A day in Ganghwa Island

The highlight of last week was a day trip to Ganghwa Island on Saturday. I learned about Ganghwa Island in my history classes. There are many relics from prehistoric times found throughout the island, such as dolmens, and Ganghwa is also a place of historical occupation by the U.S., France, and Japan. American forces occupied the island until they essentially forced Korea to open its doors to international trade and diplomacy in 1876. The island was also the dynasty's capital (Koryo dynasty, I think) during the Mongol invasions. There is a lot more to be said about the island and if you're curious about Korean history, I encourage you to read more about it.

I met with Marisa, Sam from my internship, and my Korean friend, Sung-hyun, in Sinchon in the morning and we caught a bus outside of the subway station that took us all the way to Ganghwa. For an hour and a half bus ride on comfy seats I only had to pay 1,500 won! Just another reason to love the public transportation here in Korea. Ganghwa Island is located on the West coast north of Incheon and really close to North Korea (about 5 km more or less). Sung-hyun told me that when his family visits the northern part of the island they are able to catch a North Korean signal on their car radio.

After arriving on the island, we stopped by the local market for some lunch. The ajumma who runs the restaurant stall was very kind to us and ending up giving us hwaeteopbab (회덮밥), a Gwanghwa speciality, for free. She later came up to us and said that I reminded her of her granddaughter who is studying in Denmark (if I remember correctly). The dish was SO good and I'm bummed I can't get it outside of Ganghwa. It consisted of mixed raw fish, crunchy vegetables (they tasted like apples and radishes), and lettuce with a pepper and sesame sauce. You then take the dish and mix it with rice (and it was "purple" rice, my favorite!). It was very light-tasting and very flavorful. I couldn't even tell I was eating raw fish because it was so light. I'm also a huge fan of sesame so I was enjoying the fact that the dish was smothered in those seeds. We also ordered two huge bowls of a seafood noodle soup. The noodles were homemade and reminded Marisa, Sam, and I of chicken noodle soup. Like the 회덮밥, the seafood was not fishy-tasting at all, demonstrating how fresh it was. In addition to the regular panjan (side dishes), there was a special dish for Ganghwa which was another type of radish kimchi. The main difference was that the radish was a lot stronger, in comparison to most radish kimchi I've had so far. I was also a fan of that dish. After only paying 6,000 won for all of that delicious, comforting food, we met with Sung-hyun's family and Jeremy (who is dating Sung-hyun's sister and was in my Korean class before I switched sections). His family was beyond generous and ending up driving us around all day. They also brought their dog, Stein, who was the chillest and sweetest mini poodle I've ever encountered. I enjoyed cuddling and petting him all day, especially since I've been so animal-deprived being in Seoul.

Eating in the market.

Our first stop was at the Ganghwa Historical Museum. I was already quite familiar with the history of the island beforehand, but it was neat being able to see relics and artifacts I learned about in class firsthand such as the honey-combed patterned pottery. My friends were also quite surprised to find out how much history the island has since they never heard of it before I brought it up to them. After walking through the museum, we walked outside to see one of the famous dolmens on the island. Dolmens are prehistoric stone structures where a horizontal stone is rested on two vertical stones. Dolmens were typically tombs, and are important because they show when society started to become stratified into the ruled and ruling. Dolmens are found all over the world but the largest concentration of them are actually found in the Korean peninsula. What astonishes me is how a dolmen was made. First the two vertical stones were buried in a dirt mound and so the horizontal stone could be rolled up on logs. After the horizontal stone was placed properly, people then dug out the dirt around the vertical stones, giving its image of what you see below. I can't even begin to think about how time and labor-intensive making a dolmen of that size was. 

A dolmen.

We then jumped on a ferry to Seongmodo, an island to the West of Ganghwa. After driving the car onto the ferry, we walked up to the upper level to feed the seagulls. Several people were feeding the seagulls, resulting in a huge flock of them following and diving at the boat. We fed them with shrimp crackers that Sung-hyun's mother bought. I was too chicken to hold the cracker in my hand for them to take, so instead I threw crackers at them to catch. I was surprised to find that seagulls are quite good at catching food from a speeding ferry, haha.

Feeding the seagulls.

We then ventured to Bomunsa Temple on the coast of the island. Walking up a very steep hill to the temple definitely gave us our workout for the day. Even though at this point I've been to numerous Buddhist temples in Korea, this one still stood out. For starters, there is a display (I'm not sure which word to use) of 500 statues, which I haven't seen at other temples. There was also a huge statue of Buddha lying down in one of the temple buildings which was also unique.

500 statues of what we thought were Buddhist priests.

A lying stone Buddha inside one of the temple buildings.

We then climbed a set of steep stairs to reach an engraving of Buddha in the side of the mountain. Sung-hyun told me that Koreans go up to make a wish at the Buddha because it is believed that the wish will come true. It was really impressive to see, especially since on the other side you were facing the sea. We had great views and overall it was very peaceful, especially after being out of breath from the hill and stairs. 

A Buddha engraved into the stone on the side of the mountain.

Another view of the engraved Buddha.

The view from the top of the mountain.

Posing by the lanterns at the top of the mountain.

To finish off our trip, we headed back to Ganghwa and headed to the southern end of the island to relax by the beach. Because Ganghwa is at the intersection of the Han and Imjin river and the sea, the water is not as salty so the air was actually very fresh. Also, because it was low tide, several people were walking in the mud collecting clams. The mud stretched pretty far, making it look like a scene from another planet.

A beach at the southern end of the island.

A photo of the low-tide. Doesn't it look other-worldly?

After exploring the beach, we set up camp for dinner. Sung-hyun's family was awesome and brought enough supplies to cook samgyeopsal along with kimbap, side dishes, and rice. They also brought beer and maekkoli that we enjoyed. Sung-hyun's father likes to camp so apparently they do this quite often. I was so thankful for their generosity throughout the entire trip and this was just the icing on the cake. It was so nice enjoying authentic Korean food while having interesting conversations by the seaside. Our conversations the whole day were about half Korean, half English, so I also got good practice using my Korean. This day trip has probably been one of my most fulfilling experiences while here and I owe a lot of it to Sung-hyun's family.

Enjoying samgyeopsal at the seaside.

We then took the bus back to Sinchon while Sung-hyun and his family headed to their home near Incheon. I was so exhausted that I went straight to sleep when I got back to my apartment. I then spent Sunday doing some much needed cleaning, laundry, and homework. I highly, highly recommend a day trip to Ganghwa for those in Seoul. It was such a perfect day and I wouldn't change anything about it if I could. Next weekend I plan on going to the cherry blossom festival in Yeouido so I will keep you updated with that event later!