Adventures In South Korea: November 2011

DISCLAIMER: I know we went to Jeju in July and I'm finally writing about it in November, but at least I still followed through, ha ha. Ok, onto the blog.

Wow, what a gorgeous place! Jeju Island is terrific. We had our first week long vacation in July and decided to travel to Jeju. It is like the Hawaii of Korea. Well, I've never been to Hawaii so I can't compare, but that's what they say. The weather was very hot, but it never rained on us. We visited many tourist sites and ate delicious food. Jim, me, and Brian Ager had a great time. We also met up with another teacher; Sarah Connolly and her friend Elaine.

We took off from Seoul on a Saturday afternoon and landed in Jeju City an hour later. Jeju City is at the top of the island. We headed to our accommodation which was a "Good Stay" giving it a seal of approval. It was called the "Yeha Guesthouse" and it was kind of like a hostel but you book your room based on how many people are staying in the room, so there were only 3 of us in one room. There was a kitchen downstairs and you could make your own breakfast in the morning. They provided the stove, dishes, eggs and bread with various sauces and seasonings. They also had a happy hour every night which only meant you could have one free beer between 7pm and 9:30pm but it was a nice bonus! From there we walked around looking for a place to eat dinner. It tooks us forever and we weren't finding anything which was surprising. So we went back to the guesthouse and found out from the front desk that there's a place called "pork street" where you can get some really good galbi (Korean BBQ/DIY grilling). We found an amazingly delicious restaurant and ended up going there two nights in a row. The reason it was so good was because they put the kimchi and bean sprouts at the end of the grill and put the meat at the other end. It's all on a slant so the delicious meat juices drip into the warm kimchi and sprouts. The meat was also seasoned perfectly. After that we tried some bars in the downtown area, but there weren't many people out so it was a short night.

Yeha Guesthouse

Our delicious meal

Yummy!!!!

The next day, we went to see some sights and checked out Hamdeok beach. It was beautiful and what surprised me is that it didn't seem to matter how far out you went, the water only came up to your waist. While in Jeju City, we also went to Hallim Park and saw botanical gardens, lots of interesting birds, and the Hyopjae Caves. (http://www.hallimpark.co.kr/engli/main.htm). Hallim Park is a main tourist site and it packs in a lot visually. I think the most interesting part was the botanical garden; there were some really large lily pads (yes, I said lily pads) that were like something you'd see from the prehistoric age. They were enormous. I tried to touch one between my fingers, but apparently it had thorns on the bottom of it. That was a rude awakening. Another thing we did during our first couple of days was see a park called Loveland. It's not something I'd ever expect to exist in Korea, but it does. I will not go into details here, but if you ask me to tell you about it via email, I will. For adults only ;)

Hamdeok Beach

Botannical Garden entrance to Hallim Park

Palm Avenue

The caves

More garden

150 year old Bonzai tree

These "fertility statues" are all over Jeju. Why does Brian feel the need to touch a Jeju statue?

Peacock

And another peacock

Upsidedown parrot

Colorful bird

Ostriches

Amazing plants

Very large prehistoric lilypads with thorns

Before leaving this side of the island, we went on a day tour. We paid about around $50 to go see some of the main sites of Jeju. We got on a bus and headed to Sunrise Peak (Ilchulbong), a Traditional Folk Village, The Women Divers Museum, and Maze Park. The bus took us all over to see these places and when we got there, we could go on our own and get back to the bus at whatever time the tour guide told us. It was perfect. Sunrise Peak is a place you see in many photos about Jeju. It rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption and there is a huge crater at the top and of course, watching the sunrise from the top is amazing, but we didn't do that. We did go to the top though, and it was probably a 10 minute climb. There were a LOT of people there trying to squeeze by each other on the narrow climb. The traditional Korean Folk Village was very interesting. There were even some people still living there. They are really homes that are like stone huts. There were some primitive tools for grinding food, etc. The Women Divers (Haenyeo) Museum (was also interesting - the Women Divers were and still are women who go deep sea diving to catch sea food. What's really special about them is they don't use diving equipment. They are really good at holding their breath and staying warm underwater. They pass this talent down to each generation. And finally we went through a pretty big maze made of shrubbery. It was kind of fun, but of course Jim and Brian found their way out first and had a blast reveling in their victory. All in all, it was an awesome day.

Before leaving Jeju city to head to Seogwipo, we saw a show. It was called Nanta. It's a non speaking show and the performers are chefs preparing for a wedding. While they are busy chopping and slicing, they find beats that go with what their doing and before you know it they've got a complicated rhythm going with their kitchen equipment while doing acrobats at the same time. It's like "Stomp" or "Blue Man Group". Ironically, Jim was pulled up on stage to be a "taste tester" and he got to eat soup (while Brian and I are starving) and a girl from the audience got to go up too. They had to wear a costume. We even have a photo! It turns out, this was our "couple" they were cooking the wedding meal for. We had an amazing time.

Soon after, we headed to our hotel in Seogwipo. This part of Jeju is even more beautiful. We had a lot of fun at the beaches there. They were gorgeous. The waves were huge and the water was warm. But our first order of business was to see some of these very popular waterfalls. At Jeonbong Falls, it goes straight into the ocean. Jim and Brian had fun climbing on the rocks too. At night we saw Cheonjiyeon Falls. They recommended a night time view and it was awesome. We also saw a beautiful bridge called Saeyeon Bridge. It lights up at night and is sitting above the ocean. It leads to another little island you can walk through.

Jeonbong Falls

On the way down to see Jeonbong Falls

Jeonbong Falls

Brian, Me, and Jim at Jeonbong Falls

Climbing the rocks at Jeonbong Falls

Cheonjiyeon Falls

Saeyeon Bridge

The next day, we got up very early to hike up the tallest mountain peak in Korea: Mount Halla. We started at about 8:30am and we finished (back to the bottom) at 7pm. We included a little detour in there as well. It was amazing to see the view on the way up and at the top. It was a pretty hard hike considering the length of it and the rocks you had to step on . It was not a flat surface, but for some of the way, there were wooden planks and stairs. I felt so great afterwards (mentally) but my body hurt for another 24 hours. This was definitely one of the coolest parts of our trip.

Beautiful scenery on the way up

There were bridges and stairs on the way as well

Stopping for a photo (and a break!)

More beautiful scenery from most of the way up

Almost to the top!

I made it!!

What the top of the mountain looks like when the clouds clear

We did it!!

The highest part of the mountain and Korea

Time to go. Goodbye!

Finally, on the last day, we met up with Sarah and Elaine. We all headed to Pacific Island which is like a very small version of Seaworld. We say dolphins, seals...and monkeys doing tricks. Monkeys you say? Yes, there were little squirrel monkeys doing tricks on land before the seals and dolphins came out. It was fun. Afterwards, we all headed to the beach and went on a banana boat ride. We swam for a while in the giant waves, but at one point the waves were to rough, forcing us to get out. The view of this beach Jungmun Resort was great. Later we had dinner and drinks at Geckos (western food). The next day we flew out. It was a perfect vacation and I'd definitely do it all over again.