The way time flies!
Being regular at writing is getting so tough!
Always short of time :)
With the Korean won down, looks like the whole of Korea is focussed on Jeju!
We were going to stay at the Jhajang Jhajang Pension Home (자장 자장) at Soegwipo. The airport limousine dropped us near Yeomiji Gardens and the pension home owner , Mr Kim, picked us up from there.
The rooms were pleasantly furnished as shown in their site.
Talked with the owner regarding this and he was kind enough to help us make a three day tour plan. The Jeju tourism guide book(in English) which we had with us was very helpful. He called up a known driver who catered to guests at Hotel Shilla( which was reassuring!) and we were on course. Everything in Jeju gets expensive. I have realized that booking a air ticket+ car rental package works out well. But then, I need to learn driving soon :) And since, we were already at Jeju there was no point to crib about expenses. It was important to make the most of our time there.
Saturday afternoon saw us go to have a view of Hyeongje(Brother) islands and Marado Island.
Next was the Soingook miniature theme park.
My very first experience of miniature museums. I believe there are quite a few miniature museums in Korea. We needed to have our lunch(prepared by the better half at the pension home!). We headed out to the Spirited Gardens.
The bonsai garden was all the more impressive when I read that it was originally a single person's idea to buy barren land and renew it by gardening over the course of a few decades.
We then went to visit Hallim Park.
These gardens were suggested to be worth a visit by the pension home owner. The additional attraction aside of the wonderfully laid gardens were the lava caves. It was getting to be evening and as we wanted to see the Jeju Yellow Flower Festival area. Prior to going there we reached the Folklore & Natural Museum.
I love to spend time at museums, but was not keen to spend time knowing the lifestyle and history of Jeju considering the anxious driver. Government museums seem to have the cheapest entrance fee in Korea! With a dejected driver counting the hours, we rushed through the museum and almost put our foot down to see the Yellow Flower festival. The big fields with the blooming flowers were almost straight out of Hindi movies! We took snaps to our heart's content^^.
As night falls, it gets quieter...more so in the southern part of the island which is more for tourists and residents related to tourism in some way or the other.
Next morning, we were up earlier and in the taxi by about 9:30 am. First stop, Seri world. We wanted to experience the big balloon there. The labyrinth garden,looks great from above. It was astounding being at about 150 metres above ground. Great views!
It was time to go near the waters! There are some famous waterfalls at Jeju. We could go only to Cheonjiyeon waterfalls. Sunday being the busiest tourism day,it was not so great a time :(
Next, on the day's schedule was the the Oeldogae Rock.
All these rocks, after the initial excitement, I seemed to find them all same.
I am usually excited with temple architecture, and was curious to visit the Yakcheonsa Temple, with the largest Buddha statue in Asia.
Lunch time was reserved for visiting Yeomiji Gardens, the largest botanical gardens in Jeju. We were a little weary to walk in the sun across the place, and were only too happy to take the toy train ride around the whole place! The main building with flora from different geographies in temperature controlled environment was a new experience!
Post lunch it was time to go to the Teddy Bear museum. In fact when the plan to visit Jeju was made, my wife had this place first in the list! I was not particularly enamoured, though!
We had a reservation for a submarine tour to see a coral reef near Marado Island . To say that it was awesome is an understatement. Being inside a submarine was a first, getting to see coral reef was another first. There was a mini-show by one of the staff outside the submarine...feeding fish and our pictures being taken with him. Despite the prohibitive price, it was worth it.
After the excitement of being underwater, it was high time we reached the waters. We went to the Jungmun pillar rock formation(Jungmun Daepo Jusang Jeollidae) and from there to the Jungmun beach, probably the most popular in Korea. Despite the water being a little cold, we got our legs wet. Sea beaches excite us always!
The pension home owner promised to take us to a nearby hillock to watch the sunrise next morning. Next morning, we were lucky to catch the sun rise. The owner, being a retired person, probably fell asleep for a while longer...Waking up early to watch the sun rise made the morning more beautiful, the sea beyond adding to the beauty. He was also kind enough to take us to the nearby rocky beach.
Being regular at writing is getting so tough!
Always short of time :)
With the onset of spring, it was time to get inspired to travel once more! Two and half years of living in Korea and not having been to Jeju had become a cardinal sin!
With the Korean won down, looks like the whole of Korea is focussed on Jeju!
Even though I had heard of April being an off-season, there were hardly any tickets available. I had been thinking that it was a phenomenon limited only to the Lunar Year and Thanksgiving wherein all Koreans are "going to hometown". And to top it, we took tickets for the last flight on 3rd April.My colleagues felt the ticket prices were high;I had reached a stage of desperation, now or never!
We were going to stay at the Jhajang Jhajang Pension Home (자장 자장) at Soegwipo. The airport limousine dropped us near Yeomiji Gardens and the pension home owner , Mr Kim, picked us up from there.
The rooms were pleasantly furnished as shown in their site.
Despite being told by colleagues and friends that travelling by car is possibly the onlyway to travel at Jeju, I had other ideas. Getting up late, I realised upon scanning the roads outside that buses would take us nowhere!
Talked with the owner regarding this and he was kind enough to help us make a three day tour plan. The Jeju tourism guide book(in English) which we had with us was very helpful. He called up a known driver who catered to guests at Hotel Shilla( which was reassuring!) and we were on course. Everything in Jeju gets expensive. I have realized that booking a air ticket+ car rental package works out well. But then, I need to learn driving soon :) And since, we were already at Jeju there was no point to crib about expenses. It was important to make the most of our time there.
Having said that, the car(Renault Samsung SM5) was very comfortable and the driver was very helpful too.
Saturday afternoon saw us go to have a view of Hyeongje(Brother) islands and Marado Island.
Next was the Soingook miniature theme park.
My very first experience of miniature museums. I believe there are quite a few miniature museums in Korea. We needed to have our lunch(prepared by the better half at the pension home!). We headed out to the Spirited Gardens.
The bonsai garden was all the more impressive when I read that it was originally a single person's idea to buy barren land and renew it by gardening over the course of a few decades.
We then went to visit Hallim Park.
These gardens were suggested to be worth a visit by the pension home owner. The additional attraction aside of the wonderfully laid gardens were the lava caves. It was getting to be evening and as we wanted to see the Jeju Yellow Flower Festival area. Prior to going there we reached the Folklore & Natural Museum.
I love to spend time at museums, but was not keen to spend time knowing the lifestyle and history of Jeju considering the anxious driver. Government museums seem to have the cheapest entrance fee in Korea! With a dejected driver counting the hours, we rushed through the museum and almost put our foot down to see the Yellow Flower festival. The big fields with the blooming flowers were almost straight out of Hindi movies! We took snaps to our heart's content^^.
These festivals, even though they are quite commercialized, offer a sneak peek into Korea's erstwhile traditions and culture to a foreign traveller. I could notice quite a few temporary restaurants selling horse meat- Jeju, possibly being the only place in Korea where horse meat is consumed. There were dance performances slated for the being, but we hardly had time. We needed to head back soon.
As night falls, it gets quieter...more so in the southern part of the island which is more for tourists and residents related to tourism in some way or the other.
Next morning, we were up earlier and in the taxi by about 9:30 am. First stop, Seri world. We wanted to experience the big balloon there. The labyrinth garden,looks great from above. It was astounding being at about 150 metres above ground. Great views!
It was time to go near the waters! There are some famous waterfalls at Jeju. We could go only to Cheonjiyeon waterfalls. Sunday being the busiest tourism day,it was not so great a time :(
Next, on the day's schedule was the the Oeldogae Rock.
All these rocks, after the initial excitement, I seemed to find them all same.
I am usually excited with temple architecture, and was curious to visit the Yakcheonsa Temple, with the largest Buddha statue in Asia.
Lunch time was reserved for visiting Yeomiji Gardens, the largest botanical gardens in Jeju. We were a little weary to walk in the sun across the place, and were only too happy to take the toy train ride around the whole place! The main building with flora from different geographies in temperature controlled environment was a new experience!
Post lunch it was time to go to the Teddy Bear museum. In fact when the plan to visit Jeju was made, my wife had this place first in the list! I was not particularly enamoured, though!
We had a reservation for a submarine tour to see a coral reef near Marado Island . To say that it was awesome is an understatement. Being inside a submarine was a first, getting to see coral reef was another first. There was a mini-show by one of the staff outside the submarine...feeding fish and our pictures being taken with him. Despite the prohibitive price, it was worth it.
After the excitement of being underwater, it was high time we reached the waters. We went to the Jungmun pillar rock formation(Jungmun Daepo Jusang Jeollidae) and from there to the Jungmun beach, probably the most popular in Korea. Despite the water being a little cold, we got our legs wet. Sea beaches excite us always!
The pension home owner promised to take us to a nearby hillock to watch the sunrise next morning. Next morning, we were lucky to catch the sun rise. The owner, being a retired person, probably fell asleep for a while longer...Waking up early to watch the sun rise made the morning more beautiful, the sea beyond adding to the beauty. He was also kind enough to take us to the nearby rocky beach.
After bidding adieu at the the pension home we were on course to see the eastern part of the island before reaching the airport.
It was long drive to the eastern part of the island. Don't remember the last time I had a longer, smoother ride! We reached Seopjikoji, a scenic location near the Seongsan Sunrise Peak. The highlight of this place for us was that we could lay our eyes finally on the fabled women divers of Jeju(해녀). There was this old woman about to leave the place with her catch. I believe this tradition will die over the course of time, since these women are not young and their next generations have not joined their profession.
From there we went to the eastern most point of Jeju Island, considered to have the best view of the Sunrise. The climb took about 15 minutes and the views from the top were breathtaking.
The famous Udo Island was not far from there.
We had to reach the airport by 4 pm. And on the way we visited the folk village area where people live in old style houses with all modern facilities inside! A novel tourism attraction for us.
We were not keen to reach the airport earlier than 4! The driver said a horse ride could be fit into the schedule! One last excitement before heading for the airport :)
The horses were not as well cared for as at the Samsung Equestrian Centre. But then considering the huge costs involved, it was understandable.
A wonderful trip after a long time came to an end!
We do hope to go again another time at a warmer time!
Other Links:
