Udo Octopus

A few weeks ago we had a few days off from work and a group of us decided to go to Jeju Island. (I will be posting more on Jeju later). When we were on Jeju Island we took a day trip to Udo Island. We rented some mopeds and four-wheelers and just toured around the island. We found an amazing beach that was a dark, volcanic sand, crawling with tourists. After making a loop around the island we returned the vehicles and walked down to the nearest beach.

The beach was only memorable because of how lame it was. The beach itself was mostly rocks and broken shells; and large, black, volcanic rocks occupied most of the water. However, before we got to the beach we were called over to a group of picnic tables by an extended Korean family. We were offered some fresh caught octopus (Udo octopus is an expensive meal and the fact that we were offered a whole one really speaks to the hospitality that can be found in Korea). Of course we gladly took part in eating it. We were instructed to dip it in a red pepper sauce, which gave it a mild spice and little sweetness on the end. The octopus itself was a little salty, but over all it had very little flavor. The texture of the skin was rubbery and the meat was doubly so.

Fresh Octopus

After trying the octopus we were asked to take a seat on the grass and relax. We were brought fresh cooked pork, kimchi, rice and several bottles of soju. Heather acted as our interpreter for the family and our host, a man who I took to be about 50 years old. We made small talk and his children tried out their English on us. We ate and ate, and the family refused to stop serving us food. Eventually we were able to convince our hosts to let us continue on our way. We said our thank yous and good byes and finally made it to the beach. This was clearly one of the best lunches I have ever had.