☆ Welcome to my 2024 Ulleungdo and Dokdo - 1 album! ☆
Summer vacation 2024 to the South Korean islands of Ulleungdo and Dokdo! Ulleungdo is an small island a ~3 hour ferry ride from the east coast of Korea. Dokdo is another ferry ride beyond that, and is uninhabited other than the tiny military base Korea has there to reaffirm ownership, since Dokdo is technically contested between them and Japan.Gwaneumdo bridgeGwaneumdo bridge viewA museum of the Japanese person who controlled this area during occupation.Japanese bathtubJapanese indoor squat toilet pre-plumbing situation.START: Arial Tram up a mountain pics! The walk up to the cable car was urban but one of the most brutally steep hikes of my life... though the surprise mountain climb during the tour later this day would be even worse π. Also it was h o t. And humid x1000.You supposedly can see Dokdo from there on a clear day. You can see folks looking with a telescope behind me. (I didn't see it!)Even at the top of the mountain there are more steps to climb -- very Korea. We were way too tired from climbing TO the tram station to climb these stairs, lol..START: μ²λΆν΄μμμ₯ Cheonbu, underwater viewing area pics!START: DOKDO PICTURES! λ λ Dokdo is a contested area (on paper) between Korea & Japan, but Korea has a teeny tiny military base here and thus control it, and it is a very meaningful place for Koreans, who have a history of brutal colonization by Japan. Oh, and we went on Korean's Independence From Japan day, too. The ferry ride there was almost as brutal as the one from the mainland to Ulleungdo, rip.START: Nari Basin pics! Back on Ulleungdo, we visited this old settlement up in the inland mountains. Folks were living very old school until around the Korean War.