Manjanggul Lava Cave and Jeju Hedge Maze

Lava Caves - CHECK. One more thing knocked off my Jeju Island bucket list. On Saturday we started our winter holidays and for the next three weeks I am FREE. On Thursday I leave for Thailand, but before that I have a few days to bum around school, explore the island, and cook/ bake/ drink wine with friends. 

On Sunday we got up relatively early, bused up to Jeju City, and then took the 700 bus east for about 40 minutes to the Manjanggul stop. After walking a few kilometers, we made it to the lava tube entrance. For a mere $2 ($1 for those under 25 years old), you can enter the cold, damp tubes and walk in for about a kilometer. 

We made our way down many stairs into the tubes and I could feel the temperature drop slightly the farther we went. At least during the winter, the temperature difference between the surface and the cave wasn't that different. Mostly it was just moist and cavernous down there...

The footing was a bit sketchy, and the floor was moist and puddle-y. There were dim lights lining the path, but still it was quite dark.

Entrance to the tube

Reading the sign about "Lava Toes."

End of the tube

We walked about a kilometer in, which is as far as the path goes. According to some signs we read, the tube stretches much farther in either direction, and only that one kilometer is open to the public. I know there are other lava tubes on the island, but I've read that the geographical features they house are so delicate they are not open to public viewing.

After the caves we stopped at a Korean restaurant for lunch and then walked to another nearby tourist trap - a hedge maze. It cost less than $2 each to enter the maze, which kept us occupied for longer than expected.

At first we were all gung-ho that we weren't going to use the map they'd given us to find the exit. I had a theory that I'd seen somewhere: As long as we only took right- or left-hand turns we'd make our way out of the maze. This was sort of true in that we made our way back to the entrance, which I guess is technically an exit... but it was also not where we were trying to go. The goal was to reach the middle of the maze and ring the bell. We must've wandered the hedges for an hour before finally giving up and mapping our way out.

We followed the mapped route and within ten minutes we made it to the middle, climbed the stairs, rung the bell, and went home.

SUCCESS after cheating our way out of the maze !!