Another pin in the map: South Korea. We made it there and back with out Clinton having to rescue us.
We left last Tuesday, August 11, and spent most of the day traveling. It's 3.5 hours to Seoul and one more hour to Jeju, the island to the south that we visited. Of course all the in between time adds up, so we arrived at the hotel around 10 p.m. and I'm proud to say that I ordered room service for the first time in my life. It really works; they bring food to your room! We just split a club sandwich because it was late, but it was exciting nonetheless.
We started late the next morning after needed rest and asked the concierge about hiring a taxi to see some sights. This is the common thing to do. The taxi drivers typically speak no English, so the concierge writes their instructions down. I had some knowledge of the island's attractions but no sense of where things were, worth seeing or skipping, etc.
Being a volcanic island, there's a large inactive volcano in the center whose peak you can scale and peer down into its crater, but it's a several hour trek and we only had two days so we opted for other spots. You can see peaks and volcanoes all around in the distance, and the island's volcanic stone is everywhere - sculptures, walls, homes, souvenirs. There are also forests and beaches among the natural scenery. The concierge suggested spots on the Western side of the island, where we were based.
It was a grayish day, no sun, but no rain when we started out either. Despite our lack of understanding each other, our taxi driver laughed at everything we said and everything he said, a real hearty laugh from his gold tooth-filled mouth. We first stopped at a green tea plantation. You could walk around freely, but the crowds were mostly in the museum/shop where you could get everything green tea. The ice cream was tempting but we weren't hungry at the time.
Our next stop was Hallim Park, a pretty big complex consisting of many parts. They included stone and bonsai gardens, sub-tropical gardens, bird gardens and two caves classified as lava tube caves, Hyeopjae and Ssangnyonggul. The island has an extensive network of them. Fortunately, they are very different from the last cave we entered (bats, roaches, remember?). The only thing dripping from the ceiling was water. Each of the two was cool, dark and odorless, and no creatures were hanging, crawling, or lurking. Piece of cake.
Next we made a stop along the coast at Songaksan. The vistas were pretty but shortened and dampened by the gray mist. Our last stop was a peak called Sanbangsan. It was beautiful and intriguing as there were colorful artifacts adorning the climb upwards. We only made it a few flights of steps because the rain finally insisted on falling. We were lucky to have made it till about 5 p.m. that day, but it would have been nice to linger at that location.
We ate at the hotel that night, a BBQ buffet. The hotel also housed a casino, so Tai Pan Paul won about 43,000 Korean Won ($35) st the Blackjack table, and then we spent it on approximately three drinks in the posh lounge.
The next morning after breakfast we set out for the East side of the island, again with the concierge's written instructions for locations I chose - different driver. He was polite but not as jolly as the previous one. Our first destination was about an hour's drive away, Sunrise Peak. Peak=climb, so this is probably when Paul started to announce his suspicions that I might be trying to kill him. C'mon, there's a peak, what else can you do? This day was sunny and hot so we started missing the cool grayness of the day before, but really, the weather was perfect.
Down at the shore, there's a peculiar activity to observe. One of Jeju's unique attractions is the Women Divers. Historically, these were women who would dive to depths of 10-20 meters for over two minutes without SCUBA gear in order to collect valuable marine products, such as seaweed. Today, in this spot anyway, it's mostly just a kitschy show for the tourists. We were tourists, so we watched the women dive and surface, waving their clumps of seaweed and marine creatures.
We next stopped at Seongeup Folk Village, an authentic, still-functioning village where people live in traditional houses with thatched roofs. Our driver walked us into the village for about three minutes and then walked us back to the car. I was surprised it was such a small place since it appeared in the guide books and sounded like a worthwhile destination. Later when I looked in the book again, it said there were over 3000 homes in the village. I guess our driver decided for us that if you've seen three thatched roof homes, you've seen 3000.
Looping back towards home, the next stop was Jeongbang Waterfall. The heat reached its height at this point, so it felt good to stand close enough to the falls to feel the mist. It is said to be the world's only waterfall that falls directly into the sea. Our next stop was another waterfall, Cheyonjiyeon. The entrance was through a crowded parking lot filled with souvenir shops and refreshment stands. That's why it surprised me that past the gate laid a very pretty path to the falls.
It was around this time that I realized something and pointed out to Paul that South Korea should be his favorite Asian destination yet. Not one man, woman or child pitched us a book, tee shirt, bottle of water or any other less useful commodity... no hawkers! How refreshing.
Our last stop in the early evening was Jusangjeolli cliffs. I also realized that although all these attractions are popular and crowded, they're not China-crowded. You could move without suffocating.
Hot and energy spent, we hoped to take a quick dip in the hotel pool upon our return but were surprised and disappointed to learn that it closed at 6:00. Therefore, in our limited time there, we never even saw the hotel pool. Actually, the hotel was on a mountainside overlooking the ocean with access to a beach and we never even walked down to the beach. Oh well.
That night we ate a traditional Korean BBQ dinner at a restaurant that specializes in horse meat. We went for the less daring pork, cooked at our table. It was a pleasing meal and the server was friendly and told us how to manage the ingredients. We ate pork wrapped in mint leaves (I had no idea mint leaves could be so big). Yum.
Nearby our hotel there were a few luxury hotels and other attractions that make up the Jungmun Resort Complex. We strolled around after dinner and marveled at the amalgam of natural beauty, tradition, sophistication, modernity and tackiness. The Teddy Bear Museum says it all. Jeju is a popular destination among Koreans, mainland Chinese and Japanese. There's enough natural scenery to draw the crowds, but just in case scenery alone doesn't appeal to the Asian tourist, no effort was spared to offer every type of organized attraction imaginable:
citrus museum, chocolate museum, peace museum, sex museum, goblin park, love land, art park, water world, elephant land, maze park, water world, magic world, alligator town, miniature theme park, ballooning theme park, world eros museum, stone tortoise museum, natural love museum, ceramic ware museum, baseball museum, pony town, mask and bogey museum, psyche world, paper doll museum, dinosaur theme park and, of course, Happy Town.
We stuck with waterfalls and mountains, but I must admit... psyche world? Just a little curious.
You may think the island would be overflowing with cheesiness after that list, but it's not. Oh, it's there if you seek it, but so is a laid back atmosphere. The first impression of the island that I recall is green - lots of lush, green rolling hills and evergreen trees. As for all the man-made attractions, I saw signs for some, but they must blend in well because Jeju seemed like an otherwise normal, developed but not over-developed, modern, convenient, efficient, place to live - dotted with volcanoes and caves and cliffs - almost as if tourism was an afterthought, not a necessity.
Thankfully, every entrance fee to parks and such was minimal, and things are highly organized as to facilitate easy access to natural sites, though this might somehow make them alternately less accessible. You can see a lot, but you don't stand much of a chance of any uncharted, rugged or isolated exploration.
Well, continuing on our stroll that evening, we walked past the teddy bear museum and found a park with a bridge overlooking another waterfall. It was dark so we could only hear the falls, and the place was deserted. The two of us had a twinkling lantern-lined bridge to ourselves. To counter that peacefulness, we then passed through the Lotte hotel. Whew, that's where to go for a dose of sensory overload. Electric lighted horse-and-carriages, a pool surrounded by windmills and a volcano, complete with a Vegas-style show of volcanic flames and demons and noise. In contrast, the Shilla hotel next door was the picture of elegance and subdued sophistication. Rather than a volcano, there was someone singing operatically in the lounge.
The next morning, we were grateful to be taking off for Seoul because it was not just gray, it was pouring rain with no foreseeable end. Unless we gave in to the teddy bear museum or something similar, I can't imagine what else we would have done.
As my vacation posts continue to be epic, I'll write about Seoul in a second post.
Happy birthday to John.
And by now, we've just celebrated our 8th anniversary, a lucky number in China. We had a delightful dinner at our favorite restaurant,
M, Saturday night and since yesterday was the actual date we went for sushi in our neighborhood. Here's to wandering the earth and dining together for 8x8 more years.
