I have done a lot of sightseeing since the last time. I've come to realize that even if I lived here for 10 years I would never see every tourist trap and legitimate attraction. There are too many to count (especially for someone who was never any good at math!). I still haven't been over to the neighbors yet...it's a dinosaur theme park, but I have been to loads of other places! To list a few Manjanggul (basically pronounced Man-jungle [it failed to live up to that name]), numerous beaches (some with better sand than others), I've lost count how many mountains (but at least 2), Ollea 7, and Seogwipo (we in the north call it The Soggy). And just getting to those places required that we drive past so many other awesome destinations!! I do plan on visiting as many of them as I can while I'm here, but for now you'll get to hear about the ones that I've been to.
The first stop on today's tour: Manjunggal or Manjung Caves. These caves are actually some of the finest lava tubes in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. A group of us (about a dozen in the herd [which is an interesting sight for the locals to see; practically better than a parade]) picked a great day to go. It was raining steadily the whole day so we figured what better day to go and see some caves! Which was well planned; less well planned was the decision to walk from the bus stop to the caves (a distance of approximately too far [fine it was a kilometer or two]). We could have caught a taxi for cheon won (1,000 won [~ $1]), but we decided to hoof it. It all turned out okay for three reasons: 1) We found Maze Land, a tourist trap that does live up to it's name. Even better, Maze land was heavily populated but cats that were friendly, playful, and cute. 2). I got to see my second tropical snake! Unfortunately (mostly for the snake), it was pancaked in the road, but interesting nevertheless. 3) I saw a giant, gorgeous butterfly. I said 'Oh look! Butterfly!' and the next thing I hear is a massive thud. Apparently Danny, our Scot friend here (who won't eat it if it still has eyes [ruling out about half of the Korean menu]), was afraid of/startled by the butterfly and he fell flat on his ass in the middle of the road. Which made the day totally worth it, even if the caves were a bust. We got there, pretty well tired and wet, and paid admission (1000 won [~$1] -- interestingly I fell into the "youth"category. If I had been over 24 then I would have had to pay a whole 2000 won!). Then, we descended into the bowels of the caves, and they were pretty cool...for the first 200 yards or so.
Even if the ceilings were really awesome (which they were), you couldn't really look at them because the floor was so ridiculously difficult to traverse. Unlike most everywhere else, the floors here were natural and unpaved. Don't look at your feet at your own risk!
This was pretty cool though. Korean style Excalibur! I don't know why, when, who, or how, but it's still pretty cool and I'm increasingly sure that few people notice it (mostly because of the floors). It was about here too when my wonderful friend Tammy decided to mention that the cave is inhabited by some nightmare called Huntsman Spiders. Noting good was ever named Huntsman without reason. We never saw any, but I had the hee-bee-gee-bees the rest of our time there.
Okay, this was pretty cool too, even if I couldn't get a clear picture of it. It called a lava ... float? Rock types help me out. Anyhow, it just sits there and they call it Turtle Rock. People like it because it is shaped exactly like Jeju Island. Pretty interesting.
At the end of about a kilometer of hiking through these caves you reach this cavern opening. There was a bat flying around there and it was lit pretty well, but my camera wasn't having a good day. There was a pretty big stalactite chilling there too. After you got to this point you had to turn around, march back through the tunnel and up the stairs that reminded me of those that lead to the top of Aztec sacrificial temples. And then we were back in the rain. We decided to pay the taximen for a ride back to the bus after we had a quick kimbop snack.
The caves weren't a total bust, and I'm glad I went. Mostly because now I can say that I've done it and I don't have to go back. If you like rocks, more power to you, but now you've seen the highlight reel, so go to the beach instead.
Speaking of beaches... Hamdeok Beach beats Gwakji Beach by a lot in terms of my personal preference. Hamdeok has real sand! Gwakji has teeny tiny pieces of broken shell that stick to your flesh for days! Hamdeok has a great hiking trail attached to the mountain next door!
I mean, just look at the color of that water! For me it's Hamdeok hands down. Here's some Gwakji pictures so you can attempt to decide for yourself.
I will say that we say what were probably dolphins at Gwakji, which was really awesome. And Gwakji has a restaurant that serves the best fish and chips on the island. Okay so Gwakji is still pretty awesome (especially since we were last there almost all day last Wednesday), but it does still have weird sand.
The nest day, Thursday, September 18th, was the Korean Holiday of Chuseok (Chew-Sock). It's basically like our Thanksgiving, except they're thanking their ancestors through food ceremonies and we just eat the food. There's all sorts of information out there if you're more curious about the traditions. Some people were invited to celebrate with their co-teachers. Unfortunately, my co-teacher's daughter got really sick and most of his family lives on the mainland, so they didn't do much in the way of celebrating and I wasn't invited to the not-a-party. Anyhow, instead, I went with a group to Seogwipo to meet up with the people we know who live there. Basically, there are two cities on Jeju: Jeju City on the north side (where I am) and Seogwipo on the south side. Soggy is more touristy and resort-y, buy it still has a small town feel. Before we found the others, I found my new best friend:
Isn't she just the cutest little thing!! She was just a puppy and still had all her sharp, pointy baby teeth. She even smelled like puppy! I just wanted nothing more than to take her home with me. This is actually among the more common breeds here on Jeju. To me they're somewhat lab-like mixed with something like an Akita. And absolutely gorgeous. It was then I realized that if I stay here too long I'm going to ave to get one of these. Or two. I think that's what I miss most about home: my dogs.
Anyhow, moving on. We met up with the gang (we now numbered somewhere on the plus side of 15 [perhaps the biggest group of foreigners ever seen on Jeju {not really}]). We found our way to a gorgeous waterfall. Apparently it's the only one that is freshwater that falls directly into the ocean. All I know is that there were a ton of people admiring it that day, even if it was a national holiday.
Then we wandered around for a bit. Saw some random goats. Crossed a gorgeous bridge. Watched teh sun set. And while the others went for dinner, Vasim and I caught the bus home, hit the best Turkish restaurant in Korea, and went home.
The next morning I was back on my way into the Soggy for another adventure. This time Jim and I were going to hike the number 7 Ollea. The Ollea is a series of hiking trails that go allll the way around the island. 7 is said to be among the most beautiful. Once we found it, it was! We got off the bus at the World Cup stadium, asked some strangers for directions (they all turned out to be tourists for the most part as well), got lost, eventually walked down a long hill to the ocean, and found the Ollea. After half-an-hour or so we actually ran into some of our apartment mates who had started walking at some ridiculously early hour that Jim and I refused to comply with. The 7 mostly follows the ocean, which makes for both amazing views and huge cliffs that you have to walk up. I guess we should have taken into consideration the heat and bizarrely vicious sun before starting a hike around 12:30. Hindsight's 20-20. I survived. And I felt even better after some ice cream. Jim and I eventually fell well behind the other group (their pace setters were IronMan marathoners). We lost them before we got to the end so while they went cliff diving, we decided to catch a bus back home (Jim for food and me to recover from my brush with sun stroke).
As if that hike wasn't enough, the next day I was at it again. Matt and I decided to go into town and visit Sarabong Park and Sara Oreum. We left the bus terminal at 3 and walked to the park (an hour long hike in which we consulted the map numerous times and still got a little lost [only a little]). Along the way he introduced me to a chocolate art joint and I had this miracle sample:
That, my friends, is strawberry flavored chocolate. And if that wasn't delicious enough, there are pop rocks embedded in it. Pop rocks. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Pretty much a life changer right there. Now I just have to find that place again...
When we got to the park we went into this little monastery. I love the traditional architecture here so I took loads of pictures. Here's a few:
After the monastery, we went right up Sarabong Mountain. It's small compared to others, but the view from the top was amazing!
He was a really great guy! And his English was superb for someone his age, usually the elderly don't speak any at all. He was a police chief here on Jeju for a long time. And an 8th level judo artist. He's 86 years old and climbs to that park every morning and evening. He gave Matt and I the Spanish Inquisition on every detail of our lives. For me, his favorite questions revolved around marriage. Are you married? Why not? When? To who? How many kids? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. He didn't seem to believe me when I told him I was only 23 (in Korea you add a year because they count the time that you are in the womb as 1 year [no, I don't know why, but they do]). I even broke out my Korean skills for him. "Why no husband?" "Nam-pyeon bu-dam-su-ro-wo." Basically, husbands are burdensome. He got a good laugh out of that and bought coffee for Mat and I. Which was really sweet of him, but I still don't like coffee (and that which comes out of a vending machine in a public park is particularly foul). After a bit more chatter, Matt and I went to the top of the mountain. And the view from there was even better (and there was all sorts of the strange exercise equipment that the Koreans like there), but it was still far too early to catch the sunset. So we followed a nice little path...the led us half way down the mountain and right into the waiting laps of two of Jehovah's Witnesses. They were very friendly, asking where we were from, handing us a brochure, and sending us back up the mountain. We waved at the friendly Grandfather as we passed. This time we made it to the top just in time for sunset.
It's hard to realize how big and sprawling Jeju City is until you're well above it. From this position we could watch the planes flying out of the international airport every 5 minutes, like clockwork. We stayed until the mosquitoes sent us running home. This time we caught a bus back to the station. We went out for dinner at a traditional Korean soup restaurant. Matt was talking it to the sky and when we got there I realized that it was the same place that my co-teacher took me on day one of school. And, again, it was delicious.
The next day was Sunday, the last day of vacation. And I had a whole new experience. A first time for me. I went to church. It certainly was interesting. We show up and I have boiling hot tea accidentally spilled on me (and of course we were sitting in the front row). Then there's lots of prayers and songs followed by a sermon. The people were all very friendly, and all very passionate, but I don't think organized religion is my cup of tea. I respect their religions and all that, but I just prefer my way of doing things. I don't need someone to read scriptures and translate them for me. Frankly, it doesn't catch my interest; I spent most of the time wondering what the pastor's sources were (beyond the Bible). It was a great way to meet new people, but not something I plan on waking up early on Sunday's for. We went to lunch of the people we met at the church. Which was probably the highlight of the day.
Monday was back to school and back to the grindstone. It was good to be back. I actually missed the noisy, messy monsters. This week was easy. 40 minutes in teh cage with the 2nd graders (we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See to learn animals, colors, and sounds [which they already knew]). Tuesday was two 40 minute sessions with 5h grade classes. It was fun. They love me. It's always good to hear them come in and leave happy and excited to learn Enlgish (even if they just want to play games and get chocolate [I swear if the phrase "Teacher, chocolate!" was on any standardized test ever, my kids would ace it!]). Highlight of the day: During a pass the ball game, one smarty pants decides it'd be funny to hand to ball to me and my co-teacher. First time funny, second time cute, third time I whip the ping pong ball at him and bounce it off his back. The other kids loved it! They also seemed to like the background music: Nyan cat. After almost an hour of stop and go Nyan I am officially over it. I choose poorly. I've made the executive decision that Hancheon is my favorite place to be here. It's like a second home away from my second home. Today was 5 classes of 4th graders at my secondary school. The powerpoint game I had prepared wouldn't work, so it was a good thing I had a backup just in case. Kids love Mario. And the kids will kill to win absolutely nothing.
That's all the important (?) things I have to say for today. As a postnote I've decided to include a bit of Korean culture (in the form of Kpop) at the end of each of thee (unless I forget to). Kpop has been my guilty secret for a while, but now I'm letting the cat out of the bag. Hi everyone, my name is Kate I've I've been listening to Kpop for three years. It's helped me get interested in the Korean culture as well as helped me learn some of the language. And it's catchy. I've memorized *a lot* of lyrics that I have absolutely no clue what they mean.
So for tonight: I have these two videos to share (if you want to watch them).
This one is a new group called VIXX. The song is "Hyde" like Jekyll and Hyde. I really love this song of theirs. I've included the dance practice rather than the actual music video. In this one you can see the dynamics between Jekyll (the boys in black and the one with red sleeves) and Hyde (in white). Basically the lyrics say that there's a stranger inside them that they don't recognize and the dance fits it perfectly. Catch the actual music video on Youtube if you'd like to see that as well. I shared this one because you can see a lot more of the technicalities rather than the costumes and fan cams.
Second, I just found this one the other day and it's been on replay since then. It's Teen Top's "Rocking". Again a fairly new group to the scene (and I don't much care for a lot of what they've produced thus far), but this one is oddly addiction and they're dance skills have improved a lot. Here is the dance version of the music video, which is way better and far less dramatic. I realize that the dance skill/style may not be that impressive to dancers, but it's their synchronization that I find impressive.
Enjoy and Annyeong!
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