Day 197: Full Moon Fiesta

I woke up today at 9am and had to make a million and one phone calls to get our camping trip all organized. There were eight of us going out to Dokchokdo and the plan was to have the four from Islan/Seoul meet up with the Shihung crowd at the ferry terminal in time to catch the 1:30pm ferry. It didn't really happen but it all worked out in the end...

Pauline and I bussed it to Seoul Station and planned to meet up with Michael and Eric, but Michael was MIA and not answering his phone. Where the hell was he? By the time Pauline and I got to Seoul Station we had missed the last bus that would've gotten us to the ferry terminal in Incheon on time. Uh-oh! Eric meanwhile was trying to track down Michael so Pauline and I decided to cab it over to Itaewon. We went to Michael's and banged on his door and a very sleepy Michael answered his door - he had slept in! Considering that it was 11:30am I was quite surprised!

Michael had about two minutes to pack and then we had to race on over to Eric's to pick up Michael's car (left there the night before) and then race to Incheon. We had less than an hour to make it and it was not looking good with all the traffic in Seoul. We picked up Eric and then b-lined it to the highway leading to Incheon as we watched the clock tick by... Ailish, Mark, Chris, and Emma were already there and it didn't look like we were going to make it.

We arrived at the ferry terminal like twelve minutes after the boat had sailed! Argh!! So we missed the boat but planned to meet up with the other four on the island after we caught the 3 o'clock ferry. When we finally arrived on Dokchokdo we were anxious to get our asses over to our Secret Beach and set up camp. Ailish and them had never been there so it turned out to be quite the fiasco trying to all meet up together. We found the beach but they couldn't...blah blah blah...in the end we finally all made it together.

We were thrilled to discover that once again we had the beach to ourselves! We set up all the tents and then took a refreshing swim in the sea. Ahhhhh...soft sand, beautiful scenery, cool waters...now *this* is why all that effort to get here is so worth it! Escapism at its best! :-)

We went back to the little village that we had been to last time to get some dinner and discovered a completely different atmosphere than our first visit just three short weeks ago. The village was almost empty and most of the shops and restaurants had closed up for the season. Considering that this was still August and it had only been three weeks since our last visit we were quite surprised! Eric then informed us that according to the Koreans "summer" had officially ended last weekend, and that Koreans ONLY go camping during the weeks of summer. Even if it's just one week after the end of "the season" and the weather is just as nice (which it was) it's considered strange and unusual to do "summer activities" once "fall has begun." Summer in Korea literally only lasts (for them) from late June until late August and is the *only* time of the year when camping, vacationing, and hanging out at the beach is done. Koreans just don't do those sorta things outside that narrow window of time. Seems kinda strange...

We had a nice dinner, bought some soju, and then went back to the beach to have quite the Full Moon Fiesta! We set up a bonfire right on the beach and engaged in the usual tall tale/ghost story-telling around the fire while consuming said alcoholic beverages. We all became quite hyper later on and while there was no shamanism this trip around, there was plenty of truth or dare, communal skinny-dipping in the ocean at like 2am, and Chris' stellar Naked Tribal Fire Dance for all of us to see. That, and Mark's Pee Art in the sand made for quite the hilarious times! Oh, the crazy things that we get up to while drunk on a beach on an offshore island! Too much fun! :-)

Bedtime came around 4am or so and it was time for our party under the brilliant glow of the full moon to end. We crashed to sleep in our tents and slept the calm night away. Ahhh, island paradise! :-)