Take a picture. Take a picture. OK? Let's Go!
Wow. Our trip to Jeju Island was a whirlwind, a wonderful, lovely whirlwind. After a 50-minute flight, we landed, rented a car and headed directly to the south side of the island, to its second largest city, Seogwipo.
Jeju Island is bigger than Oahu, more the size of Maui. It took us about an hour to take the road that cuts around the island's largest mountain, Halla-San, and cross the island to the Ocean Palace Hotel in Seogwipo (as opposed to taking the shore routes). The highlight of the drive was a "forest tunnel" where the trees are growing in a way that creates a canopy of green foliage over the secondary highway.
After we checked-in to our impressive hotel (I would highly recommend it to anyone headed to Jeju), Hye-Jeong, Hye-Joo and I stretched our legs and explored a nearby street that is home to a weekend artists' market. The artsy little neighborhood sprung-up around a museum dedicated to Lee-Jeong Seop, a famous Korean artist.
After dinner, Mom and I were whisked-off by my cousins into a taxi to go see two popular sites in Seogwipo, Saeyongyo Bridge and Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, both of which are lit at night for tourists to enjoy. And, boy, there were a lot of tourists in Jeju. Most were Chinese, on bus tours. I was told this was not even high season. The draw for many of them is that many Korean dramas, which are popular in China, have filmed scenes on the Island. I guess it's comparable to the Hollywood movie moment tours that are offered in Hawaii.
All day Tuesday, and half of Wednesday, we were road warriors taking-in some of the loveliest landscapes and most interesting sites you've ever seen. Jeju Island is known for an abundance of three things: rocks, strong winds, and hardy women. Volcanic lava rocks are everywhere and island residents have put them to use in building stone walls everywhere. You'll find them carved into statues, sold as pumice stones, and I noticed even the speed bumps are made of the stones!
The jasmine was just starting to flower and every once in awhile you could smell the wonderful scent carried by the island breeze.
Our first stop on Tuesday was the Oedolgoe, which translates to "lonely stone." This is also apparently one of the sites of a famous scene in a popular Korean tv drama and people were lined-up to have their pictures taken here.
Our next stop was the Shilla Hotel in Jungmun, the swankiest resort on the island. We took a look around and headed to the beachfront. Mom enjoyed the view from an observation point, but the three cousins trekked down the stairs built into the side of a lush cliff and spent a few minutes dipping our toes into the water and pretending to be hotel guests enjoying the "cabanas". I love the Asian style even reflected in the foot-washing station!
After lunch, we went directly to the Ossulluc Tea Museum, a green tea plantation. Did you know that you are not supposed to steep green tea in boiling water? They advise boiling water, letting it "calm down," then steeping your green tea, but for less than two minutes. Using boiling water and steeping green tea too long is what makes it bitter. The freshly toasted tea we tasted was delicious (and without a hint of bitterness).
More on Jeju Island to come...
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