Namhae Island

So first I have to share with you the pictures of someone trying American biscuits for the first time.  I made J a brussels sprouts hash with bacon and eggs and figured the biscuits would go well with it. 
The food - so good!

Nervous but trusting me.

 The realization.

 The reaction.  Hehehe - so fun.

So as you know I was planning on going to Namhae back in June but the trip was postponed until this weekend.  Friday night was the pick-up day so I brought my stuff to work with me.  I went to Seoul to get the bus at the Express Bus Terminal because I figured it would be easier than meeting at Osan College Station at 1 am.  Spent the night trying to sleep on the bus - I failed.  So the morning comes and we have options - go hiking or go to the beach.  I chose beach.  When we got there, I laughed at myself - I'd been to that beach before.  It's where we stayed when we went to Oktoberfest last year.  I had wondered, now I was certain.  So I spent the morning on the beach drinking coffee and reading my book.

Not sure what critter does this, but there were lots of holes like this on the beach.

 I think this was new - at least, I didn't remember it from before.

 My friend while I had coffee.

 Wildlife.

My friend I made while waiting to go back to the bus.

Now, just because I didn't hike doesn't mean that I didn't get to see how beautiful it was.  The following are courtesy of the group chat.

I still maintain I made the right choice for me.  A South African guy was giving me crap about it so I told him that Saturday AM I realized a few things - 1) I had forgotten my knee brace, 2) I did something horrible to my calf not too long ago and didn't want to risk re-injuring it, and 3) a quiet morning alone on the beach with my coffee and book sounded divine after my failed attempt to sleep on the bus.  I also said something about not caring for his judgy-ness (in a joking way) and laughed.

We spent the morning at the German village - the same one I went to for Oktoberfest.  It was actually quite nice to be able to wander around without having the huge crowd there.  Then we decided to have a beer for breakfast.  We were also told that the village we were staying at did not have anywhere to buy drinks, so we needed to buy our beer and soju before we left.  The bag that I was using was the one that AL sent me, and I can confirm that it carries 7 beers, my phone, camera, book, and other necessities quite well.  Hehe.

 My friends that I made - the lady in the blue is from South Africa and the other lady is from El Salvador (and lived in New Zealand for a while).

I like this one of my tats - I'm sure I'm being profound.

 The town was EMPTY compared to last time.

The beer in my glass - the beer that the glass is advertising is good, too, but I already knew I loved that one.

Fun fact - there is an American village on Namhae - and we drove past it! 

So after the German village we went to Darangyi village.  It's a vertical village.  The rice fields were cut into the side, houses are built on it, and I was extremely happy that I had chosen NOT to hike.  My legs are killing me!! 

 A good pic of the village.

 Descending.

 Another view - looking at the water.

We ended up taking a walk and then going down a lot of stairs to get to this beach.  Here we were able to fish with our hands, go snorkeling, cliff jumping, swimming, etc.  It was quite nice, but walking on those rocks was no fun - so I mostly sat with my new South African friend, talked and had beer. The rocks were tough for a lot of people - more than one of the guys ended up bleeding because of being slammed against the rocks.

 She looked so comfy!

After the beach, we went to our homesdays to have dinner.  The little old ladies who cooked for us were wonderful and adorable and didn't speak a word of English.  Apparently their accent was hard for some of the ladies in our group (who do speak Korean) to understand.  Dinner was fish (surprise) and of course all the yummy Korean sides.  If you had told me that I'd really love these packs of roasted seaweed, I would have told you that you were crazy.  But I do - they are SO GOOD.

 

 Craft making after dinner.

 We had to write our wishes on our lanterns that we were going to let fly in the air.

One of the tour guides - he was quite nice.  

 Getting ready to let the lantern go

 I like this shot.

 So much fun.

Let the wishes go!

After this was sleep.  Next morning, our lady made us breakfast - which was pretty much the same thing we had the night before, but with crab and tofu soup.

 Snapped a pic of the old lady. 

Then we walked around the village a bit more.  Didn't see any cows, but apparently they are of some use in the rice fields.

 Cute park.

 LOOK AT ME!  LOL.
So after this, we went to the sea kayaking place.  The following are the pix that I took.  I'm trying not to bore you too much.

 Demonstration.

 My kayaking buddy.

 Look at me! 

 The other girls from our homestay.

 We were going to another beach on a different island.

 Again with the ROCKS!

 Yep - I let my belly show... turns out I'm not ready for that yet.

 Obligatory foot pic... the legs, they GLOW!

 The tour group leaders. 

Now for the pix from the tour guys.

 After this, we went for lunch and then came home.  The good thing was that we could shower after all the swimming, the bad thing was, it rained on us the whole time.  That's right - it rained while we kayaked, it rained as we swam, it rained when we walked back to the bus, it rained all the way home, and it's raining now!  I also learned that my dress leaks - it dyed my socks when I washed it all when I got home. 

So all in all it was a good, successful weekend away.  This group wasn't totally dominated by Americans, which was kind of nice to be honest.  We had a good bunch of people from a little bit of everywhere - South Africa, El Salvador, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ghana, France - you get the idea.  It was really nice.  Even though it turned out that I'd been to Namhae before, it was nice to be able to see a new part of the island.  However, I must say that I prefer the sandy beaches over the rocky ones.  I did not escape unscathed - I have a bruised elbow and knee, and numerous shallow cuts from the rocks.  Ah well, it was fun.  I do have to laugh at myself - since the food was included I wasn't worried about making sure to hit my fasts.  So after lunch today (fish and mussels, seaweed soup, and green onion pancakes) I figured I'd start my fast - it works out to a 48 hour fast if I don't eat until lunch on Tuesday.  Hehehe - nothing like giving yourself a reset.  Also, the Dante Club is a quite enjoyable read.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, it's nice to have the ability to write a travel post!!