This past weekend was Chinese new years, which Korea just happens to celebrate as well! Fine by me, I got to have a four-day weekend. It was great, as you all probably know by now I love traveling at any opportunity I can get. My friend Clayton decided last minute to head to Jeju Island for the long holiday. I have been told by about every Korean that I need to go to Jeju before I leave the country; it is now listed as one of the 7 wonders of the world! It was great; we went with a tour group of 60 foreigners. I was a little overwhelmed at first coming from living in the countryside of Korea with hardly any foreigners. I had to get used to understanding what everyone was saying!
My Christmas present from Clayton. We love Diget Crackers (cookies). They're delicious!
Our trip started on Saturday morning when we arrived at Jeju around 1:30pm. We took a ferry from the southwest tip of Korea, Mokpo. We started our site seeing right away after we got off the ferry. The first stop was horseback riding. It wasn’t what I expected but it was still fun. We didn’t go for very long, only 15 minutes but it was very beautiful and foggy. The weather was overcast on Saturday, sprinkling a bit as well. On our way back from horseback riding we went to a beach area called Dragon Head Rocks. It was so cold and windy out I just went out to look at the view and take a few pictures. Saturday night once we got back to the hotel we headed out for dinner. We ate a special barbeque that translates to English as “shit pig”. Shit pig or a nicer name is black pig is unique to Jejudo. It is exactly what you’re thinking, pig that grows up eating their own manure (shit). Now I’m not the biggest fan of meat to begin with but this meal wasn’t my favorite. Yes, I ate it – when in Korea. I personally like normal barbeques better but some people loved it.
Horseback riding!
Dragon Head Rocks
The big crew at dinner... So many waygooks!
The lovely shit pig...
Day 2 was spent touring the island. It was still very cold and I was inadequately dressed so that helped a lot… NOT. We started our day off at the San Bang San Temple. It was really pretty there. We had to do a little hike up to this cave in the mountain where Buddhist people go to pray. The cave was also dripping with holy water you could drink from – I was thirsty after that hike so of course I drank some! Haha. We went to see the Cheonjeyon Water Falls after that before we went to lunch. It was gorgeous, everything on the island is super clean and clear. All of the water there appears untouched. My favorite was on the menu for lunch, dolsot bibimbap – so tasty!
Mt. Sanbang
The view of the ocean!
The holy water dripping down from the cave ceiling
San Bang Temple
This is the little figurine of Jeju. Clayton loves him and had to get a picture with it.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this, I thought it was a typo but then looked at the picture and realized it was true. Everywhere in Korea you're supposed to put the toilet paper in a separate bin. It's real nasty, I always flush it down.
A gorgeous little lake area above the waterfalls
Crazy people risking their lives going too close to the waterfall
Cheonjeyon Waterfall
So WINDY!
The classiest FamilyMart I've seen yet in Korea
The tour kept going on after lunch; we stopped by the most famous beach on the island, Jungmun beach, to check it out for a little bit and then a place along the coast with Jusangjeolli Rock Column Formations. It was really cool, these were the formations of lava rocks coming to the surface of the water and hardening. Odolgae Coast Trail was next on our list; which is a trail along the coast that is very beautiful. It took an hour to walk the trail and it was very warm as well since the wind wasn’t blowing at this part of town, I loved it.
Our crazy tour guide Skov
Jungmun Beach
Jusangjeolli Rock Column Formations
A view from the Odolgae Coast Trail
Our last stop of the tour was the Orange Orchard. Jeju is known for their oranges. They are SOO good. It all you can eat while you were in the orchard (we were there for a half hour) and then you could purchase a case of them when you left. It was freezing out and super windy so it sucked not being able to eat a ton of them while we could for free. Clayton had a competition with himself; he ate 10 I think. My hands froze after eating 1.5. Clayton and I split a box of oranges with our roomies (a couple from MN of all odds!). We got 7kg (15.4 lbs) of oranges for 10 bucks. Such a great deal. They provided us much joy the rest of the trip.
Clay cutting some oranges off the tree
YUM
That night we went out in Downtown Jeju for dinner. Clayton and I ended up getting Dakgalbi, my favorite meal in Korea. I was so excited because I was so hungry. Little did I know that Dakgalbi in Jeju is so different and not nearly as good as Dakgalbi in Hongcheon/Chuncheon. It was quite a disappointment. I actually was so upset about it that when I came back home this week I made Adam and Jessica go to get some good, normal Dakgalbi with me on Wednesday. Haha. They both love it too so it wasn’t hard to convince them.
Seaweed, pumpkin, and odeng are not supposed to be in this!
Day 3 of the trip was awesome. I was originally going to go hike Mt. Hallasan – the tallest peak in South Korea at 1950 meters. However, I was not prepared weather wise so I decided to go with the group on the second day tour. Clayton had some nice winter gear though and he was crazy enough to go up it in the snowstorm. It was snowing so much that the snow was up to his hips and they closed the top peak climb due to weather conditions. Needless to say, I’m glad I went on my tour instead. Our first stop was Seongsan Ilchulbong (Crater Mountain Peak). It was a 20-minute hike to the top and had a fantastic view of the island. It was really cool.
Seongsan Ilchulbong
Kristin (new friend) and I on top of the crater
The view of the island from the top
We then made our way over to the ferry terminal so we could head to Udo Island. Udo is a very small island off the coast of Jejudo consisting of 1,600 residents. It was so pretty though. I hung out with the couple from MN at the island. We went hiking up to the lighthouse. It was so windy up there that we could jump and the wind would blow us a couple feet away. The view was great from the top. There was also a beach along the island that was picturesque.
Udo Island
The path to the lighthouse
Overlooking the island. The hill has many graves (the bumps) on it. This is very normal and can be seen all over Korea. They don't dig into the ground, they just build a mound on top, kinda weird.
The fields were so pretty
The black sand beach, there is also a cave to the right of the beach.
The amazing beach I was talking about
After getting back to Jeju we went to the Manjanggul Lava Cave. This cave was so cool. It took a half hour to walk from the start to the end and back. At the end of the cave there was a lava column. The sign read “A lava column forms when lava pours down from the ceiling to the floor and congeals. The 7.6 m-high lava column in Manganggul Lava Tube is the largest lava gest known. The lava poured down from the ceiling spread across the floor of the lower passage and made well-developed lava toes.” I thought that was interesting. I haven’t ever seen or been to any volcanic places so it was all new to me. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a Maze. It was a lot of fun going through it. We got lost at first but once that happened I took control and made sure we rang the bell at the end of that maze.
Manganggul Lava Tube
The lava column
Mazes are fun!
Everyone went for dinner downtown again. Clayton and I went with people to a Mexican restaurant that was really good. I’m so excited to come home and eat more Mexican. It’s one thing that I really crave here. Chipotle always sounds so good to me so I try not to think about it. Haha. The next day we got up bright and early to begin our long journey home to Seoul. It was a fun long weekend, I’m glad Clayton made me go with him even though I’m still exhausted!
