Trip to Jeju Island

October 1, Saturday – At around 3.30pm, my journey to Jeju Island begun. We went to my lab to collect some printing on the bus number of Jeju Island. Then, we did some shopping to get a roll of toilet paper and to Hanaro to buy some food as snacks for the night or as breakfasts. We went to Jungang-dong by subway and then followed by some walk before reaching Busan Coastal Ferry Terminal. Many people were asking Ryan a lot of questions when we were changing line at the subway as he was holding some maps. They were talking non-stop in Korean. Yet, we only understand some normal questions that they were asking, such as “Where are you from?” One of the passengers in the subway assisted us there.

Min Ho oppa had already helped me booked the ship tickets before that. I just need to go to the counter to give them my reservation name and pay for the tickets. We took the cheapest tickeet, 29,000 (3rd class type B). We will be staying in a big room with another 210+ people. The ship departed at 7.30pm. Since Monday is Korean's National Day, there's 3 continuous days of holidays. The ship was packed with passengers - kids, teenagers, families, hiking team etc. We quickly find a spot to sit down before all the empty spaces were taken by the other passengers. Almost al the pillows were taken by the time we reached there. It is like a culture for Koreans to bring food along whenever they go for traveling. Shortly after we arrived, we saw a lot of people opening boxes of food and picnic there. Meanwhile, we were having sandwiches, biscuits, snacks and "san kak gimbak" as dinner. The night at the ship was like a very long one. We played some card games and had some snacks. Then, we went out to get some fresh air. The wind was extremely strong and cold, especially at the front of the ship. It was so strong that it was able to move a person standing there. Sleeping in the ship with so many people was the worst of the worst. It was very noisy as the hiking team consisted of “ajesi” (uncles) and “ajuma” (aunties) were chatting throughout the night. Kids were running here and there, playing and shouting. A couple was sleeping next to me and the guy kept on kicking at me all the time. I changed places with Ryan after that and he was complaining about the same thing.

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October 2, Sunday – Day 1 in Jeju Island
At around 7am, we arrived at Jeju Island's port. The wind was not so strong anymore. It's great! The design of the ferry terminal looks a lot like the building for APEC. We headed to the bus stop outside the ferry terminal after we arrived. It was seriously had to get a bus there. Luckily, a lady there helped us. Her English is quite good and she's traveling alone. It was her second trip to Jeju Island. We shared a taxi with her to the bus terminal. Then, she helped us to get the bus tickets to our “mimbak” (cheapest type of accommodation in Korea; something like homestay) near Seongsan Ilchulbong (Seongsan Sunrise Peak). The bus ticket cost 3,800 won and it took slightly more than1 hour to reach there.

Seongsan is a small town and not as developing as Jejusi (Jeju City). There are not many people around the area. The view there is really nice. It is located near the sea and mountains. There are many vegetable farms there. The “mimbak” that we were staying at is located beside Seongsan Ilchulbong. We were able to see the mountain from our room, a very nice view indeed.

We had lunch at a small shop at 11am before heading to U-do. The prices for food here is more expensive than in Busan. It cost around 4,000-5,000 for a meal. Of course, seafood is more expensive. I ordered 2 “gimbak” while Yushu and Ryan ordered “sungdobu chige” (tofu soup with rice). The side dishes were really nice. I like the sweet fish pieces the most. The “ajuma” (aunty) there seemed to be very happy with us visiting the store. She even fried 2 medium size fishes for us as side dish.

After lunch, we walked to the nearest jetty to take the ship to U-do (Cow Island). It cost 2,000 won for one way and the last ship back is at 5pm. The jetty was packed with people as many people were heading there for the cave concert. It took us around 15 minutes to reach the island. U-do is a small island very near to Jeju’s mainland. It is famous for its black stone beach and diving women. Udo got its name because its shape resembles a cow lying down. There are 8 scenic views in the island. Most of the scenes of the Korean movie, “Mermaid Princess” were taken here. Some of the scenes for the Korean TV drama series, “Summer Scent” was taken here as well.

We rented a bicycle for 10,000 won each to go around the island. It was great as the weather was not very hot and the wind was very cooling. We cycled around the island. The beach is made of black basalt and the water is crystal clear. Houses there are normally surrounded by a low wall made of the black basalt. As it is autumn now, most of the farming lands were cleared. It must have been really beautiful during spring, when all the flowers bloom. At 3pm, there will be a concert at the cave below U-do’s lighthouse. We met the lady who helped us before at the bus stand on our way there. She guided us to the place.

The scenery there is fantastic, especially the landscape. There were many people heading towards the cave. We need to pay 5,000 won as the admission for the cave concert. The beach at the entrance of the cave consists of black sand and we were able to see some seaweed in between some rocks at the entrance. Why would they want to have a concert at a cave? It’s hard to get in, especially for senior citizens. It was very cooling inside the cave. The concert is divided into 2 parts. One is for traditional music and another one is for the orchestral. We sat at the slanting part of the cave to enjoy the concert. The cave itself interested me more than the concert.

At around 4.30pm, we rushed back to the jetty for the ship at 5pm. It was very tiring at first because we need to cycle up the slope. But, it was enjoyable later on as we speed down the hill towards the jetty.

We managed to catch the ship at 5pm without paying. Ryan was supposed to get the tickets before heading to the ship for boarding. But, it seemed that he could not find the ticketing booth. He asked to the “ajesi” (uncle) who was collecting the tickets but he did not understand at all. In the end, he just let us in without any tickets.

At around 6pm, we headed back to the same shop that we had lunch in the afternoon for dinner. The “ajuma” (aunty) was very happy and she gave us extra fried fish as side dishes. Then, we headed back to the mimbak for some rest.

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October 3, Monday – Day 2 in Jeju Island
At 8.30am, we departed to the nearest bus stand to take a bus to Seogwipo. It was a long wait. The bus only came at 9.30am. We arrived at Seogwipo at around 10.30am and then took the bus to Mount Hallasan at 11am. It took us around 40 minutes to reach there. The scenery along the way is very beautiful. Some of the trees in the mountain have already change color while some are changing. It was a bit misty on that day, making it mysterious. However, it was too late as we arrived. The rule stated that we must be there before 9am if we are going to hike the mountain. Thus, we took another bus back to Seogwipo. We did a last minute planning on the way. From there, we took another bus heading to Mini World. The scenery along the way is very beautiful, as if we were entering another world. The mountain is made of Christmas trees.

At around 1pm, we reached Mini World. The admission fee is very expensive, 6,000 won. There are many miniatures of various buildings and structures from different countries around the world, such as Eiffel Tower and Buckingham Palace. It reminded me of one of the famous tourist spot in China. I was rather disappointed by some of the badly made miniatures. We were very surprised to see a miniature of an infamous mosque in Ipoh, Malaysia. Overall, it was okay, a good place to learn about different places around the world. We had some sardine and bread inside the park as lunch.

At around 3+pm, we headed to Sangumburi Crater. It is located very near to Mini World. Sangamburi, hollowed by the volcanic eruption of gaseous content and having little emitted material, is a parasitic volcano and the only maar which exists in Jeju. It is a large hole in a wide plain about 400m high above sea level. The diameter of summit crater is 600-650m. It is deeper and wider than the peak of Mount Hallasan. We were welcome by a well maintain garden before entering the place. I like the roof of the buildings there. As it was cold, parasites are growing on the rocks. The scenery of fields of eululia is very beautiful. Eululia is a type of tall wild grass. The whole place is yellow and white in color. Then, follow by the greeneries formed by the Christmas trees at the further part. There are many Grandfather Stone there. It is known as the guardian god of Jeju Island, made by natural stone and available in various sizes and shapes. The souvenir shops there are selling a lot of them.

At around 5pm, we headed back to Seongsan-ri as it was starting to rain. We took a taxi back and managed to snap some pictures along the way. In order to save money, we had “ramyeon” with eggs as dinner instead. Then, we enjoyed an English movie showing on TV. It was about some sort of aliens trying to take over the school and the world etc. It was nice.

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October 4, Tuesday – Day 3 in Jeju Island
At around 6am, we headed up to Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak). It is a very famous spot to see sunrise and a must visit place in Jeju Island. At the top of the crater, it looks like a splendid crown floating upon the blue ocean. The admission fee is 1,000 won. It took us around 20 minutes to reach the top. The view is very beautiful from the top. The landscape below is like 3D miniatures of islands. We watched as the whole place changed from dark blue to bright. We were able to see U-do from there as well. Too bad it was cloudy on that day. We were unable to see the sun as it was hiding behind the clouds. During New Years Eve, the New Years Sunrise Festival takes place there. It starts at New Years Eve and continues overnight until dawn. It is an annual event.

At around 8am, we headed back when it was drizzling. Then, we took our luggages and headed to Pyoseon at around 9+am. It was raining at that time and the wind was very strong. My umbrella was getting out-of-shape. It was raining heavily when we reached Pyoseon. From there, we walked for 15 minutes before reaching Jeju Folk Village Museum. It was a tough journey there as we were carrying our luggages along.

Jeju Folk Village Museum reproduced the images of the 19th traditional villages on Jeju Island. Traditional thatched roof houses, spectacular collections of fishing tools and artifacts are displayed. It was the filming location of the famous Korean drama series, “Daejangkeum”, which featured a woman chef for the royal palace during the Joseon dynasty. The admission fee is 6,000 won. Even though it is expensive, it is a place worth visiting. Train tour is provided. We felt like as if we were really in the village itself. We put our luggages at the office before walking around the place. We waited for around 30 minutes at a café in the museum for the rain to stop. Yet, nothing seemed to change. Thus, we decided to walk around in the rain, with umbrellas of course. There were displays of the fisherman’s house, the hunter’s house, the rich man’s house etc. Yet, they looked almost the same, with some difference. For example, in the hunter’s house, you will be able to see the equipments they use for hunting. The houses are made of stones, wood lodges, ropes and mud. It was interesting.

We had lunch at a shop in the museum. We had hard-boiled fish as lunch. It tasted a bit like “tomyam” but it was really delicious. It cost 5,000 for each person, including rice. As we were freezing cold and hungry, we finished all the side dishes before the main dish arrived. We even finished the refills for the side dishes. Then, we continued with our sight-seeing under the rain.

At around 2+pm, we took the bus to Seogwipo. We reached there at almost 4pm. We walked around the area, looking for motel. We managed to get a room at 30,000 won. We started calculating our budget again as we will be extending our stay here for another day, which means we will have more expenses.

At around 5pm, we took the city bus to Daepo Jusangjeolli. We passed by the World Cup Stadium and the Teddy Bear Museum along the way. We reached the Jeju Convention Center at around 5.30pm, followed by 5-10 minutes walk. We were surprised to come across a weird looking building, known as Museum of Africa at the junction before reaching our destination. Why the Museum of Africa is in Jeju Island?

The admission for Daepo Jusangjeolli is 2,000 won. The unique thing about this place is the shape of the black rocks. This pillar rock formation is located off of the coast of Daepo. The shape is very unique. The rectangular and hexagonal rock pillars have been academically evaluated as important geological resources to do research and gain insight into the coastal topography development process. It started to rain again soon after that. We managed to snap some photos before heading to the bus stand, which is around 20 minutes from there.

At around 7pm, we had our dinner at a small shop near our motel. Gimbak sure is more expensive in Jeju Island. It cost 1,500-2000 won each. Normally, we can get it at 1,000 won in Busan. Then, we went back to the motel to dry our shoes and shocks before getting some rest.

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October 5, Wednesday – Day 4 in Jeju Island
At around 8.20am, we took the bus to Mount Hallasan. We reached there at 9am and started hiking at 9.15am. It was really cold, maybe due to the rain yesterday.

The journey up was easy at first. It was a bit easier later and then getting tougher and tougher. Most of the paths are made of black rocks. We need to reach the shelter before 12.30pm because we are not allowed to hike up to the peak after that. We managed to reach there at 12pm. We had a bar of chocolate before continued our way to the peak. The journey up was a boring one because we were able to see trees only. However, the scenery is getting nicer as we were reaching the shelter.

We rushed to the top at 12.15pm because we must get down from the peak at 2.30pm. The way up is made of only rocks. It was very tiring. In addition, it started to rain heavily soon after we started hiking again. The path became very slippery and muddy. We were holding on to our umbrellas as we were hiking, must be very weird. We must be nuts for hiking in the rain. The plants along the way are different as we went higher and higher.

After more than 1 hour of walk, we were able to see the peak from the lower part. It was very beautiful, with all the clouds, flowers, plants and rocks. The scenery is simply gorgeous as we almost reach the peak. But, it was rather disappointing as we reached the peak. There was nothing there but a huge hole. However, the view from the peak is nice. It was extremely cold up there. Our hands became numb, hardly able to move. The wind was very strong and we were unable to open our umbrellas.

The way down was a rush because we need to be down at around 5pm, else we will not be able to catch the ship at 7.30pm. We had our lunch, which was sardine bread in the rain at around 2+pm. We made it to the bottom at 5.30pm, barely able to stand. We got our certificates for reaching the peak at the office. That’s the end of our 20km hiking in the rain.

At 5.45pm, we took the bus to Jejusi. We were so tired that we finished the rest of the biscuits that we had. Plain biscuits could never be so delicious. We arrived at 6+pm. Then, we took a taxi to the ferry terminal. We managed to get 7.30pm tickets. We rushed to a store in the terminal to get 3 cup noodles, biscuits and some snacks before heading to the ship. It was very tiring. Surprisingly, the ship was quite empty. We can finally sleep without being kick by the other passengers. But, for no reasons, we were able to have a nice sleep.

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October 6, Thursday - We arrived at Busan at around 6am, it was surprisingly early. Luckily, the public transport was working. We took the subway back to Naengjeong. Then, we took the taxi back to our dormitory.

This marked the end of our trip to Jeju Island. I was busy washing all the dirty clothes, shoes and shocks after reaching my room. BJun had already leaved on the same day, around 5.30am. Now, I am alone in the whole room.

p/s: Some of the information are quoted from the tourist guide. I will upload the pictures later. May not be blogging for another week as I will not be around.