The weekend of the 10th and the long weekend of the 16th (Buddha’s birthday) David and I went camping in Namhae Island. Yipppeeeeeeeeeeee the summer is officially here! The first weekend was a tester. We wanted to make sure that the tent was still in good shape after being packed away over the winter. Overall both weekends were very successful.

We spent both weekends camping on Songjeong Beach. We chose this beach because it is one of the most beautiful beaches we have seen in Korea and it is free to camp, plus you can park your car right next to your tent. Whereas on Sangju beach you can’t. We explored a lot of the island over the two weekends.

We went swimming in the ocean on Songju beach and we went on a 3km trail walk along the ocean front. Many of the counties and cities along the coast have developed a network of coastal paths and trains, this trail was called ‘Wind Trail.’ It was really interesting as it took you to different beaches that were deserted and enclosed areas where there were cute goats running around. I was a little scared of the goats, even the new born baby goats who thought we were interesting! We also came around some deserted military watch posts, which was interesting. The view of the ocean was spectacular! The ‘Wind Trail’ is nowhere near as well developed as the ‘Seagull Trails’ of Busan but that was part of it’s charm, we didn’t see another person the whole trail.

One of the days we went on a boat ride from Sangju beach. The boast ride lasted around one hour and a half. Pretty good value for 15,000 won. The boat took us around the bay and around some small islands. It was nice weather but on the boat it was very windy and VERY cold!

One evening we went to a marina on wine glass bay. We ate at Marina Cafe and had some delicious sausage and chips.  After eating we checked out a festival that was happening on wine glass bay. We watched a few bands play, some were really good, some left a lot to be desired!

As it was Buddha’s birthday on the long weekend David and I decided to take a short hike up Geumsan Mountain to Boriam Temple. We thought it was going to take 90 minutes but it only took 40 minutes. This was a very nice surprise! On the way to the temple there was a rocky entrance. This was extremely pretty with a magnificent view. The temple itself was decorated with colourful lanterns. It looked amazing. We have been to this temple once before with our school on a staff workshop trip. It wasn’t decorated then and it was still stunning. After walking around the grounds and taking in all of the surrounding views of the temple and the ocean we headed back down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain we ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant and had pajeon/pancake and noodles.

We also visited Yongmun Temple. This was also very pretty as it was decorated with colourful lanterns as well. One of our final stops was Daraengi Village. This village is famous for its terraced rice paddies overlooking the ocean. It was really nice. On our last evening we headed to Namhae town and ate dinner.

We really enjoyed both weekends. Namhae Island it definitely one of my favourite places to go camping as there are beautiful beaches and may things to do.