Jeju

Whew—I’m behind! Hmmm…I seem to start every entry like that. This time I’ve really earned it, though. Lots of adventuring to report! (Check out the photo links, too!)
First, that 4-day trip to Jeju island, off the southern coast of Korea. Well, it’s just gorgeous. And I was super lucky to get there before peak time and to not get rained on, during, uh, rainy season. I even got a free, frequent-flier trip, having just squeaked out the 10,000 miles to earn it. I set out early on Monday, June 26th (another crowd-buster—go during the week) for the airport, and got there WAY early, which meant lots of time to read (“The Moor’s Last Sigh” by Salman Rushdie—excellent!) before my 1-hour flight.

I arrived to ominously overcast skies, caught a bus to the southern end of the island (Seogwipo), which took FOREVER—the roads are windy and mountainy and low speed-limity, so going not so far takes a good while. After much confusion, it was determined that the pension I was looking for was previously located on a now-vacant lot…so I looked at a couple more and finally settled on Hikers Inn for W20,000, largely because the owner (Kevin) also rented decent-looking mountain bikes for W5,000/day. It even turned out that he’d lived in Washington, CT and Boston for a year! The free “cafeteria” was a little kitchen, and the free “internet room” had two computers, which I avoided (VACATION).

I set out for a pre-dusk sightseeing walk, and saw Oedolgae (sounds like “Odelay,” and yes, I sang it all night…), which means “lonely rock.” It’s a volcanic basalt pillar, which is supposedly the wife of a drowned man, praying for his safety (the rock next door, which looks like a man with a belly bloated from drowning, doesn’t bode so well). The walk to the site was beautiful, through pine trees along the coastline (which I FINALLY found after several detours on other, even more beautiful, though dead-end, paths).

After some questioning of the locals (which also got me a free Jeju tangerine—heaven!), I found Cheonjiheonpokpo, which is a stunning waterfall and park, which you can’t miss unless you are on foot and don’t realize that the HUGE parking lot isn’t for all the stores that line it, but for the tourist site, the entrance to which is at the very far end… Anyway, it’s pretty. And it was my introduction to the labeling of almost all plantlife at Korean parks and tourist sites (the nature-oriented ones, anyway).

I went to see if another waterfall site was still open, and it wasn’t, so I did some wandering around town en route to a recommended (by Lonely Planet) restaurant. And then I had my best-yet meal in Korea: a traditional dish, which I’d had before, of dolsotbibimbap (veggies and meat, rice and egg in a hot stone pot—for W5,000), with all the side dishes---soooooooo yummy! I waddled back to my home base, where I watched some World Cup soccer and planned my next day of sightseeing myself silly.

So, Tuesday I was out by 8am, fully loaded with my pump, tools, helmet and sightseeing gear, and off first to the waterfall that had been closed the night before, Jeongbangpokpo, which is supposedly the only one in Asia that falls into the sea. Of course, very pretty. Then it was off to Yakcheonsa, an astoundingly beautiful Buddhist temple (the coolest I’ve seen yet) that was built between 1987 and 1997, entirely of wood. It feels old, though! The main hall (4 floors!) was full of colorful murals, a gazillion Buddhist figurines, laterns galore, and cool views of the shrine. A service was in progress when I visited, so I got the full effect of the chanting, too. The complex is set just above a tangerine grove. Sigh.

Down the road, I turned off to see Jusangjolli Rocks, from cliffs in a pretty park setting. The rocks are in a nifty hexagonal-column formation, due to the cooling and contraction of lava. Extra good with cheap pineapple on a stick. I didn’t make it to the recommended African Art Museum across the street, figuring I’d hit indoor stuff on a rainy day…

Next stop was Cheonjeyeonpokpo—3 waterfalls in a park with paths of wooden stairways and bridges. You really can’t go wrong with waterfalls, and these were my favorites. There was also a cool view of a sculpture-y bridge, which I later crossed.

Right next door, after overshooting it, I arrived at Yeomiji, which are renowned botanical gardens. I was a tad weary at this point, and was really hoping for a kiddy tram—not that I’d ever seen one in Korea, but the thought occurred to me. Well, lo and behold, inside the gate was such a fabulous creation, and I got a tram tour of all the outdoor gardens—which was enough of a viewing that I didn’t take the time and energy to do it all on foot, too. It was an amazing park: traditional French, Italian, Japanese, Korean (and other?) gardens outside, and an enormous greenhouse with several wings of gardens of different climates. A huge lawn sprawled out from the greenhouse, begging for a Frisbee and a picnic…

I had a decent trip to the next sight (as I kept heading west, I occasionally questioned whether I’d truly have the energy for the long, hilly ride back that might very well be wet…), which was Sanbanggulsa: a temple-in-a-cave halfway up a coastal mountain (which is apparently too holy to climb to the summit). I had a cup of water that falls from the ceiling and supposedly brings long life—watch out, Moses! I got there as the air was going from foggy to what-the-hell-is-three-feet-in-front-of-me, so I did get a nice view of the Yongmeori coast for my climb. There are also two cool newer temples at the base of the mountain, which I explored while eating ice cream before the climb up.

After descending, I walked down to the rocky coast, via a stop at a tourist spot for some fresh kimbap (usually egg, veggies, and spam—yes, spam; they love it here—wrapped in rice and seaweed). The coastline is quite dramatic: cliffs and rocks and waves (it was pretty calm, but oh! the fog!), and I ventured out amongst them and the ajumas selling raw fish and soju for some cool photos. Along the same stretch is the Hamel Monument, which was a Dutch merchant ship wrecked there in 1653. They’ve recreated the ship, with hilarious depictions of scenes of life aboard in the good ol’ days. Lots of photo ops (Koreans take photos NONSTOP, and the women POSE, POSE, POSE—this happens EVERYWHERE and is just ridiculous) amongst drunk, weathered, injured, moaning, and navigating sailor-figures. There was even a short movie about the wreck, with an outstanding example of HORRENDOUS ACTING by some guy pretending to be the captain dragging his weary shipwrecked self along the beach. The best part was that there I was, alone, blonde (a la the Dutch characters populating the ship), sitting on one of the fake tree-stumpy audience stools in the middle of the cabin, and two Koreans who passed through at first thought I was a non-living part of the exhibit! We all had a good laugh over that.

I finally headed back up to the bike, figuring that the ride back would probably be about 90 minutes and sunset was about 2 hours away. I was concerned about the visibility, but remembered that I had a flashing Korean flag light in my pack from the soccer game we’d gone to see in Seoul, so I attached that to my back and set out feeling a little safer. Near the inn, I stopped at the local Emart (department store; we’ve got one near EV) to see if they had a memory stick for my camera (they didn’t) and was stopped by a man who REALLY wanted me to stay at his hotel, despite my protestations that I HAD one already, and finally, when he was trying to take my map from me to direct me there, that it was getting DARK! and that I was on a BIKE! Yeah, I know why you want me to stay at your hotel, mister. Blech.

I got back to the Hikers Inn, where Kevin tried (for a LONG time) to put my photos on his computer and then email them to me so I could empty my memory stick (I gotta get a bigger one!), but was unsuccessful (which drove us both nuts—him especially, as he’s a computer whiz and knows what he’s doing). After too long of that, I headed out and decided not to go to the western side of the island that night, but to wait until the next morning. I stayed at a nicer hotel, closer to the bus station (both of which I’d scouted out the night before in my wanderings). I picked up some dinner and beer on the way, as it was late and I was pooped, checked in, got my sweaty self cleaned up (I did about 50 miles of biking and God knows how many walking), ate, watched some soccer, and organized for the next day.

Wednesday: I hopped a bus for another endless ride, not all that far past where I’d ridden the day before, to Hallim Park, on the western coast. It’s a combo-deal: botanical gardens, folk village, limestone and lava caves, bonsai and stone garden, greenhouses, and random bird exhibits. It would have been good, but all the more elaborate/isolated versions of stuff I had seen or would see (or could have seen) made it sort of unnecessary. I spent about a half an hour sitting on a beach across the street, waded through the turquoise water, and walked along the coast to another park, Geumneungseokmulwon. This was a really low-tech, but very cool site, mostly of stone sculptures—comical, grotesque and often lewd variations of the traditional harubang. Some were in a cool, narrow, stone-wall maze—not for the obese. There were fun mini-folk village recreations, too.

I took another bus to Jeju-si, where the airport and main bus terminal are, and transferred to another bus to Sangumburi, a huge (350m diameter, 100m deep, forested and super-green) volcanic crater, in the eastern-central part of the island. It’s a ‘parasitic cone,’ or secondary volcanic crater, and there are bunches on the island. All kinds of plants and animals thrive there (and some only there) in the undisturbed habitat. Stunning, although I was a little disappointed that I could only hike partway around the rim.

I went to get my bag from the locker room, but it was locked (they’d stopped admitting people but the site wasn’t closed yet), so I ultimately communicated to someone that I needed it opened. That mission was accomplished, but as I was heading for the bus stop (I’d asked and preplanned in Jeju-si as to how to get to my next destination), a man was trying to stop me and tell me something about the bus, which I thought was something along the lines of his cab would be much faster. Apparently, though, the info I’d gotten was wrong and the buses that passed through there stopped running at 6pm. I don’t think he even was a cabbie. Another guy with no more English than the first guy got involved, and I really couldn’t tell if they knew what they were talking about, if they were truly trying to help, or if they were somewhat less kindly intentioned (it’s never really a matter of personal safety in Korea, just a potentially annoying situation with some man who doesn’t get the hint that you aren’t interested). Eventually, a woman, at their arrangement, drove me to another bus stop, at which they’d determined I could get a bus that would get me where I wanted to go. How nice is that?

Of course, I got to the bus stop, and a taxi pulls up who wants to take me directly to my site of choice, so I basically say “Yeah, right, how much?” and he quoted a price that wasn’t all that bad but was more than I wanted to pay, so I said I’d wait for the bus. But he was convinced (or wanted to convince me?) that THAT bus was no longer running. Eventually, for some reason (I’m cute? He wanted to practice his English? He wasn’t gonna get another fare out there anyway?), he offered to take me for W6,000, which was probably only about double what I would have paid for the buses. So, he brought me to the front door of the minbak (rooms over restaurant) I wanted to stay in, and I got there in MUCH less time than I would have on the bus. AND he renewed my faith in Korean men :>)

I splurged on the W30,000 big room with a bed instead of the W20,000 tiny one with an ondol floor, asked the owner where I could get a good dinner of the local and renowned Jeju pork, and followed his directions. I was the only whitey there, and was seated next to three girls. I was perusing the Hangul-only menu, and had narrowed my choices down to two dishes, when one of them asked me if I needed help. She almost fell over when I pointed to the two and asked if the shabu-shabu (don’t know why they had a Japanese dish) or bulgogi would be a better choice. It turned out that the former was served only for two or more, so I had the bulgogi—okay, THAT was now the best meal I’d had in Korea. EXCELLENT. I ate WAY TOO MUCH, as I couldn’t bear to waste it, and it was SOOOOOOGOOOOD! The girls also showed me how to eat the mini crabs that were one of the side dishes (I’m not a crab fan, but it was something different, so I tried it).

I tried to walk some of it off afterwards along the coast (I was on the eastern end of the island now), in the dark, under the moon, atop the cliffs, with the Jeju ponies, in the salty breeze…yeah…doesn’t get much better than that. Had some exchanges with the locals on the way back to the minbak, and it was pretty clear, as it had been elsewhere on the island, that western foreigners are few and far between there—especially those who speak any hangul. They were most impressed (and I speak so very little…).

I settled into bed as early as I could, since the whole point of my coming to this place (Seongsan) was to see the sunrise from this easternmost mountain peak: Ilchulbong. It turned out to only be a 15-minute climb, which is fine at 4:30 am, but not enough to deter the types who have stayed up all night (vs. having the nice quiet sunrise experience…). So, we awaited the rosy-fingered dawning of the new day. The foggy darkness lightened. To foggy lightness. Couldn’t see a damn thing.

I finally had to accept that the experience I’d traveled to the remote town, gotten up early and climbed the mountain for wasn’t going to happen, and that waiting for it wasn’t going to change anything. So, I descended and explored the base of the gorgeous mountain in the morning mist to see what I could see, and then got on with my day. Which, of course, is the perfect metaphor for my coming to Korea for the job at EV… One need not see the sunrise to have deep thoughts at daybreak atop a mountain in strange lands. Jack Handy would be proud.

Back at the minbak, I showered and packed my things, most of which I left to pick up upon my return from a sidetrip to Udo (cow island), off the northeastern shore. It was about a 20-minute walk for a 10-minute ferry ride, and I rented a truly crappy bike, well rusted from the salt air, for a trip around the island’s perimeter. The fog detracted from the view, but the rain held off (it felt like the skies were going to open wide at any time) and I had most of the island to myself, it seemed. I hopped off for a few photos: a coral beach, a black-sand beach, endless stone-wall mazes, and the haenyeo (diving women, most well known and numerous on Jeju and Udo. They dive for shellfish with shockingly little gear, and are an ageing, soon-to-be dying, breed). I was surprised to see military guys on the island, too, but there they were.

The round trip was 2 hours of very easy cycling (didn’t need better than a crappy bike), after which I ferried back, picked up my stuff, and caught a bus (taxi drivers tried to convince me that there wasn’t one coming) to Manjanggul (he overshot my stop by a good kilometer, as one of the tires was in the process of falling off during my ride and he was busy radioing folks…and then I had a 2.5km walk, with all my stuff, to the site—but got a lift for the last km…exactly when it started raining), which is the world’s longest system of lava tube caves (13.4km—tourists can walk about 1km in). Pretty cool—literally chilly, as in a 30-degree(F) drop—and very impressive. It’s dark, drippy, and slippery, and I was glad of my mini flashlight, rainjacket and good shoes.

In the cave, the three girls next to whom I’d sat at dinner the night before, spotted me and we stopped for a fun howdydo of coincidence. We were going in opposite directions, though, so we went our own ways. When I emerged from the caves, the rain had stopped, and I had lunch (noodles, black bean sauce, side dishes) at a small restaurant before walking to the Gimnyeong Maze (as in European hedge-style) down the road. As I was leaving, it started raining the way it can here: hard. I ducked into the tourism office to cover myself and my bag, and had a quick English lesson with the gals behind the counter (they were trying to use the word ‘restroom’ for ‘lounge,’ which, of course, is logical).

I caught up to my three Korean girlfriends (they were University students in Seoul on vacation) by accident on the way to the maze, and we did it together, which was good silly fun. They were on more or less the same schedule I was, except that I had an extra two hours before my flight, so we shared a cab back to the airport and I hopped out early to see a couple of the sights in the main city, since I hadn’t seen them when I arrived.

In Jeju-si, I did a quick trip through the Jeju Folk and Natural History Museum (a quote at an exhibit about a fertility ritual ceremony: “It was a common wish for Cheju women to bare male children.”) and then a walk through the beautiful grounds of Samseonghyeol, Jeju’s most important shrine (supposedly the island’s birthplace). (also loved a quote about a site where “Confucian scholars soaked themselves for studying.”)

I walked over to Gwandeokjeong and the Mok Office, a 15th-century pavilion and administrative center. I didn’t have enough time to tour it, but it was partially under construction and looked a whole lot like other places I’d already seen, so I wasn’t heartbroken. I hailed a cab and was at the airport in 10 minutes for my flight an hour later. I windowshopped, bought some Jeju cactus (!) chocolates to share with my co-workers and a kimbap snack, and boarded the plane for the trip home. No problem catching the 2 buses back from the airport, was home by 10. A great action-packed trip!

There were several sites I was sorry to miss, and I was especially sad to not climb Hallasan, the mountain in the center of the island, and Korea’s tallest. It would have taken a whole day, though, and if it had rained it might have really sucked, and if it had been really foggy, the summit would have been disappointing, so I decided not to do it. Boohoo.

A side-note: I am really lucky to have learned to read the Hangul lettering, because a LOT of signs had no English lettering, and I would have missed stuff.

Another: One of the great things about Korea is that there are luggage lockers EVERYWHERE—train stations, tourist sites, etc, and there is virtually no crime—so you can travel with all your stuff between hotel checkout and checkin, and always be able to leave it somewhere convenient and safe. Covered bike racks are usually to found at these locations, too. Hooray!

The rest of that week was more or less uneventful, aside from the usual EV ridiculousness. I did have a meeting to discuss a theatre piece that several teachers are writing for a performance at Heyri, which was exciting because I was actually getting to use my creative skills…imagine that… I also missed an EV-wide game of Capture the Flag, which was clearly, from the enthusiastic hollering, and excellent time. But, hey, I was working on the Heyri project and I had to pack for my next trip—for which I was getting up at 5am. And that’ll be my next posting; I’ve gotta go run some auditions and then around the soccer field. Hey, hey, USA, USA all the way!