The southwest coast of Korea is a maze of bays, peninsulas and islands, and when the tide goes out, it reveals immense mudflats, the getbol, stretching to the horizon. Hamhae Bay, in Muan county, is one of the finest examples, a sheltered bay where the tides deposit fine mud rich in nutrients, supporting an extraordinary variety of life: crabs, shellfish, worms, mudskippers and octopus, and the birds that feed on them. The Korean tidal flats were listed by UNESCO in 2021, recognising their importance for migratory birds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, including endangered species like the spoon-billed sandpiper and the black-faced spoonbill.
Walking on the boardwalks over the mud at low tide, you can watch the mudskippers, small fish that live out of water, skipping across the surface, and the crabs waving their claws. The smell is salty and earthy, the light reflects off the wet mud, and the horizon dissolves into the sky. The local fishermen, often women, go out on the flats with wooden sleds to collect shellfish and octopus, as they have for generations.
Muan is famous for its small octopus, nakji, which is caught in the mudflats and eaten in every way: stir-fried with chilli, in soups, or raw and still wriggling, a dish that tests the courage of visitors. The county is also known for its white lotus pond, the Hoesan Baengnyeonji, one of the largest in Asia, which blooms in July and August.
The riding is gentle and coastal. The roads around Hamhae Bay follow the shoreline, flat and winding, with views over the mudflats and the islands, and long bridges connect the peninsulas and islands of the southwest. Traffic is light outside the towns, the surface good, and the scenery changes constantly with the tide. Mokpo, a port city at the tip of the peninsula, is the gateway to the islands of the southwest, with ferries to hundreds of islands and the Mokpo bridges spanning the harbour.
Muan, about fifteen kilometres away, has fuel and every service, and Mokpo has more. The best seasons are spring and autumn, when migratory birds pass through. Check the tide tables: the mudflats are only visible at low tide, and the sea comes in quickly.