Mallipo Beach
Another wonderful weekend was spent on another wonderful beach in Incheon. This time, we took the local bus to the subway. Rode it to Incheon Bus Terminal and for the first time, took a city bus! We went to Taean Bus Terminal, and from there, took a taxi to Mallipo Beach! This beach had a very different feel to it compared to Hanagae Beach where we went a few weeks back. When we stepped out of the cab, we were greeted by a large "giant fountain statue with a built in video screen" - we have no idea how to describe it haha! But it was pretty cool, we have pictures to prove it.
The beach entrance was somewhat in the middle of the beach so you could turn left or right. Turning right, there was much more to walk past - restaurants, convenience stores, hotels and cafes lined one side of the street, while the beach sand, tents and "outdoor gyms" took over the other side.
Once we acquainted ourselves with the area, we picked a nice flat spot on the beach to setup our tent. While Luke started getting things ready, my task was to retrieve the Cass. So a large bottle of Cass I retrieved. We sipped on our Cass, snacked on popcorn, sipped on some Belgium beers, and relaxed until sunset when we wanted to get some more sunset photos and videos. We ventured to the other side of the beach that was much more barren. Only a handful of hotels and businesses were located on this side, but it was a nice peaceful walk. Unfortunately, my camera battery wasn't charged enough to let me take a photo (I'm such an amateur) so I stuck with the good ole iPhone 6s, while Luke took some fancy footage on his drone.
After sunset, we came back to our spot with some Ramen and more brewskies as our appetizer. While we ate, Luke prepared a small charcoal fire for us a couple feet in front of our tent. Once he got that going, we were ready for our next course - grilled pork, onions and mushrooms that he brought from home! He's so handy to have around! :) Sitting just outside of our tent, we had the perfect little fire, a grate we bought from Daiso, and some delicious pork and veggies. A drunk Korean couple stumbled past us and were very impressed with our setup so we knew we had to be doing it right! And what would a campfire be without roasting marshmallows?! I had made mini brownies for Luke's birthday so we brought a couple of brownies and a bag of marshmallows. Together they were EPIC.
The next morning, I woke up, peeked outside and noticed the tide was much closer to us than when we went to sleep. A little anxious, I woke up Luke and convinced him we should move the tent. Begrudgingly, he obliged. We picked up the tent and moved it about 20 feet one direction which was also up on a raised surface. We sat outside and watched the water to see if we were good to leave the tent in it's new location. We laid back down to get another bit of sleep and eventually noticed that the furthest the water had gotten was about a foot in front of our campfire. We would have been fine the whole time. But of course if we hadn't have moved it, everything would have gotten soaked.
When we finally woke up for the day, we drank some coffee and relaxed outside of our tent...once moved back to it's original location. We didn't bring anything for breakfast but there was a fried chicken and pizza restaurant near the beach entrance that sounded amazing. So breakfast pizza it was!
After eating too much pizza - of course - we went for a walk past all of the beach's restaurants and hotels, up and over a suspension bridge. It wasn't much of a hike, but a pretty neat walk with a view on the other side. There's a cafe that sat right on the hill that you pass when walking to the other side. That was pretty cool that it was so hidden and almost a part of nature.
When we got back to the beach, we saw that we were not so far from new families that had arrived. There was now a tent on either side of us, one of which was about 2.5 inches away from our tent. The other, maybe two or three feet. It seemed like one of the families was one of many almost like it was a family reunion! Even though there was sooooo much other space on the beach, we were only bothered for a bit before we decided it was time to pack up and head back anyway. I headed to the "rinsing station" located outside of the public restroom. People were seen rinsing off beach mats, and even bathing toddlers haha! I needed to rinse my feet and felt like I just had to use this thing. I stepped up onto the small stool, took off my Chacos and rinsed my feet into the drain. Weird. But fun. :)
Mallipo Beach was so much fun! There weren't clubs booming until early morning. There was an array of stores, cafes and restaurants to enjoy. The beach was clean and soft. And it was easy to get to! We've enjoyed exploring the west coast since we didn't get to see much of it last year. We may go back to Mallipo, but there's still so many other places to explore!
