Living on Geoje Island
I will break this up into two sections. First all the nitty gritty, external resources and factual information followed by my personal views.
My Teaching English in Korea journey took me to the second biggest island to the bottom left of Korea- Geoje. There are two main access points. You can enter from the Busan side via the Geo-Ga bridge and under water tunnel or you can come in from the Tongyeong side. I will never forget traveling to Geoje for the first and being so confused; my friend and I hanging our head out the window to try and understand where the island starts and ends because from the Tongyeong side the island and the main land seem to flow into each other with little effort.
The main bus terminal of the island is in Gohyeon. There are also other main bus stops around the Okpo side that have busses leaving to Busan and Gimhae airport. Here is a handy website that has various bus schedules reflecting transport to and from Geoje: https://www.welcomm.agency/geoje-bus-timetables-1
Transport to Geoje from Incheon Airport which is where we started from is easy and comfortable. You can purchase your ticket for the limousine bus (yes that’s what they call em) at the airport either at a teller or through one of the self-help stations. (Ask at the information desk for directions) and then you head to bus stop 10 bound for Gohyeon bus terminal. The ticket cost in the region of 43 000won. The journey takes on average 5-6 hours but can vary depending the time of day you leave.
To the right is a pic a snapped to have on hand of the time table leaving to Incheon airport from Gohyeon bus terminal:
If you are coming from the Gimhae airport in Busan you can purchase a bus ticket to Okpo or Gohyeon (The two main towns on the island) either from the casher or on of the self-help stations. Bus leaving from stop 1.
Getting around Geoje is easy however time consuming. Here is a link to the Geoje local bus information, it is however only available in Korean for now so for those of you who are practicing your Hangul- give it a whirl or if you’re like me click on a whole bunch of things until it seems you got the info you need (Trial and error is a life style in Korea as a foreigner!). http://bis.geoje.go.kr/main/main.do?action=webMain
Basically what you need to know is the following:
10/11: Gohyeon Bus Terminal to Jangseungpo via Okpo
16: Gohyeon Bus Terminal to Aju-dong, via Okpo
22/23: Gohyeon Bus Terminal to Gujora, via Okpo, Jangseungpo, Jisepo and Wahyeon
55: Gohyeon Bus Terminal to Hakdong and Haegeumgang.
All the busses with a 1 added in for example 10- 1 means it travels a specific route in that town. Gohyeon also has its own town’s buses that have numbers in the 100’s. I never mastered thisJ Get your walking on!
Apart from the bus schedule links I will past my own pics below of the schedules of buses I used to get to Busan. There are four ways as far as I know to get to Busan from Geoje. You can leave from Gohyeon bus terminal which will take you to Sasung bus station in Busan at the time of writing a ticket cost 7700won. You can also purchase a ticket to Gimhae from Gohyeon at 6600won. The buses that I used however left from Okpo (Okpo was the meeting point between myself and my friend). You can catch the bus that leaves to Gimhae from the bus stop opposite lotte Mart in Okpo, the ticket purchase is done in the convenience store directly behind the bus stop and is 6600won.
Here is a snap of the bus time table to the left.
However my favourite bus (as I am a cheap skate and it only cost 4400won) is the 2000 bus that drops you off at Hadan in Busan (which bonus is closer to Nampo- shopping and street food mecca of Busan- more on that later). You can catch this bus at various stops- the one I used was nest to the GS quick shop down the main road in Okpo basically opposite Pizza hut. You can buy the ticket on the bus. Here is the 2000’s schedule from that stop:
Transport around Busan is easy using the metro line. Highlights for me include:
Hadan: Not much going on there but it was the where I caught the metro from where the bus dropped me off.
Sasung: The other main station where the Gohyeon bus takes you too. Also there is some shopping to be done is this area and they always seem to have deals going on in the actual station.
Nampo/ Jangalchi: Should be highlighted and in bold! Shopping haven- from street stores that basically all have the same product to label brands, great deals, quirky shops, good cafes and restaurants and even an adult shop! And if that isn’t enough they also have a Lotte mart and an underground shopping market. I would get off at the Jangalchi stop exiting at the Duncan donuts exit, take the first left and turn into the street market next to Art box. Street food haven and then you can walk down to the main section where either you can head further down into the local stores or walk towards Nampo side and Lotte passing all the name brand stores and beauty shops. I would end off at Lotte as they also have a great food selection and nice clothing stores then I would mission around the underground market for a looks see before heading back. There is also The jangalchi fish market which is awesome to check out (Some animals you aint never seen before or ever will) however being from Geoje and it having it’s own fish market it wasn’t such a shocker.
Deokcheon: Is the stop where EnjoyKorean tours pick you up from (More on this later)
Seomyeon: Has an H&M! As well as many other awesome shopping opportunities and bonus at night the area is well known for its party scene.
Gwangan: Where Busan fireworks festival happens and they have an awesome chocolate café that looks over the beach front and famous busan bridge as well as farious other restaurants.
Centum City: Biggest shopping mall I have ever been in! They have a great variety of different shops (International and local), entertainment facilities and restaurants. Omg their food court is amazing and always changing. Also special note must be made here for their jimjilbang (Korean spa)- Spa land. Take 4 hours out of your day and head to the spa- such and awesome relaxing experience and said to be the best in Korea. (More on jimjilbangs later).
Haeundae: Tourist central but well worth the visit, good beach front framed by fancy hotels and a great selection of restaurants from the Hard Rock Café to The Party (Best buffet in Korea) to Sharkey’s (Good pub food) to Hello India, The Pancake Epidemic, Rio Grill, Korean bbq and so many more. This area is also awesome in Summer time as there is so much entertainment coming to you from every inch of this district that lasts late into the night.
These were the main stops for me however there were a few others for hiking adventures and visa requirements.
Moving on to the entertainment section on the island. First of all have a looki at the tourist map of Geoje below.
Gujora beach: During the Summer time I spent a bit of time on Gujora beach, it’s a good beach in terms of Korean standards and you are able to rent a kayak from a local shop there. You can camp on the beach too for no charge and it’s totally safe. Bonfire and bbq away! Close by are 4 wheeler rentals and in Gujora they have a circus show on during the weekends. This is also one of the ports where you can catch a boat to Oedo Island or one of the other Islands.
Oedo Island: A beautiful botanical garden great for a pick nick and half day trip. They also take you around the famous Haegeumgang Island which is the one with the protruding rocks.
Deokpo beach: Has a rope swing and you can also rent kayaks here during the summer time. Unlike Gujora Deokpo has a few restaurants that look over the beach side which is great for a break out of the sun.
Hiking: I looove hiking and took advantage of Koreas lack of ability to understand a contour path to whip my ass into shape! My best hikes are Gyeryongsan in Gohyeon (at the back of the sports fields) and Guksabong (Behind the admiral hotel in Okpo). In all honestly I didn’t do many others as these were the easiest accessible to me. There’s also a lovely one next to the wellbeing park in Gohyeon. A friend and I once hiked from here apartment in Aju through to Mundong falls and over Gyeryongsan to homeplus in Gohyeon- It was about 30km and took roughly 5hours. Here’s a great link to information about the hikes on the island: https://www.1adventuretraveler.com/details-geoje-mountains-hike/
Mundong falls: Nothing too spectacular but a lovely walk and picknick area.
Okpo walk way: Near to the DME office buldings to your right is a lovely walk way along the water’s edge where you can marvel at the movings of the DME shipyard. It really is something different to see. You can carry on with the walk all the way to the Okpo memorial- in all there and back it’s about 6km and really is a lovely walk and not too challenging in terms of hiking in korea standards.
Homeplus cinema: Home plus in Gohyeon has a cinema which shows movies in English.
Bamboo park: Korea seems to have an abundance of museums and parks for different and sometimes odd things. (Perfect example the- Haesindang Penus Park- yes I’m serious- look it up it’s a thing!). Ok so the bamboo forest is nothing like this but I just found it random- they do have a zipline course though if you’re interested, very kiddie level though.
Busan: It is only an hour away and has a lot to offer entertainment wise in General (As per my subway stop explanation)
Tongyeong: About 40minute bus ride away from Geoje is Tongyeong which is regarded as the Naples of Korea- now if you have ever been to Naples don’t go expecting anything in that regard however it is quite a sweet place, they have a painted village (Dongpirang Village) that you can check out which is pretty awesome and it looks over the harbour so makes for some good views. There are also a good selection of eateries and general shops out on that side. You can take a cable car to the top of Mireuksan Mountain which gives you a great view of the whole area. They have also just opened up a Luge which is very close to the cable station.
Restaurants that I loved and others: Hello India (In both Gohyeon and Okpo), There’s also Way to India (In both Gohyeon and Okpo) that had a buffet special at lunch times that was quite good but
Hello India was always my go to! Their skewered chicken dishes served on a bed of cabbage on that wooden Indian stand was my ultimate. Also for some reason when I got to Korea I developed a strong hankering for Hummus and they serve generous portions of it! Another goodie is Ete mour (Okpo), they have the best Pizzas on the island and a very refreshing chicken salad. I also enjoyed the Lemon tree (Okpo) as they had good value for money and nice healthy options. Vivache (Okpo) is a good restaurant however I found them to be a bit pricey in the end for what they offered. Amegos (Okpo) (Next to Lemon tree, below Vivache) serves very good hearty food! They even have Sunday roasts and Yorkshire pudding! Its lamb (Okpo) is one of my favourite lamb Korean BBQ spots if you’ve had enough of the BBQ pork joints on every corner. Chef on the Fish (Okpo) (opposite Amigos) is a lovely for a special evening out and they serve a good variety of yummy tapas. Just next to them is spoons that I am told has the best hang over cure breakfast. Another goodi would have to be Rio Grill (Okpo). Particularly if you’re a carnivore like me Rio grill has a set price for bottomless meet top ups of a wide variety; steak, lamb, chicken, pork as well as a simple buffet layout for your side dishes. They come around with skewers of meat which they slice off for your heart’s desire and to end off your evening they offer a delicious serving of grilled cinnamon pineapple. I almost forgot to mention Brussels- such a great coffee shop for any chocolate or otherwise sweet lovers out there. It is in Gohyeon right near the Samsung Hotel.
Night life: Ok so here I may start to get a bit personal. There are a lot of foreigners on the island- particularly in Okpo. Think majority men, engineer vibes working for the shipyards. So there is quite a bit of entertainment aimed at them in the form of countless “western” and “foreigners” bars that line the streets in Okpo. Enough said I will let you be the judge of this offering. However it did provide for quite a few good nights out, tip here though is that the boos are lank expensive so ‘cheat card’ what we used to do is get tipsy on the soju that we bought and drank at the seven eleven or CU’s (convenient stores) down the street then we would head to where the music was at.
Other attractions include Windy hill, Hackdong pebble beach, the Gohyeon POW camp and various others however I have no personal experience with these ones.
Shopping: In general Lotte Mart and Home plus (In d-cube) seem to be the biggest supermarkets in Korea and offer a variety of different things incl. restaurants, clothing shops and then the actual
food supermarket itself. Lotte Mart is in Okpo and Home plus is in Gohyeon and both offer a fair and very different variety of international and local products. My advice here would be to take some time and check them both out. Otherwise there are NH supermarkets (I particularly liked the one in Okpo for the bakery options) and then there are the GS supermarkets. There are also others however these were my favs. There is also a good fruit and Veg market in Gohyeon! Beware sometimes their things aren’t always cheaper than the super markets but they have a very wide selection. There are also two foreign marts in Okpo and one in Aju that offer a good variety of foods from other lands! Another general tip for shopping would be to check out Gmarket online (Koreas answer to Amazon and ebay).
Helpful links:
Here is a blog that helped me out a lot when I first moved here: https://whatididonmyholiday.com/2014/05/15/geoje-do-south-korea/
Another helpful resource is the Geoje expat page: http://www.geojeexpatguide.com/ If you are going to be around for a while I would recommend joining a few of the facebook groups:
Geoje Teacher group
Geoje Expats (Formerly Okpo International Mums)
Geoje Foodies
Geoje Flea Market
Geoje Foreigner Community
Geoje News
Geoje Events
Personal Side of things and general over view:
So I lived in Gohyeon on Geoje island which is where the Samsung ship yard is stationed. It is a lively larger town than the others on the island with some nice shopping options and a Home Plus shopping mall. Closer to the shipyard there are also a few very nice Indian and various other restaurants to choose from. In my mind Gohyeon is shaped like a T. The long bit down the middle is the main road of Gohyeon here you find an abundance of little local grocery stores like the NH and GS supermarket, as well as a starbucks, various other coffee shops and brand shops. At the bottom end you have Well-being Park which is a nice park to walk around or for any of you fitties out there it has a great path to run along. You can actually follow it up all along the river side to the right leg of the T which is where the main bus terminal is on the Island (Gohyeon bus terminal). On the other arm of the T (Left), you have home plus and if you keep on walking past home plus towards the shipyard alongside the water side where at the moment they have a huge construction project on- you will find the restaurants (Near the Samsung hotel). Goheyon also has a good outdoor fruit and veg market which starts in the street just before the NH supermarket on the main road.
I spent a lot of time in Okpo as it has more options restaurant wise and I liked the hiking in the area and the path way next to the ocean and ship yard. It is foreigners central on the Island and thus has quite a few fares and special market days that happen throughout the year. I however liked that I lived in Gohyeon as I felt it was more authentically Korean in the way that I was sometimes the only foreigner I would see for days.
In general the island is quite an easy place to live and being an English teacher and foreigner there was easy as most of the signage is in English and the variety of restaurants and supermarkets gives you plenty of options. My school set me up very nicely with my apartment being a 15minute walk away from my school. They explained to me how to pay my utility bills and how my medical aid works. Being an ‘adult’ here was very easy and in general it was a huge break away from responsibility. The best way I can describe this is the lightness I felt in terms of how safe Korea is; the amount of times I heard of people leaving things in a shop/ busses/ parks (myself included) and then going back to get it days sometimes weeks later with it still being there is insane! Another weird one that I’ll try my best to explain is that the pressure is off- you’re in a foreign country- yes there are certain customs and cultural boundaries that you need to respect but the culture was honestly so different to my own that any judgements they may have had of me washed off me like water over a ducks back. I’ll miss that.
Now for a bit of the hard stuff; as I mentioned in my previous blog about teaching English in Korea; culture shock is real and it took a big time of adjustment to figure it all out. Right until I would still find myself in situations expecting or thinking one thing only to find that it is completely the opposite. Even when I tried to think the opposite I still wound up being wrong (This I think is one of those things you would need to experience for yourself). Without going to anything too biased or negatively judgmental about Korea I’ll put it in the form of I missed home A LOT! I have lived away from home and especially my family for most of my life now and I had never experienced missing my home before like this; especially things like the people, nature, beauty, ease and freedom. I am not saying I was trapped in Korea however there are certain freedoms that I realised I took for granted like for example being able to understand what it is I am ordering on the menu without needing to use google translate. Or jumping on a bus knowing and understanding where it is going rather than using trial and error.
Before I go overboard in terms of living in Korea; Geoje is a great happy medium as it is still a small enough town vibe if you like that kind of thing with all the general advantages of being in a smaller place, There is a lot more English around and it is close enough to Busan (one of the bigger cities in Korea) for a day trip or weekend away.
General Tip: Watch out for those Korean Grannies that push in front of you everywhere- in the grocery store line, at the bank, while you are paying for your bus ticket! Handle it anyways you like I was patient in the beginning being mindful of respecting other cultures however as I got more confident with understanding my surroundings and the context of things I may have reached my wits end on more than one occasion.
