.

 The flowers again... so pretty!!

 Random - there were deer, turkeys, and goats in this enclosure.

 I think this used to be a restaurant/home perhaps... I would live in a place made of shipping containers :)

 Beach #2, there were a lot of people on the mud flats harvesting some kinds of sea life.  Not sure if they were digging for clams or what, but they came in as the tide came in, too.

 A and J at Tom N Tom's coffee.  They got some food... I got some COFFEE!  It was only my 2nd cup of the day - was sorely needed.

 A got a great "Happy Birthday" hat from G and C.

 I was told that where I was sitting was perfect selfie lighting,s o I figured, what the heck.

 From the 2nd story of Tom N Tom's, you can see where the tide is coming in.

 Chasing all the people ahead of it!  There were announcements (in Korean) that we confirmed were basically "The tide is coming in, get out!"

 And then this happened.  Apparently if we had wanted (and paid 10000 won) we could have ridden a horse on the beach!  I got him going one way...

 And then coming back the other way.

 The people with their football - J made some threats of the 'if you lose my ball in the ocean' variety.

 I think they were discussing the guy on the horse and whether they should go try to find him.

 I found a crab claw!!  For some reason, this made me really happy and I 'pinched' A, I only showed J and she freaked.

 The beach is so much nicer when the tide is in and the water is here!  The water, as I mentioned, was pretty warm, though there were some cold spots.

 Me post-watered.  Funny thing, my hair didn't look half bad after it dried.  Hehehe... I love this haircut!

 The reflection of the sun on the waves.

 So at BJ's back home, they have a seasonal brew, only available during the winter months, called Grand Cru.  When I was in Tom N Tom's looking for something to drink, I stumbled upon this treasure!  I immediately grabbed it, bought it, took a sip, and... perfection.  It's 8.5% alcohol by volume (which is less than BJ's which I think was 10-12%), smooth, and just really tasty.  So the beer snob in me was REALLY happy.  This led to a talk about the brewery that I found in Suwon and invitations to all to join me there next weekend.  I really hope that brewery is good, I've really missed being able to go to random breweries, wineries, and distilleries.  That was one thing about living in TX that I really enjoyed.

 Toes in the sand, salt in the hair, it was a good day.

 And then the tide went back out again... siigh.

 On the way to the subway station, we found the horses!!

I wouldn't have minded riding one.

So it was a good day.  We did a fair amount of walking, enjoying the sun and surf, having a few drinks, and just having a nice, chill time.  It was a really good day.  We also talked about future prospects including zip lines, white water rafting, and other stuff.  We'll see how much of that we actually do while we're all here.

In other news, my sinuses are acting up again.  How does one person end up with so much SNOT?!?  I have some sinus meds from T when she left, but I'm afraid they're not going to do the trick.  I don't want to go back to the doc, so cross your fingers for me.  I'll never take Sudafed for granted AGAIN! 

Anyway, hope you're all doing well and sending lots of love your way!!  :* MUAH!