Johnnie and Angela: Ulleungdo Island

Having our own rental car gave us the freedom to explore the island at our own leisure. We could stop whenever and wherever to look around and take pictures. We were also free to explore the steep little side roads that went nowhere and drive out onto the precarious-looking piers. Our rental car was small, yet fairly powerful, which was perfect for getting around the island. We filled the tank with gas when we first got it and managed to empty it again within the 48 hours we were on the island!

There is one road that almost goes the entire circumference of the island. The missing section is a path that is in the process of becoming a road. The road mostly follows the coastline, is very curvy, and goes through a lot of tunnels. There are "Danger: Falling Rock" signs everywhere and evidence along the road that they do indeed fall. Driving on the island isn't the easiest thing to do because of the narrow roads, falling rocks, and the strong temptation to look at the scenery.

Some sections of the road have been recently remade and are great for driving on. They are comfortably wide enough for two lanes, free of potholes, and have solid cement guardrails.

Some other sections of the road are in serious need of repair. They are narrow enough to make you hold your breath when you pass another vehicle, they're bumpy from multiple patch jobs, and have low crumbling guardrails.

There are many tunnels, one lane wide, on the road. There are traffic lights to control the cars going through to avoid collisions.

There were a few "natural" tunnels like this one.

The coastline was gorgeous to drive along. There were jagged rock formations jutting out of the water all around the island.

Elephant Rock

Giant cement jacks were stacked along parts of the coast to prevent erosion.

We decided to drive out onto a pier because we saw another car there. There was a great view but there were also steep drop-offs on both sides! Thank goodness our car was small with a tight turning radius!

We also ventured up many steep side streets we drove past just to see where they went. Most of the them didn't go anywhere except to people's houses. We did find a few that took us to higher ground where we should've had some great views. Unfortunately, the rainy weather meant low clouds so we didn't get to see much.

what we were supposed to see vs what we actually saw: