Jeju Island: The Hawaii of Korea

Wow, it has been a minute since I have updated you all on life! I have officially been living in Korea for one year and still enjoying my time! Buckle up for a bit of a longer post while I tell you about my summer travel tale.

I can officially check yet another location of my Korea bucket list. I finally found my way over to the beautiful island of Jeju located just south west of Busan. The flight was a measly 45 minutes, and then I was in paradise for the next 4 days (minus the ungodly level of humidity).

Day 1:

The first day of our journey began with me heading to work for a glorious half day of camp. No, I did not relish the idea of waking up early while everyone else got to sleep in before our, albeit short, travel day. Nevertheless, the work day moved by quickly, and I soon found myself at the airport ready to board one of the world's shortest flights.

Touching down in Jeju, we were met with the oppressive island humidity and heat. I thought I was used to Korean humidity being in Busan, but it did not hold a candle to Jeju. I would sweat just standing in the shade. Needing to check into the hotel and drop off our belongings, we quickly found our way onto a bus heading into the city center. A quick note about Jeju transportation in the event you find yourself on this little island, buses run about every 30 or so minutes (sometimes every hour), so be prepared for some long wait times.

Once at the hotel, we discarded our bags, and then set out for a little exploration. Seeing as how it had been a few hours since we had last eaten, dinner was our top priority. We decided to try some of the renowned Jeju Black Pork. This meat comes from the Black Pigs that are indigenous to Jeju (although the meat itself is not black, in case you were wondering!). Honestly, it just tasted like pork to me (note, I am not a meat connoisseur), but it was tasty.

The night still being young, the three of us found ourselves walking towards Yongduam Rock. Being famous for its dragon head-esque shape, it was quite the popular tourist destination at sunset. I really had to squint my eyes and tilt my head to see a shape remotely similar to a dragon, however, the volcanic rock was a beautiful inky black that I found far more fascinating.

Having sweat far more than we would have liked in such a short amount of time, we headed back towards the hotel for some nice showers and a night of relaxation. Not to mention the fact our feet were killing us from the walking we had done throughout the afternoon/ early evening.

Day 2:

With the strong desire to explore Jeju City center, we first set out for Samseonghyeol, a cultural and historical site that is believed to be the origin of Jeju's mythical founders. First, however, we had to get ourselves to the location. As I mentioned above, transportation is vastly unreliable, so most tourists either walk, bike, or taxi around the island. We decided to try our hands at biking; electric biking at that. Fair warning, I am not the most adept at riding a bike. It has easily been a solid decade since I have found myself on a bike, let alone ever being on an electric bike. I managed to nearly hit street posts, bus stops, benches, buildings, and even a person or two. 10/10 do not recommend an electric bike for novice bikers such as myself. Poor Tom nearly had a heart attack every 5 seconds watching me wobble along streets, narrowly avoiding stationary objects that I seemed intent to run completely through.

After a seemingly never ending 15 minute bike ride that left me absolutely drenched (I am not kidding when I say I easily sweat a pound off my body from how nervous/ scared/ anxious I was being on that bike), we arrived at our destination. The site itself was beautiful with historic buildings and plenty of greenery. There were even various photo opportunities and traditional games set up for visitors. I tried my hand at Tuho, a game of accuracy where you throw arrows into special pots that shrink in size. Not to brag or anything, but I threw all 3 arrows into each of the 3 pots on my first try.

Next on the agenda was the Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum. As a funny little aside, both Nicole and I were charged 1,000 won less than Tom because we were considered young adults (17-24) while he was charged the full amount for being the ripe old age of 27. The difference was 1,000 won compared to 2,000 won (about $0.75 vs $1.50 for my fellow Americans). I am not going to say he is still sulking about this a month later... but he so is. Anyways, the museum was very impressive, especially since there was a 13 meter long Bryde's whale carcass hanging in the main entrance. There were interactive portions throughout the museum, as well as a small sea life area. Definitely a must see if you ever travel to the island!

Before long, the dreaded moment of tropical island vacations was upon us: rain. Now, this was not just any rain; this was a monsoon level, absolute torrential downpour. Imagine being soaked in under a minute flat, shoes effectively becoming tiny swimming pools for the toes, and rivulets of water running into every orifice they can find. Lightning forked above us, and the thunder was a series of staccato booms. I would later find out we were, in fact, in the midst of a mini typhoon. I would also like to pat myself on the back for not having a complete breakdown being outside in the midst of a huge summer storm (I HATE thunder storms). With only 1 of us having brought an umbrella for the day (me and my mini-umbrella to the rescue), we maneuvered it so the backpack, containing all our electronics, wallets, etc., was covered. Our 3 bodies were completely drenched in the blink of an eye. We managed to seek shelter under a bus stop, but not before every item of clothing was plastered to our skin (yes, even the undergarments).

My least favorite moment of the entire trip might have been the bus ride immediately after being caught in the storm. Technically we were no longer hot and sweaty and sticky, but we were now soaked standing in a heavily air conditioned vehicle for about 25 or so minutes while being stared at by 20 very dry passengers. Compounding on top of this, it had started to pour once again, so for the second time that day we were running through the rain. We did make a small pit stop at a convenience store to pick up umbrellas (one of which I would accidentally leave on a bus the very next day) and a towel to attempt to dry ourselves with. Feeling slightly chilled and majorly exhausted, our trio stopped at a Starbucks to warm up with some toasty drinks. The building itself was freezing, but the drinks were nice. All 3 of us enjoyed people watching through the giant windows. Seeing as how we were near the beach, we watched dozens of people running to cars, leisurely strolling with their beach floaties since they were already in their bathing suits, or attempting to stay dry using towels, umbrellas, or shirts held over their heads (a hard feat when the wind was blowing the rain sideways).

Finally, after about an hour the skies began to clear. The three of us ventured over to the beach along with dozens of tourists who seemingly came out of the woodwork. Soon the beach was completely covered with towels and umbrellas, and the water was filled with swimmers wanting to take advantage of the last few hours before sunset. Not needing to swim since we were already wetter than the actual ocean, we headed along the path near the mountains.

Dinner was a quiet affair at a Western style restaurant. The food was okay (simple pasta, pizza, and pork tonkatsu), and then we decided to head back to the hotel to finally rid ourselves of the damp and chafing clothing. Seeing as it was still early in the evening, we explored a little of the surrounding neighborhood and stumbled upon an outdoor concert. A local wind orchestra was performing, so we stopped to listen. I am an absolute sucker when it comes to band performances (shout out to all my fellow band geeks, particularly the clarinets). I recognized zero of the pieces being performed, but I still enjoyed the live music.

Day 3:

Instead of relentless rain from the previous day, we were met with oppressive heat and humidity that was just sitting on top of us the entire day. Not letting the weather affect us anymore so than it already had, we headed off to the Jeju Folk Village. We actually went to a different folk village at first, but there was really not much to see other than 3 foreigners buying matching Jeju tangerine bucket hats (yes, I am talking about our little trio).

The Jeju Folk Village was absolutely fantastic, minus the heat, and held so much history and culture. There were dozens of hanoks (traditional Korean houses) that each modeled a different person's life in society. There was a house for a local fisherman, a farmer, and an upper class citizen, to name a few. They had even created prop people that were either inside or around the house for the full effect of Korean everyday living circa Joseon dynasty era.

As I mentioned previously, Jeju is known for their black pigs, and there were black pigs (real ones) on the property. I was quite surprised when I peeked into a pig pen and live animals were wandering about. I should have known by the smell, but I just assumed since the people were fake the pigs would be as well. The role of the pigs was to eat the remains of food waste and sometimes human waste (excrement, if you will) since they were next to the outhouses. I sure am glad they don't have quite the same job nowadays.

Sweating off who knows how many pounds throughout the course of the day, we headed back to the hotel for a nice moment of rest. We grabbed dinner and then headed back out for one final stop: Loveland. Now to preface, Loveland is about love, but it is also about what transpires because of love. Yes, Loveland is a sculpture garden dedicated to sex. The statues were quite impressive, although some did require a bit of head tilting to fully understand. Honestly, the worst part was the amount of giant bugs flying around since it was nighttime.

Day 4:

This being our last official day in Jeju, we had an early start to Cheonjiyeon Falls. Personally, I find every waterfall majestic, but these 3 were absolutely mesmerizing. The first stop brings you to an impossibly blue pool of water surrounded by rectangular rocks. Technically it was a waterfall, but no water was falling due to it not raining. The second waterfall was stunning. The water looked so inviting to swim in especially due to the persistent humidity, yet we were not allowed to swim. At about this time, thunder started to softly rumble and the park's emergency speakers warned of an impending thunderstorm. Or at least we assumed that is what it said since we can't really speak Korean.

Starting to feel the pressure of the incoming storm, we hightailed down to the third and final waterfall. We first stopped at a bridge that allowed us the perfect opportunity to see the dark and foreboding clouds. We could actually see the rain falling in the distance, and we knew we needed to hurry. The last waterfall was quite impressive (I still prefer the second one), and we stopped to take a few photos before immediately turning around. We knew exactly what it was like to get caught in one of these storms, and none of us had any desire to do so again.

Looking at a map for things to see nearby, we settled for the Chocolate Museum. Underwhelming is how I would describe the museum overall. Pretty much every sign was in Korean, so you cannot actually learn anything from the museum. The exhibits were small, however, there were a few that stood out more than others. Randomly they had a signed football jersey from Steven Gerrard of Liverpool (Tom was pleasantly surprised), as well as a giant statue of Willy Wonka, the Johnny Depp version of course.

Still needing to stay out of the rain, we walked a quick 2 minutes to the Teddy Bear Museum. Again, not the most impressive museum I have ever visited, but this one was a little more informative. One of the best parts was seeing the dioramas of important events using only teddy bears. The sinking of the Titanic, the first live television broadcast, the invasion of Normandy Beach, and the destruction of the Berlin Wall could be seen through the eyes of the teddy bear. We all thought some of the topics were a little dark, but kids have to learn history somehow.

The last big ticket item of the day was Hallim Park. This botanical garden is 80 acres large and has everything from caves to bonsai gardens to a mini folk village. We could really see it all. The flowers were bright pops of colors within the greenhouses, and bonsai trees were little time capsules to the past (upwards of 300 years in the past!). The caves were fascinating to see and provided a much needed respite from the sun. One of the caves is even a mixture of lava tube and limestone cave.

Feeling the day wind down to a close, we stopped at a nearby beach for one last moment of island breeze. Deciding to treat ourselves, we ate black pork BBQ one last time, and I still did not taste a difference compared to other pork. We then headed back to the hotel for an early night since our flight was at 9:30 the next morning.

I adored my time, albeit short, on Jeju and would love to go back again at some point. As for now, I still have lots more exploring. As a special sneak peek to my next blog post, I will tell you that I finally got to explore a major city here in Korea for more than just a few hours. Can you guess what city it might be?