Last Day in Jeju Do

We spent our last day in Jeju on the east side if the island.  Our first stop was a beautiful cove (Seopji Koji), where volcanic rock formations jut out into the ocean.  It was actually the most crowded place we visited on the island, but everyone seemed more interested in this little building to the land-side rather than the water views; apparently it's the site of a famous Korean drama.

Being Asia, of course, sunbrellas were out in force.

A little further up the coast we stopped at Seongsan Ilchulbong, the "sunrise mountain"--a volcanic crater (or "tuff cone", for volcanology enthusiasts) on a grassy peninsula.  We didn't decide until the last minute to climb it; we were both a bit stiff from the hike the day before, and not sure we wanted to be sweaty for the plane ride home.

Hike it we did, and we were glad for it.

We spent our last hours on the island driving back toward the airport, stopping to visit a folk arts center (really a big gift shop) and to take pictures of the volcanic rock walls in the fields along the road.

We had a really wonderful weekend.  It was so nice to get away, to take in some of Korea's natural beauty, and just to spend some quality time together.  We're already planning our next weekend vacation...

Jeju Do Day 2

We spent most of our second day in Jeju do hiking Mt. Halla, the major feature of the center of the island.  The hike was no joke, but the weather was awesome and the views were worth the work.

 

We had a late lunch at the bottom of the mountain after we came down, then decided to drive over to the northwest part of the island to visit Hallim Park, where we enjoyed viewing the flora...

 

 

...and fauna on display.

 We also tried the local cactus juice,

and stopped to pose by one of the "stone grandfathers" (hareubong) that are everywhere on the island.

We were pretty worn out from the hike and walk through the park, but we decided to stop by a beach on that side of the island to just dip our feet in.

Dinner was another local specialty--black pork (heuk taeji), which we enjoyed along with the sunset back on the southern side of the island.

Jeju Couples

Jeju Do is a popular destination for honeymooners, making it a prime location to observe a Korean cultural phenomenon--matching couples.

We did not partake in this custom.

Jeju Do Day 1

We had such a great weekend last weekend in Jeju Do.  We just happened to find cheap tickets and decided to go at the last minute, and were so glad we did.  Our trip started with a late lunch after our flight--we just walked into the first restaurant we saw.  The jigae and soondubu were pretty good, but what impressed us the most was the friendliness of the restaurant owners.  We were the only patrons, so they sat down and chatted with us for a bit, then shared some of the fruit they were eating while we were waiting for our meals.  I'm not sure what kind of fruit it was, but I really appreciated the gesture.

As we were leaving one of the owner's friends asked if we wanted to see Seogwipo, the main city on the southern coast.  We told him we were staying there; he gave us his card and told us to give him a call after 5 p.m. and he could show us around.  Incredible!

We checked in at our hotel, which was on the budget end but which ended up being fantastic, and spend the afternoon and evening walking around the harbor area.  There were a couple of parks and two waterfalls in the area.

We caught a beautiful sunset on the tip of a volcanic crater by the harbor.

Dinner was seafood (much of it raw).

 

More to come about days 2 and 3...

Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Beautiful

More on our Jeju Do trip to come.

New Job

Day one of my new job last week went well.  I'm in the same office, but at a different desk, and doing a different job.  We're a pretty small shop--just a Lieutenant Commander, two junior enlisted sailors, and myself.  But we work closely with our ROK (Republic of Korea) counterparts--the Korean Navy officers in the corresponding analytical shop.  As he was walking out the door on Monday, the Lieutenant Commander causually mentioned that I should bring PT clothes, and be prepared to get drunk the next day.  "Uh, Sir?" was my response.  "Oh, our ROKs are taking us on a hike and out for a welcome dinner, which usually involves drinking."

Oh.

So I came to work early (so I'd have time to finish up before we left at 3:30), armed with tennis shoes and sunblock.  It only took us 30-45 minutes to hike up to Namsan Tower--a trip that had taken us 45 minutes by taxi the one time Mike and I had been up there.  The scenery was great, and I enjoyed chatting with the ROK officers.

Dinner was grilled pork and budae jigae ("base" stew) at a great local hole in the wall.  Turns out I only had a mini-glass of beer with dinner, although my poor Korean almost got me into trouble; at one point the ROK Commander asked, I thought, if I ate a lot--I replied, "oh yes, I eat a lot.  I love Korean food!"  To which he looked a bit confused.  Turns out he'd actually asked if I drink a lot.  I cleared that up as quickly as I could.

I'm looking forward to working with the new group!

Photo Link

If you didn't get enough of the camping photos, I posted 140 of the decent ones at jeananne32.shutterfly.com.