Jeju - Day Two

Hangin' with a Harubang.

(Quick note: The statue I am standing with above, is a widely known symbol from Jeju Island. This is a Harubang, or grandfather figure. They are carved out of the volcanic rock, and are protective figures. They are also linked with fertility and it is said if you rubs one nose, you will be brought a son.)


Saturday

After a beautiful nights sleep, I woke up ready to start the day and all we had in store for us. After a quick hotel breakfast our first stop was a bit of a cheap thrill. We drove to 'Mysterious Road'. Jeju is home to so many tacky and strange tourist attractions and this, on a very small scale could be considered one. We just drove to small section of road, shrouded in 'mystery'. If you put your car into neutral on what looks to be a down hill slope, it starts to roll.... uphill. Apparently taxi drivers do it for tourists too, but not so safe when people just stop in the middle of the road and throw on their hazards and just roll. Especially cause it;s just a small country road. We opted for the safer thrills and did it with a water bottle.

Next stop, Sangumburi Crater. Much more thrilling than the mysterious road.  We stopped their and had a nice leisure walk on the grounds. The sights were beautiful. We walked up the crater, and although looking  in the crater was nothing mind blowing, the sights in every other direction were beautiful. Here are a few shots from the crater.

Worldwide Korea Bloggers!

From the crater we headed to Kim Young-Gap Gallery. This was quaint little art gallery built in an old school house, near Hallasan (Korea's highest mountain). The artist was not a Jeju native but moved there after falling in love with it. His primary medium was photography, but even the grounds of the gallery itself looked like it was all part of his art work. Kim Young-Gap died of Multiple Sclerosis a few years back, but his memory lives on in each photograph hanging on the walls of his gallery.

Kim Young-Gap Gallery Dumoak

Inside the gallery.

The outdoors.

Next stop was lunch but it deserves a post all on its own. Click here to check it out.

Jeju - Day One

Where do I even begin this post?

At the beginning of 2011 I applied to become a "Worldwide Korea Blogger." I entered a contest run by KOCIS, part of Korea's Ministry of Culture and Information and I was one of the 50 people who were selected. During the past 8 months I have been writing for The Korea Blog. The idea behind this one project is to expose Korea from all different perspectives. We write about our experiences living here, our lives and how we are connected to Korea. The best part of all of this is I would've kept my blog in the exact same way even without any involvement with KOCIS. So everyhting I have experienced in connection with them has just been an added bonus. Back in April we had a welcoming ceremony at Cheung Wa Dae (check that blog entry out here), which is where President Lee Myung Bak lives. Since then we have had periodic, but seldom contact, aside from online.

Back in August, I got an email inviting me and 6 other bloggers on a "press trip" in Korea to thank us for our hard work and dedication to the blog. The main destination for our trip was Jeju-do, coined Korea's version of Hawaii. It felt a bit like getting a winning lottery ticket and my gut reaction was not to believe it. After a few more inquiring emails and contact with the others in the group, it looked like I was being sent away on an all inclusive 3 day trip in Korea. A-sa!!!

So about a month ago (i know, i know, i am so behind!), bags packed, I headed on the subway just after sunrise to meet with everyone at the head office of KOCIS in central Seoul. It was so exciting, and even leading up to the day I left- I was still questioning how I managed to be a part of this whole thing and then also to get a REWARD for it! There are so many stories from the 3 days we all spent together and hundreds of photos and a whole wack of cool places we went to and things we did. I think the best way to break it up is maybe by days. So Friday.....

Only 5 of the other bloggers met up at the office on Friday morning. I was there surprisingly bright eyed and bushy tailed after a 2 hour sunrise commute. Annie is a fellow blogger who actually had been flown in from London, England. She used to teach in Korea a few years back and now reports on the presence of Korea in London and her amazing love affair with all things Korean. Check out her blog here: www.kimchisoul.wordpress.com  Paul, Suzy and Eleanora were also there on Friday morning. Paul is from England and after meeting the lady of his dreams here, he has spent 11 years living in Seoul. He works in theatre and is a fountain of knowledge and answered so many of my questions both Korea and non-Korea related. This is his address: www.ajosshi.blogspot.com  Suzy is part of the team and she had to endure many of my questions too. She is a freelancer and an all around cool chick so I was drilling her any chance I could.  Her blog is www.seoulfullife.blogspot.com. Eleanora came to Korea from Uzbekistan 4 years ago, has graduated and now works for Samsung.  One of the great things about getting invloved with The Korea Blog was actually meeting so many other foreigners here who were NOT english teachers. I find it so fascinating to find out about other peoples walks of life and how we all ended up here. Ok, back to the trip....

Morning meeting with the Director of KOCIS Seo Kang-soo.
(photo courtesy of KOCIS)

At KOCIS, we had a quick meeting with the director to say our thanks and took some obligatory photos and off we were to the airport. We flew out of Gimpo airport which I had never been to before. It was tiny and simple and easy to get around. We flew an airline called Jin Air. It is one of those budget airlines with no bells or whistles. It was perfect for  our purpose. Jeju is on the other side of the country from Seoul, but Korea is so small that by the time we leveled out up in the sky, it was pretty much time to start the descent. The one unique, and a little strange, thing about Jin Air was the seating format. It was done with no preassigned seating but rather just on a first come first serve basis, interesting. Actually there was two things, their uniforms kind of sucked. They were in flourescent colours and looked more like elementary soccer coaches than flight attendants. But aside from that the flight was great. I sat with Eleanora and Annie and we giggled like school girls in eager anticipation of what we had in store.

And here we go!

Bloggers Eleanor & Annie

Seoul from the sky.

We had a Korean tour guide/translator waiting to meet us at the airport, and with her, the bloggers and the KOCIS crew, we were off. We stopped for a traditional Korean meal to fuel ourselves for a busy afternoon. The next stop was our hotel to check in and unload. With the mindset to keep my expectations low to avoid disappointment, I was under the assumption we would be room sharing. Well, our private tour bus pulled up to the Ocean View Hotel in Jeju City and boy were we in for a treat.  My room had 2 beds and a separate room full of bedding and no furniture for traditional Korean sleeping on the floor style. The room was gigantic and lovely. I was so shocked that each one of us got the same deal, no shared rooms, we all got to lap up the life of luxury!

Fueling up.

Me, Suzy, Leonora, Paul,  Annie. The Bloggers.

Ocean Suites Hotel

After check in, we headed to our first proper destination. We attended a briefing on the Jeju's campaign to be one of the New 7 Wonders of the world. We sat around a board room table and listened to Kim Seong Hu, the Head of the Task Force passionately tell us why Jeju should make the cut. I was sold before he evened opened his mouth. I spent a few days travelling around Jeju over Chuseok with my boyfriend (click here to read about my previous Jeju getaway), and fell in love with what I saw.  So it was great to listen to him and tell me more reasons why Jeju should win the vote. I have been updating and posting and tweeting all about voting for Jeju and it was just recently announced.... WE DID IT! Here is a link for more information on the 7 'provisional' wonders. www.new7wonders.com . A really nice perk to this visit was that we were actually made ambassadors to the committee, yet another thing here I am proud to be part of (and it will look great on my resume, right Anne-Marie?).

We left Seoul in blue skies and sunshine but unfortunately Jeju had other plans for us. It was an overcast day and the winds were blowing and our next item on the agenda was a walking tour, brrrr. Oddly, the weather was actually quite appropriate. Although I am a sunshine girl down to the bones, I had seen Jeju in the hot summer months so it was nice to catch this part of the island, walking along the seafront, with a moodier feel and more dramatic ambiance. The walk we took was nothing extraordinary but the sea air smelt great and it was another perfect opportunity to chat with those around me.

Due to the weather, we detoured a little from the itinerary but it was a welcome change. I had heard of and seen pictures of our next beautifully tacky and somewhat kitschy destination, but hadn't the chance to go there in person, The Teddy Bear Museum. What fun! There were hundreds of bears dressed up in different outfits depicting scenes of historical and cultural importance, pop culture references, or just plain cute stuff! There were so many different exhibits to check out and one was more entertaining than the next. Some of my favorites were the scene from Titanic, the Louis Vuitton bear (worth a mere 2 million dollars!), Gandi, Einstein, a Mona Lisa bear,  and a teddy bear version of one of my favorite paintings by Gustav Klimt, The Kiss. Here are just a few of them....

 

Teddy Bear Happiness!

Luckily just a few steps away from the museum was our dinner spot. We ate at Jungmun Beach in a huge restaurant called Kaokao Buffet. It was big, full of people, and there was a buffet large enough to feed an army. Being by the water and on an island, the tables were brimming with sushi and king crab and other wonders from the sea, mmmmm. We also made sure to have a few samples of Jeju's local drink, Hallisan soju. More fuel for the rest of the weekend.

Hallisan Soju

After dinner I was zonked and so excited to head back to our warm and comfortable rooms. I made myself a cup of tea, tucked under the fluffy and inviting duvet and was off to lalaland conjuring up how tomorrow would unfold. The first day was an epic success. A combination of a really good itinerary, a great group of people and a once in a lifetime opportunity!

CLICK HERE TO CARRY ON T0 DAY 2!

Korea in the Fall

Last weekend was cited as the peak time to check out the amazing array of fall colours here in Korea. Garry and  I booked a weekend away on a trip combining a bit of hiking and a good dose of cultural stuff to round it out. We headed south to Jeolla-do, one of the southern provinces in South Korea. We left Friday evening and spent the night camped in a min bak 민박 (Korean guest house) at the base of Naejangsan 내 장 산. The word Naejang  translates to "many secrets", and san means mountain. Naejangsan is an area renown through out the country as one of the best platforms to view the seasons changing. Although some of the leaves had already made their descent, it only highlighted how beautiful the scenery was making it was as if we were walking on a carpet of crimson leaves.

We were up and out of the min bak before sunrise to get a good start on the day. There are approximately 100,000 people a day visiting the mountain during the high season, and I can almost guarantee by midday on Saturday that number was probably reached and surpassed. The morning was cool and peaceful. We  took it easy and after a beautiful walk at the base of the mountain, we opted for the cable car part way up the mountain.

내 장 산  Naejangsan

Headed up the cable car.

From the cable car we wandered around for awhile and then headed up by foot the rest of the way. The hike was beautiful and started out easy; but it definitely had the 2 of us breaking out into a sweat on more than one occasion. During the night there was lots of rainfall so it made for a nice slippery slope. We managed to climb to the peak of the mountain with only a few others but by the time we started on our way down, it was packed full of people. Passing us going up, there was barely a break in the crowds. And as in everything else the Koreans do, it's go hard or go home- they mean business, and do it at a really quick pace. We had a leisure walk down and luckily the narrow path wasn't over run with people yet. We detoured and ended up at a beautiful Buddhist temple, with picturesque views every way your head turned.

At the base of Naejangsan

View from above.

At the top.

Koreans picnic'ing, as they love to do.

Temple on the mountain.

Lanterns at the temple.

Dried persimmons.

So Many People!

After a quick lunch we left the National Park going against a sea of thousands and thousands of people piling in. We were so lucky to have got a crack at it so early in the morning before the Koreans arrived en mass.

From Naejangsan, our next stop was another, not so spectacular temple. After the grandeur of where we had just come from, and the exhaustion in almost every muscle of my body,  Garry and I opted to view everything horizontally and parked ourselves on a bench for awhile.

Korean Folk Village

Korean Folk Village

Saturday evening we spent in a Korean Folk Village. We slept on the floor with 2 other people, in a traditional straw roof style building with ondol 온덜 heating (Korean heating done through the floors). During the freezing cold months I love ondol heating cause it is so toasty and warm, but this past weekend was almost 20 degrees and the temperature barely dropped during the night so we were like 4 little hot dogs slow roasting through the night. I usually like being hot but it was so bad that half way through night, with soju sweats from a night of drinking, I had to head to another house where the bathroom was dose my self with icy cold water just for a refresher. It was that hot.

We woke up to a little bit of rain on Sunday morning but just kept right on trekking. Breakfast was an amazing group effort. It was prepared outside one of the village huts and tasted delicious! We had had some time to wander around the beautiful folk village and it felt like we were in a Korea hundreds of years ago.

Dinner carnage from the night before.

An amazing Sunday morning breakfast spread in the fresh air.

Sundays plan was to check out green tea fields. The first stop was to a tea farm where we got to pick the tea and learn the whole process it goes through to be dried and heated and handled before packaging. The farm we went to is actually the first place to make gold tipped tea and sells their product for thousands and thousands of dollars. We got to sample the gold tea and it was delicious. Almost as good as my 2 dollar tea I buy from the store :) There is a market for everything.

Garry picking green tea.

Green tea fields.

Gold tipped green tea.

Drying the leaves at 300C.

Rolling the tea (I think).

The next stop on our tea tour was the Bo Sung 보송 tea fields. I have been to tea plantations in the highest peaks of the Himalayas but I have to admit, this place was impressive. The weather was overcast and it made the different shades of green in the hills look moody and beautiful. We climbed the hills and got to wander around and check out all there was to see. We also had a lunch break here. The food was great and the menu included green tea flavoured dishes of bibimbop 비빔 밮, black noodles 자장면 and donkatsu 던캍 수. For dessert we tried I think the best green tea ice cream I've ever had (okay, truth be told it may have been the only green tea ice cream I've ever had, but it was delicious).

Bo Sung 보송 green tea hills.

Yum-Yum-Pop. Best green tea ice cream.

We started the long journey back to Seoul late Sunday afternoon, and it was typically horrible traffic getting home. Traffic in a country with a bigger population than Canada crammed into a space only 1 tenth of the size of Ontario makes for a lot of ugly traffic jams. It was almost 11pm by the time we walked through our door but I would definitely do it all over again. Korea at this time of year is gorgeous and it was great to get out and see all the colours in their splendor.