Jeju-do: part one

The last weekend in September/first weekend in October was Chuseok.  Chuseok is the harvest holiday, and one of the two biggest holidays in Korea, along with Lunar New Year.  We had Monday-Wednesday off, so we went to Jeju-do.  Jeju-do is an island off the south coast of Korea.  Jeju-do was formed when a volcano erupted about two million years ago.  We had to book our tickets six months ago, because Korea is a small country with a large population, and Chuseok is a big holiday.

We flew out Saturday night, and stayed at a hotel in Jeju city the first night.  The hotel was surprisingly nice, for only $45.  Very clean, a computer with internet in our room, big screen TV, bathrobes, a water cooler.  Then the next morning we needed to get to the rental car place, which is at the airport.  We asked the guy to call us a taxi, and he offered to drive us himself.  He gave us some seongpyeon to eat while we waited for some other guests who were coming in the car as well.  Seongpyeon is a traditional Korean dessert.  Here's the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songpyeon  That explains well what it is.  The texture is really chewy, like...half-cooked bread dough.  And they fill it with this sweet bean paste, which Koreans love to hide in things that look delicious from the outside.  Kids love seongpyeon, it's the one thing they talk about when I ask about Chuseok, and we made it in kindergarten a couple weeks ago.  I understand that different cultures have different tastes and food preferences, but I don't buy that those kids wouldn't drop seongpyeon for a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie, if given the chance.  Anyway, where was I....

So we got a ride to the car rental place, and picked up our car.  The plan was to drive around the island, camp Sunday and Monday night, then head back to Jeju city, and fly out Wednesday morning.  The whole trip went incredibly smoothly.  We were expecting traveling during Chuseok to be chaotic, but it wasn't a problem.  And there were a lot of tourists on Jeju, but it wasn't overwhelming.  The coast of Jeju is really beautiful.  Big rocky cliffs and crashing waves.

Temple on a mountain overlooking the ocean

View from the temple

Yongmeori coast walk.  These women gather seafood and sell it, raw, right there. 

The first day we did a walk along Yongmeori coast.  It was really beautiful, and the rock formations were interesting.  Because the whole island was created by a volcano, the rocks there are really cool.  Koreans tend to be pretty safety-obsessed.  When we go hiking, if there is a tiny stream, with water no deeper than your knees, swimming is forbidden and they have a life ring there in case someone falls in.  Most hikes enforce cut-off times for when you can start, and some will screen your footwear to make sure it's appropriate.  We get frustrated sometimes because we think we should be able to make our own safety choices.  But the Yongmeori coast walk, where they actually probably should have had some precautions in place, had nothing.  There were waves crashing on the rocks, and no life rings, no chains to hold onto.  It was very odd.  

Then we saw a beautiful waterfall. 

Then we saw these crazy hexagonal rocks.  This kind of lava just forms like that when it cools and hardens.  Like rock candy.  There's a more scientific explanation, but I don't really care enough to learn it.   

There are palm trees on Jeju-do!  It really is a beautiful tropical island. 

And one more waterfall before we head to camp:

That night at camp we made friends with a family of a dad and four sons who were camped next to us.  People always try to make friends with us.  Koreans are very friendly (once you get out of the city) and I think are curious about foreigners, because there aren't very many foreigners in Korea.  Also, I think that they are much more likely to approach a couple than a group of people, or a single-sex pair.  I think they feel more comfortable talking to us.  This time, it was funny because first the dad came over with his youngest son, and the two of them barely spoke English at all.  The dad managed to be very charming, though.  Then after a few minutes he called the other sons over, and they came bearing snacks and the ability to speak English.  We had a fire going, so we gave the boys sticks to poke the fire with, and talked to them for a while.  

This post is longer than I was expecting and I only got through one day.  I'll do the rest of the trip in another post. 

My birthday

Sunday, September 23rd was my birthday.  We decided to celebrate on Saturday.  Brady and I went to a Korean Folk Village near us.  We had been meaning to go for a while, but the summer was so hot we didn't want to stand around outside all day.  It was a beautiful fall day when we went.  The village is created to mimic what life was like for Koreans hundreds of years ago.  

They have performances throughout the day, so we saw a traditional farmer's dance, and a very old man on a tightrope.  Both performances were very impressive, and exceeded our expectations. 

After the folk village we went to Songtan.  Songtan is the town the U.S. military base is located in.  There are a lot of restaurants with international food there, and more interesting bars than we're used to.  We went to a bar that had a porch outside and drank martinis.  I like martinis, but haven't had one since we've been in Korea.  We started talking to the people at the table next to us.  They are from South Africa, and working here as English teachers as well.  The two guys told us that their first language is a click language.  I think that's what they spoke at home, but they must have learned English very early on as well.  That was the first time I've met someone who speaks a click language, as far as I know.  

After martinis we tried to go to a Thai restaurant we had heard about, but it was out of business, so we got burritos.  The next day our co-worker, Pamela, was having a birthday brunch, because her birthday is a week before mine.  So we went to that, and there were a lot of people there.  It was nice.  And that's the story of my birthday.