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Philippines: Moalboal

April 20, 2016

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The fourth week of March was spring break and we traveled to the Philippines! I was a little nervous; it was our first East Asia trip outside of Korea. I shouldn’t have worried. The Philippines was a dream and just the escape we needed. We chose there because it had the cheapest airfare and the beach.

When it came to planning, we had no idea where to start. Fortunately, some friends were traveling there too and let us crash their digs. We flew into Cebu City and spent five nights at Tipolo Resort in Moalboal. (We spent our last two nights in Panglao. More on that in another post!) Tipolo was the best. The restaurant had delicious meals, $6 hour massages, kayaks and gear to rent, and it was quiet and right on the beach… we would absolutely go there again!

We took a late flight out of Seoul and didn’t land in Cebu until 1:25 am. We booked transport across the island to Moalboal through the resort, which worked out great. It was a long drive, maybe 3 hours or so. Because we booked the room for that night, we crashed as soon as we set down our bags.

Seoul’s pollution did a number on me before break and a small cough turned into a full on infection. I lost my voice, was hacking up a lung, and I knew I needed antibiotics. In the morning, we took a motorbike taxi into town and stopped at a pharmacy. The pharmacy required a prescription, and after a couple of hours, I was able to see a doctor (pediatrician) and get the meds I needed. I was nervous that the visit was going to set us back on cash, but it cost $6 to see the doctor. SIX. DOLLARS. That’s it. And then around $25 for meds. With z-pack in tow, we took a motorbike taxi back to Tipolo to enjoy our vacation.

Motorbike taxis were a hoot:

We had a blast playing in the water, checking out White Beach, searching for colorful coral, and riding around the area. Renting a motorbike for a day cost just under $9!

I’m obsessed with the colors of our beach finds. I called this our handful of Frutti Pebble confetti:

Another dream fulfilled: fresh coconut!

Moalboal is famous for scuba diving. We didn’t, but David snorkeled and saw some amazing fish and coral:

Most of the signs we saw were hand painted. Swoon!

Where we ate:

The Last Filling Station at Tipolo. The French breakfast was my favorite. And all of the mango and fruit juices. And the mango dream ice cream dessert. The pizzas were good too. Did I mention the mango?
Blue Abyss Dive Resort Restaurant. Food was decent.
Veranda on Panagsama Beach. This was our favorite meal, maybe because we were so hungry that night.
A fish restaurant close to the Chilli Bar Restaurant. I didn’t catch the name of it. Overpriced, slow service, but the tuna was really yummy.

Where we stayed:
Tipolo was great. The meals at the restaurant and gear rentals were added to the room tab, which was convenient. The ladies who worked there were all kind and helpful. The rooms were a good size and clean. The showers had no water pressure, but the water was hot. Wifi didn’t reach to our room, but was fine in the dining area. It was not a fancy hotel resort, but was perfect for our needs. We recommend it!

I’ll share soon about our canyoneering adventure in Badian!

Sixth Grade Retreat in Daecheon

November 6, 2015

Leah

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Every year the school has a Week Without Walls where middle school students spend time learning outside the classroom. A friend asked if I’d be willing to help during the sixth grade trip.

We traveled three hours south to a small retreat center on Daecheon Beach (대천) in the coast city of Boryeong. It was a short trip; we were gone three days and two nights. The place where we stayed was beautiful with fall colors and a porch that overlooked the Yellow Sea.

My friend Ji and I were the cooks. The menu was simple, but I had never put together quantities like that before! We served around 80 people. I have a whole new appreciation for cooks and caterers. We made around 180 sandwiches, 300+ pancakes, and hard boiled 180 eggs in two batches.

We spent most of our time in the kitchen, but were able to slip away twice to explore the beach. One afternoon we finished the sandwiches early and spent a couple of hours in a coffee shop a short walk away. We had the place to ourselves for a while!

It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed myself. I always love time near the water.

We laughed at this sign on the trip back to Seoul… merge right, I guess?

I can’t find website information on the retreat center itself. We stayed in the group area that had the kitchen, 14 bunk rooms, and an auditorium. They also have small cabins available for rent. Our time there was the latest in the season they had ever stayed open and they had to do special work on the heaters before we arrived. If I find out the name, I’ll update the post.

Chuseok in Sokcho

October 8, 2015

Leah

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We took our first trip outside of Seoul! We traveled 200 km east to a coastal city called Sokcho (속초).

Korea celebrated their harvest festival called Chuseok (추석) the last weekend of September. (The dates change from year to year based on the lunar calendar.) We heard people describe it as the Korean Thanksgiving. They also said it’s a bigger holiday than Christmas. People typically travel to their hometowns to spend time with family. Traditional customs include rituals to honor ancestors, but not everyone practices those.

We were a little nervous. It was our first trip in Korea and one on our own. We purchased bus tickets the week before at Express Bus Terminal. The lady at the counter spoke fairly good English, and David confirmed the departure times two or three times with her. We didn’t even think to double check the tickets themselves and when we handed them to the man to board the bus, we realized she had given us tickets for 3:00 pm instead of 7:00 pm. We headed back to the counter and hoped we could get another bus that night. Fortunately — and I don’t know if this was because of the holiday or not — buses were leaving every 10 minutes and we got on the next one. I was amazed! I was so worried they would be sold out. (We ended up changing our tickets again on our return trip to get back earlier. The process was easy and they didn’t charge us anything extra.) It took us around 3 hours to get there and it would have taken less had it not been for the holiday traffic. The return trip was 4.5 hours.

Sokcho is a smaller city of around 90,000 people. Everything moved a little slower and the people were more tan (like me!). The area where we stayed was quiet. This may have been because of Chuseok and/or it being past beach season. The city is situated around the bay and the mountains and felt a lot smaller than it looked on the map. We loved the fresh sea air and gorgeous views!

It was a great little getaway. We rented an electric motorcycle for $10 and road around the Expo Tower, saw the Tree of Hearts sculpture, stuck our feet in the water, and explored the market areas. We also hiked in Seoraksan National Park… I’ll do a post on that later! Our last day, we stopped by the Abai (North Korean Expat) Village for lunch.

David’s now shot a gun in three countries! America, Georgia, and Korea:

Being on the coast, we saw seafood and hatcheries everywhere:

The Donghae (meaning the East Sea… aka the Sea of Japan):

We saw a few foreigners swimming, but we just stuck our feet in:

Like we saw in Turkey, Koreans sun dry a lot of food:

When you have stuff to dry, might as well string them all together. Socks, eggplant, and squid:

A hand drawn ferry to the Abai Village:

Where we stayed:
City Seoul Motel. We booked our reservation through AirBnB. It was very clean and in a good location. It was right around the corner from the Sokcho Foodtown. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the beach area, but from what we heard from friends, cost about half the price of the hotels closer to the water.

Where we ate:
• Matsu – a cozy Italian restaurant tucked away near the national park. We met up with some friends from the school who had eaten here before. A plate of pasta cost around $15 and included a free appetizer, salad, and dessert! I had a delicious seafood alfredo dish. I don’t know if there’s a great way to get to the restaurant by public transportation. It’s close to the entrance of the hill that goes up to Seoraksan National Park.
• Flat White – this was a gem of a coffee shop! We had breakfast here two mornings. The shop has its own roastery inside.

Sokcho was a great location for our first Korea trip! I highly recommend it. I’ll share more about Seoraksan National Park soon.

Any recommendations for our next excursion in Korea?

Benedicts in Turkey: Çıralı

September 15, 2015

Leah

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After David’s family booked their plane tickets, we knew we had to squeeze in some beach time. We wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle of Antalya, and our friends told us about their favorite beach town.

It was David’s and my first time in Çıralı! It’s a tiny Lycian village on the Mediterranean with just over two miles of beachfront. It took us over eight hours to get there from Göreme. For the last few miles, we exited the main highway and drove on dirt roads. It was just before dark by the time we arrived.

We stayed at İkiz Pansiyon in two of their bungalows. It was a great spot just a short walk from the beach. We were there an evening, a day, and a morning and ate at their İkiz Restaurant on the beach for our meals. (Breakfast was included at the Pansiyon.)

The next morning, we put on our swimsuits and walked down to the beach. At the far end of the beach in the river valley sits the ancient ruins of Olympos. (Entrance was 5TL or free with the Müzekart.) Olympos is dated to the 4th century during the Hellenistic period.

It amazes me how accessible ruins are in Turkey. You can walk up to and around and on top of most of them!

We explored for about two hours and could have stayed for many more, but we had lots more ruins ahead of us and it was time for the beach. We dodged a storm or two, but had a few hours of clear skies for swimming!

Our stay at İkiz included free beach chairs! We bought some goggles and the boys had fun checking out the fish – even a few tropical ones!

This man speared an octopus!

Our last stop of the day was a surprise for the family. We didn’t tell them we were going to see Mount Chimaera (aka Yanartaş) and its eternal flames. After dinner, we headed north. We asked a few people for directions and kept walking and walking. And walking.

After an hour, we finally made it! (It’d be better to take a car or bus there from the beach, especially at night. Once you get to the base of the mountain, you also have to hike two miles up a very steep incline with lots of stairs. And then back down and a long way back to town.) We paid the entrance fee and rented a flashlight. It was pitch black dark outside aside from a few glowing spots on the mountain.

Yanartaş produces eternal flames. There are vents in the rock where a mixture of gas – mostly methane – escapes. The fires burn constantly and do not need ignition. They date back thousands of years; Pliny the Elder (AD 29 — AD 79) mentioned the phenomenon in his writings. Sailors used the flames to navigate their ships.

Even though we were all tired by the time we got to the mountain, it was well worth the hike. Can you believe how bizarre it is? They looked like a bunch of logless campfires. The boys had fun kicking dirt at some of the smaller ones. They put a couple of the flames out, but I think they come back. Otherwise… way to ruin a national treasure, kids. It was a bummer we didn’t have marshmallows for s’mores. (Muslim country = no pork products).

See the big dipper?

Coming down the mountain was a little easier than walking up it. David jogged back to the hotel and brought the car to us. He is one good man.

After breakfast the next morning, we were off to see one of the Seven Churches of Revelation and another crazy Turkish landscape!