Mt. Halla

Today I walked to O'sulloc with Anna. The weather was so warm and clear. The view of snow-capped Halla was incredible:

Jeju Loveland

**Disclaimer** There are dirty pictures in this post. Grandma, avert your eyes :0

On our day off Anna and I planned a trip to Jeju Loveland, an erotic statue park. To be honest, I've been wanting to go to Loveland since I learned that I'd be living on Jeju Island. Where else in the world would I be able to go to a place like that? 

We took the bus into town and then taxied down to Loveland. For a mere 9,000 won we were granted access to the site for an extended photo session with various pieces of suggestive statue art. 

ON OUR WAY !! Bus fare from the GEC

Arrived !!

Wonderful sidewalk art guided us around the park

Inspired statuary 

Some may be confused why a park like this exists. What's the point of two acres of land covered in sexy statue art? Two reasons. First, Jeju is home to an almost infinite number of random attractions including and not limited to teddy bear, chocolate, glass, dinosaur, mini landmarks, and elephant museums/ theme parks. Next, Jeju is a hugely popular honeymoon destination for Korean newlyweds. Apparently this park may provide some helpful advice and encouragement, or even just a few awkward laughs, for couples visiting the island. EWWWW. 

Anna and I didn't encounter too many couples. Mostly we just saw women walking around together in small groups and then the odd group of older salarymen poking their heads around that statuary ....UGH bad phrasing.... Thing is, I guess I can imagine going here on a date but it would have to be with someone I could have a really good laugh with. I'd prefer to go with friends.

Moving on. After viewing Loveland, Anna and I went back into the city for Indian food at Raj Mahal near Halla Hospital. This was my second time at this place and it's extremely delicious. I overate. 

Return to O'sulloc Tea Plantation

O'sulloc green tea plantation is a five minute bike ride from school, so it's easy to travel there when we have a bit of free time. We had a small meal at the cafe and then did the touristy thing and posed for a bunch of pictures in front of the giant, teacup-shaped bush. The weather was relatively warm and it was a pleasant outing. 

Seoul 1 - Cultural

While in Seoul we had some cultural experiences. We walked around a neighborhood full of houses with traditional Korean architecture. We also went to a palace and for a walk down the Cheonggyecheon River. 

Jeoji Oreum and Beach Day with the House

Today the whole of Jeoji House took a trip to our namesake oreum and the Hyeopjae Beach. Once again the weather was wonderful -- clear and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. There was a slight cool breeze playing around us when we reached the top of the oreum for lunch and a rest.

The beach was also very nice, albeit windier. I went swimming in my clothes since I managed not to bring a bathing suit, but a lot of the students ended up doing the same. We had a recklessly fun time just running around through the water and sand. I felt so free, being off campus. It was nice to bond with some of the girls in the house outside of a boarding/ academic context.

To see more, go to our house blog.

Olle Trail #6

Today with the hiking club I went up the cliffs at the start of olle trail #6 on the Southern coast of the island. It was a pleasant day for hiking: the weather was warm with a cool breeze, and the day was clear and cloudless. We could see the outline of Mt. Halla very clearly from where we were situated. 

Only thing was that the trail we were on was quickly deemed the "Land of the Spiders." There were massive tons of the large, multicolored spiders that are often seen along the olle trails. I've never seen so many spiders in my life.

Unexpectedly, it was the girls who had no issue with the spiders. Instead, it was the boys who screamed bloody murder every time they saw one from a distance of 10 feet. Not gonna lie, it was pretty funny, but thank goodness no one came in contact with a spider or else we'd have a panic attack on our hands, I swear.

O'sulloc Tea Museum

Yesterday my friend and I biked to O'sulloc Tea House, which is about a 10 minute bike ride or 30 minute walk from the school. We met up with some friends there and explored the place. It was my first time to the cafe and museum, which is based on a large green tea plantation. 

There are two cafes on site. The first cafe is more popular with the tourists, and there I had some of their green tea ice cream. The second cafe is a bit more removed, and we took time there to sculpt natural soap and eat lunch. I had mugwort and red bean buns, which are more desert than lunch but still delicious. 

Can't wait to go back and try the sausages. 

Hwasun Beach and Sanbangsan Temple (화순금모래해변 & 산방산)

This past Thursday was a prime example of things not always going exactly how you think they're going to go, but still working out for the best. We went to Hwasun beach thinking that we'd kayak, but quickly learned that the weather was too windy and the water too rough to paddle out on the sea. Instead Anna suggested we take a walk along the closest Olle trail, and so we found ourselves trudging along the beach, scrambling over rocks, climbing countless stairs, and pulling ourselves up a steep gradient using a rope.

Once we reached the start of what looked like an actual trail through the woods, we encountered a Korean man and his family. In English the man told us, "You can't go that way. There's a big spider on the path." And we stood there thinking, this must be one massive spider to turn away a big Korean guy and his family. Although I was wary, Anna was undeterred. The two of us scouted a little father into the brush, leaving Oli and Reesha behind. We quickly came across the spider, which was brightly colored and hanging out on a web crossing the footpath, so Anna took a stick and moved the spider out of the way. No big deal. 

I've noticed that many of the Korean people I meet while hiking Ole trails are incredibly well outfitted with all the right brightly colored hiking gear, but when it comes to getting their hands dirty they're fairly inexperienced with the outdoors. 

Anna and I reached a viewing platform at the top of the cliff, but since Reesha and Oli didn't follow us, we had to turn around and go back the way we came, making a detour around the cliff, we reconnected with the olle trail on the other side and continued our hike through a rolling field and then along the coastline.

From our perch on another seaside cliff, we looked out and saw gorgeous hidden beaches lining the coastline.

Some of the cove beaches were closed to the public, but we found one that we could walk onto. Nobody kicked us off at any rate... We sunbathed and swam for a couple hours. The sea was so warm and the rocks on either side of us kept away the worst of the wind and waves. 

We moved on, walking along the beach, continuing towards distant Sanbangsan. The beach was riddled with interesting rock formations and caves. The rocks looked almost like plastic, the were so odd. It was like lava flow trapped in time. 

Apparently at some point we had separated from the olle trail, which was above us, and we were below on the beach. We could see stairs leading up to a viewing platform, but had to get up to them somehow. I know it's terrible, but we ended up scrambling up a giant sand dune in order to reconnect to the trail. After our haphazard ascent, we reached a viewing platform where we could look out on the beach we had just crossed, and we could even see our original starting point, Hwasun Beach (next to the industrial park in the photo below).

 

The olle trail eventually led us to the base of Sanbangsan, which is a huge, very steep oreum that is visible even from my room at NLCS Jeju. Since the sides are so steep, it's impossible to climb to the top of this oreum without ropes and equipment, but there is a Buddhist temple set into the south side with stairs leading someways up the mountain and ending in a grotto.

As soon as we stepped foot onto the temple grounds, we were suddenly assaulted by a group of Korean men, who were keen to show us around. One in particular was especially enthusiastic, waving his arms around pointing at things and speaking to us very loudly in Korean. We were a bit annoyed by this and managed to escape his attention eventually. We climbed up many stairs...

And more stairs...

Forever stairs...

Beautiful photo by Row of the inside of the temple

...Until we reached the very top of the temple, which was basically a big Buddah set into a cave in the side of the mountain. In fact, I learned recently that Sanbangsan means Mountain Room Mountain, named for the grotto room called Sanbanggul.

At the top, we came across the Very Enthusiastic Korean Man once more, and he convinced Oli to go up to the Buddah and pray. It was a hot day, so we took a rest on the benches near the grotto and were approached by yet another Korean man with a ponytail. So excited to see foreigners, he immediately dialed up his wife, a Korean teacher, and handed his cellphone over to me. I chatted with his wife on the phone for several minutes, and she told me about her husband being in Jeju on vacation while she was back at their home on the mainland.

On our way back down the mountain we quickly made our way past Enthusiastic Korean Man, and encountered a new person: Short Korean Man, who was so impressed by Anna's height that he struck up a mainly Korean conversation with her. The two of them took a picture together and we moved on.

At the ticket booth at the base of the mountain we ran into the other half of our group, who had left later in the day after having a lie-in. They had just arrived by taxi and hadn't yet seen the temple, so we made plans to meet up again in an hour, and we went for a quick lunch as the other group climbed the many stairs.

Then, WHO DID WE SEE AT LUNCH???? Why it was Very Enthusiastic Korean Man and his friends. As soon as we walked into the restaurant they called out to us loudly in old man Korean, with a lot of deep loud voices and saliva flying everywhere. They had already had a bit to drink. By this point we accepted that this was our fate -- too many chance encounters to call it anything else -- and sat down at the table next to them.

They poured us drinks and we toasted many times and ate seafood pajeon (Korean chive pancakes). Just as they were about to leave, Ponytail Korean man saw us at the restaurant and came in. He told the other men about our previous encounter up on mountain near the temple, and explained to them about me chatting to his wife on the cellphone. Of course then we had to toast to THAT too. But we were all laughing and having a good time, even though I speak 10 words of Korean and they spoke even less English.

After lunch we met up with the other half of our group, who had finished their hike up to the temple. We walked along the beach, and sat briefly to appreciate the view of Sanbangsan from afar:

After a beer at the cafe, You and I, we called it a day and headed back to NLCS, recounting our unexpected encounters and discoveries along the way. 

[Some photos courtesy of Row, Anna, and Reesha]

Camping on Udo - Day 2

Below is a picture as the sun was rising on Thursday morning, the morning of Chuseok. All through the previous night, the wind blew constantly, making the tent flap around, making sleep impossible. Many of us were up at around 3 or 4am, since it was quieter outside and the temperature was surprisingly mild. 

We had a lazy morning before hitting up the ATV/ scooter rental shops to rent some transport to see the island. Took us a few tries to find a place that would rent to us without international licenses, but finally we came across a place that set us up with a couple ATVs and scooters.

We used our two hours to see a lot of what must've been the southern part of the island. We stopped off at a small tourist town and went down countless steps onto a black sand beach. There were a lot of people around, so we just followed the crowd of people heading into a cave on the beach called called Dongangyoeng 동안경굴 cave. The footing was rocky and hard to navigate, but we made our way up a small pile of rocks, through the cave wall, and into the huge black cavern.

Next we rode across a bridge and parked near a pier with a lighthouse. Brad's up there in the picture. Pretty sure climbing the lighthouse is not allowed. Once he came down the ladder, though, all of the other Korean tourists swarmed around the base and tried their hand at climbing up...

We returned our ATVs and scooters and spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and swimming. There were TONS of tourists around for Chuseok, and it was a little overwhelming. We would go into the water to swim and when we came out onto the beach there would be a load of tourists exiting a bus and standing there taking pictures of the beach (and therefore, us).

That night we played cards and were joined around the our fire by Sean, a Canadian man who teaches English near Pusan. He was camping around with his dog, Alley, for the Chuseok holiday. Some other people wandered over to our fire as well. We met a Korean couple and their two daughters, who instantly bonded with Jen after she gave them OJ and dried pineapple. Another visitor included a pregnant woman and her slightly intoxicated husband, who were both really nice.

That night we shared our campsite with at least three sets of other campers, but despite the noise, the smells from their cookstoves, and the full moon illuminating the landscape, the wind had died down, and weighed down by exhaustion I fell onto my sleeping bag and had a much appreciated full night's rest.