A 70km-by-30km, rugby-ball shaped land mass named Jeju Island lies just off the south-western tip of the Korean peninsula. It formed many ages ago as a result of volcanic activity, with the last eruption taking place back in 1007 (Wikipedia,
et al.). Its comparatively miniature size disguises the fact that it is full of surprises. Cue the old expression that "Dynamite comes in small packages". Yes that's a reference to the island's size AND volcanoes. Puns are the best.
So anyway, late July to early August in Korea is known as 'Peak Summer Holiday Season'. My hagwon gave us a few days off in that period, so I decided to spend them in Jeju. I was flying there with Eunjee Lee, or 'Lina' to English speakers. Eunjee had a Korean driver's license, a sly sense of humor and a general Jeju knowledge, all of which were a great addition to the holiday. We were about to go through the departure gates at Gimpo Airport when the security guard checked my flight ticket, looked quizzically at me, and asked, "Is your name...Eee...you...njee?" Lina had swapped our tickets unbeknownst to me. She later admitted that she wanted me to get in trouble. Unfortunately for her no drama came of the intentional mix up and we made it to Jeju as planned.
The plane landed at 10pm and the first thing I noticed was the clean seaside smell. We weren't supposed to get our rental car until the next day, so we spent our first day confined to Downtown Jeju. We set to work on planning our trip over some chicken and beer. Our main aim for the trip was to fill out a 'visitation pamphlet' with four or more stamps from at least four UNESCO Heritage Sites as proof of having visited the places. After filling out the stamps we could claim a prize/reward. The places to get these stamps were Manjanggul Cave, Geomunoreum, Hallasan, Seongsan Ichulbong and the Jeju World Natural Heritage Center.
First thing we did the next day was pick up the rental car and head east. After driving for about 25 minutes the vibe the island gave off was a 'Tropical Meets Metropolitan'. And then not more than 15 or so kilometers away, the countryside had this 'out-of-the-way' feeling.
We were headed for the north-east to eastern side of the island. The trip there got agricultural very quickly, and we could have been the only people for miles. The skies were blue. The pastures and orchard rows were green. The stuff keeping all the cultivations separated were the black lava-rock wallk. Jeju is famous not only for its dead volcanoes but also for being the first place in Korea to grow mandarins. So much so that the mandarin's likeness as been painted on many different structures.
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| Holiday Chariot |
We stopped at a rocky shore and hopped along the seaside. When we came off the rocks again, a geriatric offered to share his makgeolli (unrefined rice wine) with us. We sat with him, and through Lina's translating I found out about his son and daughter working in Seoul, his job as a construction worker, his favorite fishing stories, his thoughts about how Jeju's culture is changing, his sister who owns a restaurant on the island's east side. And then Lina and this man went off on a conversation of their own.
We carried on driving along the back roads to a 7km lava tube known as Manjanggul Cave. Outside the tunnel it was a chilled 30 or so degrees Celsius. Inside, however, it wasn't unusual to see a lot of the people wearing a second layer of clothing. And man alive was the place humming with people. Just like almost any other place in Korea, the weekends are busy.
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| A rock famed for its resemblance to Jeju Island |
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| About 600m into the cave |
We then headed to Geomunoreun and the World Natural Heritage Center (they're pretty close together) but both were closed for the day. Luckily we got the stamps anyway. Then we drove over to the east coast to catch the ferry to Udo Island. Once we disembarked from the ferry we tried to get motorbikes for each of us. My South African Code B driving license only disgusted the
ajumma (old lady but not
old old). She turned me away. Lina then spoke to the
ajumma in Korean for a bit, and after 5 minutes of debate she managed to get a bike with her driving license. Side note: a Korean driving license entitles the holder to a motorbike license (or so I was told). So Lina was legally allowed to hire and drive a motorbike in spite of the fact that she never even been on one before. Lina later told me that the
ajumma had been skeptical at first about Lina's motorbiking skills. Lina had assured her that she 'had ridden a motorbike a thousand times'. As Lina finished telling me this the
ajumma caught Lina off guard and said she wanted to first see her ride the motorbike before the transaction could be complete. Thank the Pope that the bike was an automatic. 1 minute would not have been enough to educate her on the magic of a manual bike's gear box through conversation. In the end we got the vehicle and edged our way along the tiny island's coastline roads. Majestic.
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| View of Udo Island from the Ferry Boat |
We ferried back to Jeju mainland and made our way to Seongsan Ichulbong, a volcano that stands at 180m above sea level on the eastern verge of Jeju. Piece of cake, which is exactly what I thought before going up what later seemed like a vertical edge. The unprecedented stress we experienced during the mini-hike was demolished with a quick swim in a cold sea. The day ended off with some seafood soup and a couple beverages before bed.
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| Seongsan from the Entrance |
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Seongsan Town |
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| Udo Island as seen from Seongsan |
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| Seongsan Peak |
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| The descent |
Before I carry on I'd like to share a personal thought. One of the things I've learned in the last ten months is that some plans can and will go wrong. To refine that statement, "Planning is essential, but don't let expectations stand in the way of a good time".
We had
lekker day two planned. Among others things, we were going to spend our time chasing waterfalls (any reference to music here is intentional), looking at (not
listening to) special forms of rock, checking out a museum or three and then going for a surf.
The second day of activities started off fine. We first visited the World Liquor Museum. It was a showcase of two of Korea's greatest heritages: their soju and makgeolli. "Why, then, is it called a
World Liquor Museum?" some might ask. After the first half an hour of walking around the museum, I was asking myself the same thing. It was awesome seeing the different historical brands, branding, experiments, types, processes, distilling, equipment and packaging displays associated with the history of soju and makgeolli, but it wasn't exactly a good representation of the rest of the world. We did later come across a room filled with beers, wines, brandies and whatnots from all over. We even got to taste test some of the more famous stuff upon exit.
After the Liquor Museum, we chased two waterfalls. I forget their names but they were pretty cool. One waterfall was on the coastal edge while the other was slightly more inland.
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| Coastal |
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Inland
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From there the day was a bit like a hungover human being - it just lay in bed and didn't want to do anything and didn't want to be bothered by anyone. We drove around looking for proverbial windows of opportunity, but every time we got to a place we found the curtains to have been drawn. To start off, the third waterfall we were chasing had no water "because there hadn't been enough rain". We then tried to go kart racing but "track was too wet from all the rain". Then we went to a beach to try rent surfboards, but the rental services were forbidden from renting out boards that day because "the surf was too rough". Lina did ask the rental dude again to which he replied "nah you'll die". Then we went to a rock pool at another place on the coast, and surprise surprise we got turned away. The lifeguard said (and I shit you not) "There are ripples in the tidal pool, so it's too dangerous". Then we tried to chase another waterfall and got turned away because all the rain had made the area too dangerous to swim in or even view. The whole day had distracted us a bit, and we completely forgot to visit the special rock formations along the southern coast. It was all very frustrating and slightly disappointing, so we just booked into a guesthouse at Seogwipo, got changed, and listened to music at a club. It wasn't our day, but it ended off with a Long Island Ice Tea or two.
Day three started off sunny. After a breakfast of a croissant and a boiled egg we headed to the foot of Hallasan's eastern trail. Hallasan, Korea's highest mountain, stood before us at 1950 meters above sea level at its peak. The weather kept changing from sunny to scattered showers the whole way up and down, making the hike that much more scenic. I didn't keep an official count, though it was definitely the most number of monkeys' weddings I'd ever seen during a 24 hour period. Back at the foot of Hallasan I was wet, hungry and had a mean rash between my legs, but it didn't beat the
bleddy nice feeling of reaching Korea's highest point.
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| Dying |
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| Ain't dead yet |
After that we headed back towards the northern side of Jeju. We booked a hotel in Downtown and then took a bus to what is called Jeju Loveland Museum. The place is sexually explicit in an artistic way. The government has given it their stamp of approval for it, so it can't be that bad right? Google it if you're interested in seeing what it's all about ------>
https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=jeju+love+island&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgn-fCg7rVAhVBFJQKHac4AwwQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=638
After three days of travelling around a rugby ball shaped island, we left feeling like we'd given it a good kick up the rear for three well earned points. For our efforts with the Unesco stamps we got: a silicon cup, a credit card shaped USB flash disk and a pen. Good times!
So anyway, late July to early August in Korea is known as 'Peak Summer Holiday Season'. My hagwon gave us a few days off in that period, so I decided to spend them in Jeju. I was flying there with Eunjee Lee, or 'Lina' to English speakers. Eunjee had a Korean driver's license, a sly sense of humor and a general Jeju knowledge, all of which were a great addition to the holiday. We were about to go through the departure gates at Gimpo Airport when the security guard checked my flight ticket, looked quizzically at me, and asked, "Is your name...Eee...you...njee?" Lina had swapped our tickets unbeknownst to me. She later admitted that she wanted me to get in trouble. Unfortunately for her no drama came of the intentional mix up and we made it to Jeju as planned.
