Jeju-si
Jeju-si is the largest city on Jeju, and is located in the center of the north part of the island.
I landed at Jeju Airport about 11:15am, and got a map and a bus schedule from the tourist information booth. Then I caught a bus to the Jeju-si local bus terminal. Why it's called the local bus terminal is beyond me. Buses leave from there for every part of the island, which is as far as one could go on a bus, unless it was equipped for flying, sailing, or driving underwater. Anyway, the motel I wanted to try was conveniently near the terminal, and I had little trouble finding it and getting a room. You can be sure I checked the room much more carefully before taking it, though! Arriving a day early meant that I had six days on Jeju, but I only paid for two nights, as I wanted to keep my options open. After assuring myself that the bedding smelled fine, I took off for some sight-seeing.
First on my list was the Jeju National Museum. I went to the bus terminal, but not with the intention of taking a bus. There are often a lot of taxis around bus terminals, so it was one of these that I was aiming for. I got in one and asked to go to the "kook-leep jeju bak-mool-gwan". He seemed to understand, and proceeded to take me to the Jeju Folk and Natural History Museum. Now I ask you, does the above sound anything like "meen-sook jah-yahn-saw bak-mool-gwan"? Even assuming I said it wrong, "kook-leep jeju" and "meen-sook jah-yahn-saw" aren't even close.
In any case, I was planning on going to the Jeju Folk and Natural History Museum next anyway, so I just went with the flow and toured it first. The first display was of preserved fish and marine critters that had been caught around Jeju. One was a *huge* shark, which it turns out has no teeth and eats plankton like whales do. Others included a devil's ray, which was enormous -- much bigger than a manta ray or sting ray. There were some other impressive species, followed by a display of the various kinds of volcanic rock, and of all the various species that live all over Jeju. Then came the "folk" part, with displays of the way of life in Jeju's history, including a full-scale fishing boat. It was a pretty cool museum.
Afterward, I decided to just walk to the other museum, as no taxis were near, and it wasn't that far. The Jeju National Museum is in an interesting building that reminded me a bit of mushrooms. It's not all that big, but it was also interesting. I actually went through it backwards, at first because I didn't realize, but then decided to go with it. I'd gone through the National Museum of Korea in the "correct" order, with the result that I'd been almost too tired to appreciate the gorgeous celadon pottery near the end, so why not go through this one backwards? It wasn't nearly as big, of course, but most of the interesting stuff was at the end, so I got to see it first.
Once I left the museum, I wandered around the grounds for a bit. Korean museums always seem to have gorgeous landscaping around them. So I wandered down to a pond, and under some trees, and it was all very pretty.
Then I headed back to the main street, and hailed a taxi. Fortunately, this driver understood "gwan-duck-jung" just fine, and took me right where I wanted to go, a gorgeous pavilion and the nearby "mok" office (the official government seat in Jeju during the Joseon dynasty). One attraction of the pavilion is that it has an original "dolharubang" in front of it. Dolharubang means "stone grandfather". These dolharubang are sort of a symbol of Jeju. They are statues carved out of the volcanic rock, which are men wearing hats, with bulging eyes, and hands on their bellies. These statues have been there since pre-historic times, so no one knows exactly what they are or why they were made, but they think they were protective figures. Some are about normal human size, some are larger or smaller. The largest is nearly 9 feet tall. So I took many pictures of the pavilion and the dolharubang, and then paid and toured the Mok Office. It contains a number of buildings, but the most interesting story is about a pond. One official, concerned about the danger of fire, had the pond made so that there would be extra water available. The king, however, hated the sound of the frogs in the pond so much that he had it filled back in. So there was a saying in Jeju that was "...like King thus-and-so hates frogs". A later king restored the pond, and added a small island in the center. Now it contains goldfish, and to judge by what I saw, kids love to feed them.
After I left the Mok Office, I tried to figure out the buses so I could take a bus back to the terminal, but it was too confusing, and I wound up walking all the way back, which was quite a long way. I stopped for something to eat, and then retired to the hotel for the evening.
The next day, I went down to the terminal to try to catch the bus to a trail on Hallasan, the main (though dormant) volcano on Jeju, but I didn't get it figured out in time, and just missed the bus. So I re-grouped, and decided to go to other sites I was interested in. I caught a bus that runs clockwise around the island to the other side, and the schedule said it went to the entrance of Manjanggul Caves (lava tube caves). I thought because the bus traveled so far (half-way around the island), it would be an express bus that only made a few stops, especially as the bus schedule that I had only listed two stops between the terminal and Manjanggul. Boy was I wrong! It was just like a city bus, stopping about every kilometer or less to let people off or take on new passengers. It took forever to get to the Manjanggul stop. Then I discovered that the place it drops you is more than 4 km from the actual caves, so I had quite a walk to get to them.
I was quite hot by the time I arrived at the caves, only to find that because of all the recent rain, the cave was only open 500 meters, instead of the 1.7 km that you can normally see. Due to this, the entrance fee was waived, so I got to go in for free, but only 500 meters, and it wasn't that impressive. The part I could see from where the barrier blocked the rest looked like it might actually be getting interesting, but the part I could actually see was pretty boring, not nearly as cool as limestone caves. One good thing, though, is that it was about the temperature of a refrigerator down there, so I certainly cooled off after my walk.
When I left the caves, I headed for a hedge maze that was nearby, which in fact I had passed on the way to the caves. I tried the basic "take every right turn" method, and simply found myself back at the entrance, without ever having gotten close to the center. Fortunately, they give you a map of the maze when you go in. Were it not for that, I would probably never have made it to the center, and even with it, it took a lot of careful comparing the map to my current location to stay on track. I did eventually make it, however.
Then I walked the trek back to the bus stop, and returned to the Jeju-si terminal. The one thing I still wanted to do near Jeju-si was visit Mokseokwon, a "stone and wood" sculpture park south of town. After walking around quite a bit, I found the bus stop for the bus that was supposed to go to Mokseokwon, according to the schedule. It didn't. It seems that the bus schedule had recently changed, and the one I had didn't reflect it. After quite a bit of frustration, I finally wound up taking a taxi, and wishing I'd done that in the first place. Anyway, however difficult it was to get there, it was well worth it. Everything in it is made from stones or wood (mostly tree roots) exactly as they were found (no sculpting involved), but placed just so, or connected just so, so they made interesting shapes, or shapes that resembled something else. It was definitely a quirky sort of place, and I loved it all. I took lots of pictures, so you'll get to share them eventually. I spent an hour wandering around there, and then it was 6:30 and it was closing, so I caught a bus headed back towards the terminal.
I got off early, though, so I could walk a bit and look for a place to eat dinner. I selected a Japanese restaurant, and it was really amazing. I ordered what was listed as fried rice with eggs on the menu, and then ate and ate and ate as they brought item after item...battered, deep fried sweet potatoes; kim chee; cabbage salad; a sort of pasta salad; something I couldn't identify (but tasted good); two kinds of soup; and finally, the actual fried rice, which turned out not to have hens' eggs, as I expected, but fish eggs. Though quite spicy, it was also very tasty. Unfortunately, by the time it came, I'd already eaten so much I couldn't do it justice. Then they brought delicious sweet cinnamon tea. The whole thing only cost 10,000W.
I toddled out, very stuffed full, stopped to buy water and stuff for breakfast, and headed for the hotel for the night.
Because most of the things I still wanted to see on Jeju were in the south part of the island, I decided to spend the remainder of my time on Jeju in Seogwipo, the city on the south side of the island. So the next morning I packed up and took a bus to Seogwipo.
I landed at Jeju Airport about 11:15am, and got a map and a bus schedule from the tourist information booth. Then I caught a bus to the Jeju-si local bus terminal. Why it's called the local bus terminal is beyond me. Buses leave from there for every part of the island, which is as far as one could go on a bus, unless it was equipped for flying, sailing, or driving underwater. Anyway, the motel I wanted to try was conveniently near the terminal, and I had little trouble finding it and getting a room. You can be sure I checked the room much more carefully before taking it, though! Arriving a day early meant that I had six days on Jeju, but I only paid for two nights, as I wanted to keep my options open. After assuring myself that the bedding smelled fine, I took off for some sight-seeing.
First on my list was the Jeju National Museum. I went to the bus terminal, but not with the intention of taking a bus. There are often a lot of taxis around bus terminals, so it was one of these that I was aiming for. I got in one and asked to go to the "kook-leep jeju bak-mool-gwan". He seemed to understand, and proceeded to take me to the Jeju Folk and Natural History Museum. Now I ask you, does the above sound anything like "meen-sook jah-yahn-saw bak-mool-gwan"? Even assuming I said it wrong, "kook-leep jeju" and "meen-sook jah-yahn-saw" aren't even close.
In any case, I was planning on going to the Jeju Folk and Natural History Museum next anyway, so I just went with the flow and toured it first. The first display was of preserved fish and marine critters that had been caught around Jeju. One was a *huge* shark, which it turns out has no teeth and eats plankton like whales do. Others included a devil's ray, which was enormous -- much bigger than a manta ray or sting ray. There were some other impressive species, followed by a display of the various kinds of volcanic rock, and of all the various species that live all over Jeju. Then came the "folk" part, with displays of the way of life in Jeju's history, including a full-scale fishing boat. It was a pretty cool museum.
Afterward, I decided to just walk to the other museum, as no taxis were near, and it wasn't that far. The Jeju National Museum is in an interesting building that reminded me a bit of mushrooms. It's not all that big, but it was also interesting. I actually went through it backwards, at first because I didn't realize, but then decided to go with it. I'd gone through the National Museum of Korea in the "correct" order, with the result that I'd been almost too tired to appreciate the gorgeous celadon pottery near the end, so why not go through this one backwards? It wasn't nearly as big, of course, but most of the interesting stuff was at the end, so I got to see it first.
Once I left the museum, I wandered around the grounds for a bit. Korean museums always seem to have gorgeous landscaping around them. So I wandered down to a pond, and under some trees, and it was all very pretty.
Then I headed back to the main street, and hailed a taxi. Fortunately, this driver understood "gwan-duck-jung" just fine, and took me right where I wanted to go, a gorgeous pavilion and the nearby "mok" office (the official government seat in Jeju during the Joseon dynasty). One attraction of the pavilion is that it has an original "dolharubang" in front of it. Dolharubang means "stone grandfather". These dolharubang are sort of a symbol of Jeju. They are statues carved out of the volcanic rock, which are men wearing hats, with bulging eyes, and hands on their bellies. These statues have been there since pre-historic times, so no one knows exactly what they are or why they were made, but they think they were protective figures. Some are about normal human size, some are larger or smaller. The largest is nearly 9 feet tall. So I took many pictures of the pavilion and the dolharubang, and then paid and toured the Mok Office. It contains a number of buildings, but the most interesting story is about a pond. One official, concerned about the danger of fire, had the pond made so that there would be extra water available. The king, however, hated the sound of the frogs in the pond so much that he had it filled back in. So there was a saying in Jeju that was "...like King thus-and-so hates frogs". A later king restored the pond, and added a small island in the center. Now it contains goldfish, and to judge by what I saw, kids love to feed them.
After I left the Mok Office, I tried to figure out the buses so I could take a bus back to the terminal, but it was too confusing, and I wound up walking all the way back, which was quite a long way. I stopped for something to eat, and then retired to the hotel for the evening.
The next day, I went down to the terminal to try to catch the bus to a trail on Hallasan, the main (though dormant) volcano on Jeju, but I didn't get it figured out in time, and just missed the bus. So I re-grouped, and decided to go to other sites I was interested in. I caught a bus that runs clockwise around the island to the other side, and the schedule said it went to the entrance of Manjanggul Caves (lava tube caves). I thought because the bus traveled so far (half-way around the island), it would be an express bus that only made a few stops, especially as the bus schedule that I had only listed two stops between the terminal and Manjanggul. Boy was I wrong! It was just like a city bus, stopping about every kilometer or less to let people off or take on new passengers. It took forever to get to the Manjanggul stop. Then I discovered that the place it drops you is more than 4 km from the actual caves, so I had quite a walk to get to them.
I was quite hot by the time I arrived at the caves, only to find that because of all the recent rain, the cave was only open 500 meters, instead of the 1.7 km that you can normally see. Due to this, the entrance fee was waived, so I got to go in for free, but only 500 meters, and it wasn't that impressive. The part I could see from where the barrier blocked the rest looked like it might actually be getting interesting, but the part I could actually see was pretty boring, not nearly as cool as limestone caves. One good thing, though, is that it was about the temperature of a refrigerator down there, so I certainly cooled off after my walk.
When I left the caves, I headed for a hedge maze that was nearby, which in fact I had passed on the way to the caves. I tried the basic "take every right turn" method, and simply found myself back at the entrance, without ever having gotten close to the center. Fortunately, they give you a map of the maze when you go in. Were it not for that, I would probably never have made it to the center, and even with it, it took a lot of careful comparing the map to my current location to stay on track. I did eventually make it, however.
Then I walked the trek back to the bus stop, and returned to the Jeju-si terminal. The one thing I still wanted to do near Jeju-si was visit Mokseokwon, a "stone and wood" sculpture park south of town. After walking around quite a bit, I found the bus stop for the bus that was supposed to go to Mokseokwon, according to the schedule. It didn't. It seems that the bus schedule had recently changed, and the one I had didn't reflect it. After quite a bit of frustration, I finally wound up taking a taxi, and wishing I'd done that in the first place. Anyway, however difficult it was to get there, it was well worth it. Everything in it is made from stones or wood (mostly tree roots) exactly as they were found (no sculpting involved), but placed just so, or connected just so, so they made interesting shapes, or shapes that resembled something else. It was definitely a quirky sort of place, and I loved it all. I took lots of pictures, so you'll get to share them eventually. I spent an hour wandering around there, and then it was 6:30 and it was closing, so I caught a bus headed back towards the terminal.
I got off early, though, so I could walk a bit and look for a place to eat dinner. I selected a Japanese restaurant, and it was really amazing. I ordered what was listed as fried rice with eggs on the menu, and then ate and ate and ate as they brought item after item...battered, deep fried sweet potatoes; kim chee; cabbage salad; a sort of pasta salad; something I couldn't identify (but tasted good); two kinds of soup; and finally, the actual fried rice, which turned out not to have hens' eggs, as I expected, but fish eggs. Though quite spicy, it was also very tasty. Unfortunately, by the time it came, I'd already eaten so much I couldn't do it justice. Then they brought delicious sweet cinnamon tea. The whole thing only cost 10,000W.
I toddled out, very stuffed full, stopped to buy water and stuff for breakfast, and headed for the hotel for the night.
Because most of the things I still wanted to see on Jeju were in the south part of the island, I decided to spend the remainder of my time on Jeju in Seogwipo, the city on the south side of the island. So the next morning I packed up and took a bus to Seogwipo.