Summer Vacation Part II: Jeju-do

Jeju Island is the southernmost point of South Korea. It is it's largest island and is considered to be the "Hawaii of Korea". Though comparing it to Hawaii is a bit of a stretch, it is indeed a beautiful island with lush greenery, beautiful waterfalls, and clear water beaches. Unique to Jeju are its stone statues of bug-eyed men called dolharubang. They have acted as guardians of the island for centuries.

Art, Stacy and I arrived in Jeju City on Monday evening after a pleasant 5 hour ferry ride. Though the ferry was full, the city seemed like it was empty. There was a nice boardwalk along the seawall and a brand new huge Ramada Inn right next to it. It was a beautiful building, but there was only one person in the foyer and about 5 in the casino. It was actually kind of creapy how empty it was. And this was supposed to be high season?! Several bars we walked into were also empty.

The next day we waited for Tanja to fly in and then our group was finally complete. We then headed for the south of the island where we stayed the next 5 days.

We all shared one tiny room of our hostel. Our sleeping arrangements were cramped to say the least. The four of us shared double bed. How'd we do it you ask? We all slept the width of the bed and propped our feet on chairs. It was rather amusing actually. The "Monkeys in the Bed" song comes to mind.

While in Jeju we took full advantage of the beach, which was the only crowded place on the island. The water was a pretty aqua color- was nice and warm and fairly clear too. Jeju has several nice waterfalls. One of them empties right into the ocean. It's apparently the only on in all of Asia that does this. Standing by that fall was just gorgeous. The wind and mist that came off were so neat. There was a second falls that we saw at night, since they had it lit up. Twice we simply sat in front of it for hours sipping beers and chatting about life. So relaxing!

We also took to the water for a cruise of the coastline and the harbor of Seogwipo, which were beautiful. Then Stacy, Tanja, Mark, and I went parasailing. (I forgot to mention that Mark, Stacy's friend, joined us for 2 days.) Parasailing was amazing. It was so much fun! It's very quiet when you're up there with a nice breeze blowing on your face as you look down at the water. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it yet. Coming back to shore we noticed what we thought were small birds flying quickly just above the water. They flew for about 10 seconds, dove into the water then jumped out again. Then were realized they were flying fish! They truly do fly. They don't just jump.

One night we also had a great time at the noraebong. Art and Tanja did memorable renditions of Eminem. I sang Bon Jovi and Stacy and Tanja belted out Pink. If anyone ever visits me in Korea we will definitely do noraebong. It's one of the best times you'll have in Korea because it's a room where you sing only to yiour friends, not the whole audience, so you don't care if you sound stupid or not. Since most people can't hold a note anyway. We were there until 3AM.

On Saturday Stacy and Mark parted for home and Tanja, Art and I explored the eastern part of the island where we saw some lava tubes and Ilchulbang (Sunrise Peak) which is a cool volcano crater. Apparently good for watching the sunrise.

Sunday Tanja headed home early as she had an early flight. Art and I stuck around for a few more hours on the beach. Those hours cost us both dearly though. Right as I was sitting on my towel, looking through my camera lens to take a picture of the incoming waves, a huge one washed right up on us and all our belongings. It killed both our phones and soaked everything else. Luckily I had my camera in my hand and was able to raise it above the water, otherwise it would have taken that too, along with all my photos! Of course, if I hadn't been playing with my camera at that moment I might noticed the wave coming and been able to save our stuff in time. Whatever. I got a cool new phone out of it.
This is the World Cup Stadium in Jeju that was built for the 2002 World Cup. It's shaped like a giant sail. Quite impressive actually. Interestingly the Under-17 World Cup is going on in South Korea this month.