Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Jeju: Day 3

We spent the last day on the Northeastern side of the island. We first took the loong taxi ride to Seongsan Ilchulbong (aka Sunrise Peak because it's a popular place to watch the sun rise).
It was a very warm day. There were tons of tourists. We didn't know we had to hike up, but we were pretty prepared and got drinks and popsicles before we went up.
More than halfway up!
We saw all sorts of people walk up... women in heels, people of all ethnicities... and men in full suits! Was he contemplating life? haha
Up up up!
Almost there!
Waaaa~~~ pictures don't do the scenery justice! This place was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
We made it to the top of the crater!
We were so happy, we took a lot of pictures!
Great view!
How Seongsan Ilchulbong was created!Then we went to eat raw hairtail fish and abalone porridge - both Jeju specialties and both quite yummy.
The lady said that these were hairtail fish. Not too sure though...After lunch, we were at a loss at how to taxi to our next destination because all the cars and taxis in the areas were for large groups or were reserved. Luckily, this ajumma called us into her restaurant to eat. We declined because we had just ate and I guess she realized we were looking for a taxi so she helped call one for us, which was very kind.

In the taxi... I saw a few string fences (as I call them) with a bunch of flat squid drying. I thought it looked cute.
Then we visited a Lava Tube Cave - the largest in the world!
We got the taxi driver to wait an hour for us.
It was really hard to take pictures inside because it was so dark, but it was neat seeing Lava balls, lava shelves, lava benches, and lava tables haha.. almost like in a house!

We only had time to walk 1km one way, but we got to see this lava column at the end which was whoa... especially for a geo major like myself!
At the Folklore Museum of Natural History!
An OARFISH... soooo long and atrocious!
More giant marine animals...
The types of coral we touched while scuba diving
Then we went to watch the sun set at Sarabong Park!
They had tons of different things for us to play with on the way up. It really reminded me of my elementary school days!! Flip flip flip! Oh no.. lost a flip flop...
Nice public exercise equipment in the middle of a forest hahaThe elderly were walking slowly along this sidewalk with only socks on. I was wondering why... and then I stepped on them (barefoot). Ouch. They were little pebbles that jutted out! The different colours indicated the levels of difficulty - black being the hardest! I assume that these are supposed to be good for you...
Finally made it to the top! Even more exercise equipment and people of all ages playing around and exercising!Downtown JejuAnother highlight!After that, we were hungry so we tried to get the taxi to take us to Cafe Street which was where the lady at the tourist info counter recommended for good food. There was a misunderstanding and he just took us to the closest place with a ton of restaurants (and a little carnival happening) which would have been wonderful if we wanted Korean food. We ended up asking the conceirge and he directed us to Outback Steakhouse. It's an American-Australian chain. There's quite a few in Seoul, too, but I've never been. A very delicious meal (oh how I miss Western food) and a great last meal!!!! Salad and steak have never tasted so good!
I usually don't buy souvenir tees, but this one was cute and it's a souvenir of my scuba diving experience!.All of us got one!
Bye bye Jeju!

3 comments:

  1. I love the Jeju island pictures! And I love your blog! continue posting my fellow Canadian! he he

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  2. was part of kim sam soon filmed here!?!!???!

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  3. Marie: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy it =) Where abouts in Canada are you from??

    Cass: Yes! I don't remember that scene from KSS (I've watched too many dramas since), but you're right!

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