Holy Kimchi: Jeju Getaway

The summer is almost over but David and I were finally able to squeeze in our trip to Jeju before heading back to the states for a month. Since our trip had been canceled twice before I was very excited to have finally made it happen. Jeju is South Korea's largest island that lies directly south of us. It was only about a half hour plane ride and an additional hour drive to our hotel on the south side of the island. We ended up staying at a pretty inexpensive hotel (Goodinn Hotel) to try and save a little money. Fortunately we didn't spend much time there and the staff were very friendly. With three full days on the island we decided to pick a different area to explore every day in order to maximize what we were able to see. Now the first day was a little disappointing to me in a few ways. The area we were staying in left a little to be desired. It wasn't very picturesque and I had a hard time with not being able to go somewhere for breakfast due to the late opening of all cafes in the area. We also couldn't see much of the coastline because of all the buildings and restaurants. But don't be discouraged because our later ventures definitely made up for these failings.

On day one we stayed in central Seogwipo and visited all of the natural tourist destinations. Our first stop was the Jeongbang Waterfall. This is Asia's only waterfall that drops directly into the ocean. While it was very beautiful indeed, it was also overcrowded and we couldn't get all that close to the falls. So, we ventured off to our number two destination, the Cheonjiyeon Falls. This was another grand waterfall which made for some more great pictures, but again not super exciting. After Cheonjiyeon we enjoyed a little snack over at the Duncan Donuts before heading out to Oedolgae. Oedolgae is a rather large rock column right off the coast. Korean legand says that a woman married to a seaman discovered her husband was lost at sea. She was so sad that she became the rock. Not a super exciting story but interesting none the less. After this point in the day we were pretty sweaty and ready for a swim so we went to a little area referred to as the Donnaeko resort. There is a mountain fed stream that runs through with large rocks surrounding each side. The water was absolutely freezing but it was a lot of fun. David especially loved climbing about on all the rocks and the water was crystal clear! After cleaning up at the hotel we visited an over priced glass museum and then headed to dinner. Hans Family restaurant, while also a little over priced it had some good western style foods so I was a happy girl. To top off the evening we visited the world cup stadium and saw a movie at the theater located inside it.

Day two was a bit more exciting but we ended up doing a lot more driving as well. Since we had rented a car it made it easier to get around. We traveled to the southwest side of the island which took about 40 minutes. We started off by going to Sanbada ATV. It was an adventure course in which a guide takes you around for half an hour. The course was a lot of fun and we loved being about to ride through the forest and get up close to the coastline. When the ATV was finished we took a tour of Mount Sangbansan and the Hamel ship. I was even forced by a little old Korean man to take a five minute ride on a horse while he led me around a track. After that we stopped off at the Chocolate Museum, just one of the MANY, Many museums on Jeju, but it was much better than the glass museum. The entire history of chocolate making was displayed and we were able to watch a few ladies making chocolate in the back. We also got to taste some of the best chocolate i've ever had! The best part of the day though in my opinion was the Aqua Planet aquarium on the upper East coast of Jeju. Apparently it is Asia's largest aquarium and it really was very well built. Not only did it have a whale shark but there were walrus, otters, dolphins and some really active sea lions. And as most people know, I LOVE aquariums so this was all very exciting in my opinion. For dinner we found a really cool restaurant called Geckos Terrace and they had a fabulous spread of western dishes with some really good margaritas and mixed cocktails.

Day three was by far the best day of our whole trip. After our hour long drive to the northeast and passing some beautiful scenery we made it to the Manjanggul Lava Tunnel. This was one of my favorite things because it is the worlds longest cave formed by lava. In it's entirety it is 7.4 Km long. An entire 1 km of that is open to public. When we descended into the cave it dropped about 30 degrees and the only light were these faint foot lights that had been installed. It was just such a neat thing to experience that I would love to go back again someday. Now if the cave wasn't enough we took a ferry for two dollars a person and went to U-do. U-do is an island on the East side with what many people say is Jeju's most beautiful beach. Upon arrival to the island we found out that we could rent ATVs or scooters for a mere 10 dollars an hour. Well, of course we went with the scooter! So we got to scoot along the island and stop at the beach for some snorkeling. The sand was nice and white and the water was so clear you could see to the bottom with ease. It was a vibrant blue and green color and icy cold. The cold felt good though after being in the heat for so long. The island also had a black sand beach with a big empty cave for David to go and explore. After we had exhausted our time on the island we took the ferry back and headed to Gecko's for our final meal on Jeju.

If we could have changed anything we would have spent most of our time by U-do and done some more cave exploring on the North side of the island. But with that said, we had a wonderful time in Jeju and I just wish I could have gotten myself a Jeju trademark....The old man statue!