Jindo Mystical Sea Parting Festival...

Each year the Jindo Sea parts to reveal a narrow strip of land that connects two South Korean islands. 2014 is the year that we were going to see this magic happen!

After getting to Jindo, spending a fortune on some Korean BBQ that wasn't very good, we finally made it to our pension. We knew we were going to be getting up at 2:45 am to go to the Sea Parting Festival, but that didn't stop us from staying up late. Since it was rainy and cold, I would have been just fine staying in the pension and going to sleep, but I'm glad I was convinced otherwise! There were some beautiful sights right outside our pension! :)

After our 2 hour "nap" we loaded back on the bus that we had gotten so familiar with and headed to the Sea Parting Festival. The only thing open at this hour in the morning was the sea road itself!
Every year, hundreds of thousands of locals and foreign tourist gather at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula for the Jindo Mystical Sea-Parting Festival. This is done to celebrate a natural phenomenon is which the Jindo Sea (the northing portion of the East China Sea) opens up enough to show a 1.8 mile pathway connecting Jindo Island to the closeby island of Modo. The sea really only opens up for about an hour so when it does you gotta go, even if it is at 4am! 
When we got to the grounds we bought our awesome orange wading boots for 10,000 won, and got our torches to carry. The boots were one of my favorite purchases in Korea, and we have random plans to use them again: fly fishing, wading, Haeundae Beach...just to name a few. They were surprisingly warm and since the water wasn't completely gone they were necessary! From pictures I had seen, I thought the water would be mostly gone, but we still walked through probably 1 foot of water. This caused us to move rather slow and leisurely. I don't think anyone made it to the other island before the announcement on the loud speaker came...
"Palease get out of the watel, the sea load is closing..."
With lack of sleep and it being 4 am, I found this accent to be quite funny. After getting back out of the water, we loaded the bus and went back to our pension for another "nap"... This one was for 4 hours at least....

These little cuties are Jindo dogs. This is a type of breed that was originally bred on the Island of Jindo for the past several centuries. They were bred to hunt wild boars, rabbits, badgers, and deer. They are also known to have lengendary loyalty and affection for their master, high intelligence, and great courage. 
I just thought they were like most other dogs and even while muddy, they were cute! 

After waking back up the bus took us to the festival one last time. This time, things were actually open and happening. There were traditional outfits and dances, dog shows, and the typical mix of festival foods! I personally like the festivals because the mix of World foods is the best! While in Jindo, South Korea, I was able to eat a German sausage, a Turkish kebab, and this little ice cream 'J'. The outer part tastes like cereal of all things, and they pump it full of vanilla ice cream! 
On a warm day, it tastes pretty good! We didn't stay too long at the festival because we all knew we had a long bus ride back to Daegu- 5 hours! On top of that, Ben had 4 more hours of travel to get home. Everyone was in a bit of a lack of sleep/grumpy on a bus kind on mood, and unfortunately Ben and I were sitting on top of the speakers on the bus when movies were getting played. boo...
I'm glad I went to this festival! I wish that we could have seen the sea part during the day time. I'm not sure if I will be able to convince myself to go on the bus ride to see it next year if it happens to be during the day... We'll see!