Last week was the last vacation time before the new school year started. Andrew and I had already gone to Australia and Japan this winter, so we decided to stay local on this last trip and took off for Jeju-do, an island off to the southwest of the main peninsula.
Getting to Jeju is incredibly simple, due to the fact that it is the number one tourist destination for almost every Korean. It's known as the Honeymoon Island and there are a handful of attractions on the island that qualify as life goals for many Koreans.
Andrew and I took off for Jeju on a Sunday. We only had to take a quick 50 minute flight from Busan before landing at Jeju International Airport. We took off for our hostel, which was on the south-center of the island. Immediately after landing, we could tell that springtime had already hit- our airport limousine ride to our hostel had us driving past palm trees, open fields and tons of beautiful greenery. (Something that, I'm sad to say, is sorely lacking on the peninsula- at least in Ulsan.)
We arrived at our hostel (really more of a hotel) and were greeted by the the two friendliest proprietors ever. Over the course of our stay with them, they drove us to attractions, walked Andrew to the bus stop at 6 a.m. to go hiking, gave us tons of free tangerines that they had growing in the back yard of the hostel, recommended restaurants, and treated us to countless other little acts of selfless hospitality.
But anyways, we arrived at the hostel and received a quick recommendation to go check out Oeldolgae. Oeldolgae is a beautiful set of small cliffs overlooking the southernmost sea occupied by Korea. We stayed there through the sunset (which was amazing) and then headed off for some dinner. Our hostel owners recommended some black pork to us, which is essentially thicker, fattier samgyeopsal. Unfortunately, samgyeopsal isn't one of my favorite Korean delicacies, however, I enjoyed it as much as I could and dug into all of the side dishes, which were great. (Awesome kimchi chigae was had.)
The next day, Andrew and I took off to see one of Jeju's best attractions, Geomunoreum, the Jeju Lava Tubes. These lava tubes are the longest in the world and actually registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These tubes are far underground and were formed due to a series of volcanic eruptions. They were cold, wet, and totally frickin' cool.
After the lava tubes, we walked a little bit down the road to check out a hedge maze that has been built by a retired expat who used to teach at the University of Seoul. He created the hedge maze in the shape of Jeju, and included lots of symbolism about Jeju's history and culture. That's all well and good, but what is really important to know is that this thing was a flippin' mind bender! Andrew and I got lost several times and found ourselves seeing familiar faces all over the darn maze! When we finally made it to the end, though, we were able to ring a bell and look out over the whole maze, seeing where we had gone wrong. It was super fun!
That night, we ate dinner at an old Chinese restaurant that was really good. Chinese food in Korea is surprisingly not super different from Chinese food in the states. There are a few key dishes that you don't see in the states, and in general, I'd say that things can run a bit spicier and have more tofu. But, you can still find stuff like sweet and sour chicken, potstickers, and beef and broccoli type stuff. There are two Chinese dishes in Korea (and I had them in Beijing for that matter), that you don't ever see in the states. These are Jajangmyeon and Mapo Doufu (Tofu). Wikipedia states that as of March 2009, 6 million servings of jajangmyeon were served every day in South Korea... and who can blame them? It's totally delicious.
But, back to Jeju...
On our last full day in Jeju, Andrew and I went our separate ways. Andrew is an avid hiker/walker and since Jeju-do is one gigantic volcanic island, there is a stellar extinct volcano that is perfect for climbing. So, Andrew took off to beat his record for height climbed (his previous highest had been in New Zealand), and I took off to have some geeky fun. You see, on the south coast of Jeju-do, there are a ton of teeny little random museums. Options range from The Haenyeo Museum, a green tea museum, a chocolate museum, a folk village museum, and two (count 'em... TWO) teddy bear museums. So, on my day alone, I decided to rent a scooter and see just how many museums I could cram into one day.
I succeeded in making it to the African Art museum, the Foreign Automobiles museum, the Sex and Health museum, and the Miniatures Theme Park. The African Art museum was quite well done, except I had a few cringy moments when Koreans were posing with life-sized mannequins of various African tribes. The Foreign Automobiles museum was actually one man's impressive private collection housed in a museum setting. The Sex and Health museum was sort of like experiencing a saucier version of high school sex-ed (apparently this is a popular destination for honeymooning couples since there isn't very in-depth sex-ed in Korean public schools). And finally, the Miniatures Park, which featured miniature world-famous sites such as the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, Mount Rushmore and oh-so-much more.
That evening, I returned to the hostel to find a tuckered-out Andrew who took a nap while I went out and got pizza to bring back for dinner.
The following day was our last in Jeju. We left a note for our hostel owners which you can see here. The owners leave all of the notes they get up on the walls of the lobby. We then caught the airport limo back to the airport side of the island. Our flight didn't leave until about 5:00, so we had a bit of lunch in Jeju city, and had a wander around an underground shopping center for a bit. We had the distinct pleasure of watching Kim Yu-Na's short program in the hallway of the shopping center with a group of shoppers who were spellbound by the performance and all looked like proud parents when she finished with the flourish of her fake James Bond gun. (And who all, in turn, muttered when the Japanese finalist came close to Yu-Na in points ;) ) We also found a music store that carried western CDs, and I was able to pick up Jason Mraz's newest live album/DVD and the Swell Season's newest album.
A quick flight back to Busan, and before we knew it, our bus was coming into Ulsan. It was a great vacation, and I can now safely say that a lot (but not all) of the Korean hyperbole surrounding Jeju is totally true. It's beautiful, clean, friendly, and unlike anywhere I'd ever been before.
Love you all!
kb
