This past weekend Sam, Kathryne, Graeme, Steph and I headed south to Korea's number one tourist destination, Jeju island.
Jeju is located 300 km or so to the south of the mainland and enjoys a tropical climate all year round. The island was formed much like the Hawaiian chain of islands in that at the centre of the island is a massive shield volcano that had erupted millions of years ago and as the hot lava came into contact with the cool water it hardened around it. Now dormant the volcano, Mount Halla, is a popular tourist attraction.
I met the Changwon crew at the airport on Saturday before flying down to Jeju. The flight was only 35 minutes which was fortunate because we all had a desire to get to the island and get our vacation underway. Once off the plane we found a rental dealership and picked up our very own Hyundai Avante. A word of advice for those of you thinking about visiting Jeju-do in the near future- rent a car. The island is far to big to put your faith in public transit. Once we were on the road we had gotten a little turned around in Jeju city mostly because Sam was trying to give directions based on the position of the sun relative to the island and not the road or GPS. We knew we wanted to head west along the coast for sunset and thankfully Sam's tracking skills came through and we found a nice little black rock beach to enjoy the sunset. After sunset we attempted to find our way to the hostel that we would be staying at in Seogwipo. We made it to the hostel by 11 o'clock and the guy at the counter had given away two of our rooms to some German tourists so everyone except me had the pleasure of staying in a roach infested dirt ball hotel down the road for the night. All that aside, after checking in we grabbed some beers and headed down to a beautiful waterfall not far from where we were staying. As they were closing up for the night we were greeted by an old man whom we thought worked at the park and was there to escort us out. Naturally we followed the guy as all the lights begun to shut off but as we exited the park the man disappeared into the darkness on the wrong side of the parking lot. Creepy, I know. After the waterfall expedition we headed to a log cabin style restaurant for some dankas and drinks. Afterward we all went back to our respective motels and went to sleep.
The next morning we got up early so that we could climb Mount Halla (the volcano) and still have enough time to hit a beach or get some other activities done. After driving halfway up the mountain through twisting swaths of rain forest and tourists we got to base camp. As we hiked up the mountain the terrain and ecosystems changed drastically. We hiked through tropical rain forests for a good while before entering an area of stunted growth and shrubs. This persisted for a while before we passed through the clouds and found ourselves on a plateau that was not unlike a tundra completely isolated from the rest of the world. It was here that I saw a pair of Ru-deer, (sort of like Canadian deer except smaller) the first wild animals I have seen in Korea. This tundra was the closest we would get to the summit because much to our despair we were not permitted to climb to the volcano crater. So instead we ate some snacks and took naps in the long grass, taking in all the majesty of the isolated mountain top. The entire trip up and down took about six hours. After we got back to the bottom we decided to go check out some lava tubes. These tubes were a series of massive underground tunnels that at one point had hot magma and lava flowing through them and were instrumental to the development and growth of the island. We were able to walk through a 1 km stretch of the tunnel that was dark, wet, creepy and awesome. It was a tunnel that Bruce Wayne himself would be jealous of and it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. Upon exiting the tunnel Sam and Kathryne found a sort of standing see-saw to play on. It was all fun and games until Kathryne stepped off the back of it as Sam was jumping and caught the plank right on her shins practically immobilizing her for the remainder of the evening. Afterward we spent the better part of the evening going to various theme parks and checking out some of the other local sights including a magnetic hill. At the bottom of the hill we put our car into neutral and let it roll upward, it was crazy! So crazy in fact that I decided to jump out of the car and chase it while Sam drove. Steph being the crazy English girl she is decided to follow suit except instead of jumping out of the car she merely fell out and onto the ground while the car rolled away up the hill. After all this excitement we headed to VIPS for a western buffet dinner and than back to the hostel to get some sleep. The next morning we woke up and headed home ready to work that afternoon. And that was my trip to Jeju-do.