Jeju Island - Part 1

So, we hop on a plane to Jeju island.  It's only an hour flight, so Hannah handled it like a champ.  Jeju island is just south of the mainland, and it is sub-tropical.  It is an island that was completely created by a volcano, so you see volcanic rock everywhere.  It sort of has a Hawaii vibe, but it's still Korean culture, so they have the bali bali (rush rush) mind of thinking.
 
The first thing we do is rent a car, because you really can't do anything without a car here.  The transit system is small and a lot of the neat locations are remote.  So, we rent a crappy car again (Some Daewoo that looks like a Chevy Spark) and start heading up Halla mountain.  Along the way is beautiful hilly landscape with grass, trees and flowers. 

We only get about halfway to take pictures, because to hike the actual mountain takes a very long time, and we really can't spend all day on a mountain with a baby. We are sort of near the top, so the mountain doesn't look that big, but it actually is the largest mountain in South Korea.

We then head down the other side of the mountain and get to the south side of the island.  The island is quite bigger than I thought it was.  It took almost 2 hours to go North/South.  On the South side we check out Jusangjeolli which is a rock formation formed by lava.  What makes this special is that the lava was crystalized in the water making these rad columns that you see in this picture. 

After visiting this natural phenomenon, we go to the go-kart track.  Something that's pretty much the opposite. This was a lot of fun, but sorta dangerous.  These karts are super fast, and there is zero safety gear.  I already paid online, so I decide to give it a go.  Some of the adolescent kids around me were drifting and whatnot.  I didn't do that crap, I just did the normal apex turning I learned from video games. They often spun out, so I actually did quite well.

Weeeeeeee!

After this, we eat, then take I take a tylenol, because I have a huge headache from racing.  We then make our way to Cheonjiyeon waterfalls.  The falls are 72 ft high and sometimes display different amount of streams depending on rainfall from the mountain.  There is a pathway lit up all along the way and the falls themselves are lit, which makes for great nightime shots. 

Here is the pathway made with this beautiful volcanic rock stones:

By this time it's getting late, so we check into our condo (they call them pension here, no idea why) and get some sleep.  We then wake up the next day, travel very far with our car, then get aboard a ferry, then get on this floating dock.  Why are we doing this?  We are going for a submarine ride!  Yay!

Actually, it was kinda scary.  I think our submarine driver was drunk and often smashed into the reef.  I do not know if this is normal, but it certainly was not comforting.  Anyways, fear was put aside quickly because there was some beautiful sights under sea.

Fishy Fishy

  

Scuba Scuba.

Reefy reefy

After that amazing experience, we head for some lunch.  We opted for some spicy pork noodles and they did not disappoint.

Porky porky (Okay I'm done now)

  Next, we hike up Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak).

Wait, that picture doesn't give scope on exactly what we are doing... here's a helicopter shot (that someone else took).



As you can guess... yup, this used to be a volcano.  About 5000 years ago, lava erupted from the sea and it eventually ended up making this 182 metre cone.  At the top, there is lots of grass and trees.  It's surprising how green it is.  To think this just used to be black rock and somehow plants thrive here.  There are actually rare plants on this volcano that are only found here.  It is a UNESCO heritage site.

So naturally, I'm going to climb this sucker (Sohee and Hannah only made it halfway).  It's not a super long hike, maybe 30-40 minutes, but I'm in flip flops naturally.  This is the Metzler style.  Hiking boots are for pansies.  Anyways... I finally get there... Before I look into the cone, I turn around, and I see something astonishing.  Not only is it a spectacular view.  This part of the island is where this mini volcano over flowed, creating some interesting land shapes:

Don't jump.

 Inside the cone, the camera doesn't quite capture how rad this was in real life.  Firstly, it doesn't all fit in the lens.  Also, the grass seems to be cut, but it is untouched.  The shape is concave, almost like a valley. There is also a nice cool breeze, which I needed because it's very hot and humid (perfect hiking weather *sarcasm*).

Timing is everything.  If this was 5000 years ago, I'd be lava.

Now, I gotta hike down. I see a few people with water and cold green tea, reminding me that I don't need such luxury items. Just flip flops and the clothes I wore yesterday.  It's a long hike down, but going down is easier than going up.  It'd be super fun to toboggan (to your death).

Sup?  Come here often?

On the way down, I meet Sohee and Hannah halfway and we hike down a little further to the bay that is located on the side of the volcano.  Here, there are famous women divers of jeju putting on a show.  They don't use scuba gear (other than a mask).  They are able to hold their breath for 3 minutes (or more) while collecting shellfish and seaweed.  They train from the age of 12.

Unfortunately, this practice is dying out because there isn't much interest from the younger generation.

Mermaids.

Just to give some reference on the bay, it's actually pretty beautiful:

After this, we hop in our tini car and head to Pheonix island. This is basically a resort but there is a really nice park attached with some nice walkways and a great view of the ocean.  Near the entrance, there is this stone henge like rock thing that they built.  It doesn't have any real significance, it's just for show:

An earthquake would really suck right about now.

There is also this really nice pond with fountains and lily pads n' stuff.

No Frogs.

Now, there are two ways to go, one is a dirt path nature trail, and the other is a smooth man made brick pathway. Most would choose the nature trail, as we did, but with a stroller, it sucked.  It kept getting stuck and we had to end up carrying the stroller and the baby until it met up with the brick path again.

Also, this was the only interesting shot:

I don't know what I'm doing.

After finally getting to the main pathway, we make our way to the ocean pathway, which has some amazing views of the ocean:

Also, there are some horses.  They are tied up so they will not go wild and jump off the cliff or attack the people.

Vicious horse with her foal.

The trail goes really far, as you can see on the left here.  There are also a ton of people so we decided to only go halfway and then check out some other things.

I'm super glad we decided to keep going for a bit, we suddenly spotted a huge pod (not sure if that's the right word) of dolphins.  It's really hard to tell from this picture, but there must have been at least 50 of them.  It was really awesome:

DOLPHIN!!! (Sohee says loudly)

They were jumping in the air and playing with each other, but of course we could never time it right with the camera.  Just close your eyes and imagine it. Dolphins everywhere.  Anyways, the point is dolphins are cool.

I should wrap up Part 1 here as the laptop is burning my legs.  I'll leave you with another family photo as we leave Phoenix Island:

Jebudo island and Ocean World

At the suggestion of one of Mihi's friends, we all decide to head out to Jebudo, which is about an 1 and 1/2 outside of Seoul.  First we stop at a restaurant for a great seafood meal.  As per Korean culture, it comes with an insane amount of side dishes, so there are many things to try and many combinations you can experience.

More plates and bowls than a table should allow.

Next up we travel to the actual island.  This place is crazy because of the tide.  They call it the miracle of moses or something because the tide literally parts the sea and you can walk/drive to the island.  So, when the tide is low, you can travel on this road that is about 3km long.  Everything around it is wet, so it's pretty crazy.  At a certain time, the tide gets high and you get stuck on the island because the road gets flooded.  Like a moron, I didn't get a picture of the road, but here's a side view of how big this tide is.

Sea of sandy mud.

Now that we are on the island, we first head to the lighthouse on the pier.

Think of your own clever caption here:_________ .

The light house isn't anything too special, but the pier is insanely high with some great views of the ocean.  You can also rent fishing poles and fish for your next meal.  Our friend here is trying to flirt with the girl fishing.

She seems more interested in fish.

Next we hit up the beach.  It's a really weird beach to be honest.  The sand could be nice, but because there are all these shell fish, you can't really walk around barefoot because you'll cut your self on a broken shell.  Also, there is no water during the day!  That's right, the tide takes it right out.  There is just endless kilometres of sandy mud.  You might be asking yourself, "Why then Jaret, is this beach so popular?".  Ah, because of shellfish (clams, osters, mussels).  You can go out and search for fresh shellfish and BBQ your lunch/supper right there on the beach or at home.  If you stay longer than we did, you can see the insanity of the tide coming in at a rapid pace, like a flood.  Just look how crazy this is:

Literally a goldmine of shellfish.  (Minus the gold).

 There are also some huge rock formation that you can visit because the tide is low.  I'm told that falcons lived there, but I didn't see any birds.

It's just a rock!

We then start to travel back to Seoul, but not before stopping at one of the most incredible Korean BBQ restaurant I have ever experienced.  Firstly, it's really in the middle of nowhere, and it's on a farm.  So, all the vegetables are grown there and the meat is local.  The freshness makes a huge difference.  Also, the ambience is really nice because it's mostly outside:

It's packed, so you know it's good.

They also have a butcher that cuts the goodness right up for you:

Marble Steak

As per Korean BBQ, you cook it yourself to your liking.  Mihi's friend was a wizard at cooking this stuff, so he cooked it for our entire group (11 of us counting kids).  It gets chopped into pieces, cooked medium rare, then you dip it in sauce, then dip in salt and pepper, wrap it in lettuce with rice.  It was perfect to be honest.  Here's the money shot:

If you are not cooking over a real fire, you are a horrible cook.

 We then decided to go back to one of the Mihi's friends house to play go/stop.  This is a Korean card game played with hwatu cards (flower cards with chinese characters).  I have no idea how to play, but it involves betting, slamming down cards, and swearing.

ehhshhhhh! (Korean swear)

 Sounds like fun, but today is not a day to learn to play.  I was given a Filipino beer to sip whilst I watched the chaos.

Beer; better than Go-Stop card game

Next up, we go to Ocean world.  Yeah yeah, old news... I have been here before, and I've blogged about it 4 years ago, but I had such a blast last time I had to go again.

Entrance to fun

 We also wanted Hannah to experience some water fun:

Enormous bucket of water.  I went under this trying to stay still and not react, but it is impossible.

 But she is still too little for a lot of the fun stuff.  For instance... She didn't seem to like the kids wave pool. 

It's bigger than my bathtub!

 Outside section, a lot had changed (for the better). There was this whole new section that was just a lake before:

Island of new fun stuff.  "DYNAMIC ZONE!"

On this island part, there is this rad ride. It was scary, but so much fun... It is also safe if you don't jump out.

Halfpipe tubing

I also hit up the "big" wave pool again, but it was sorta lame this time around.  Last time the waves were over 2 metres high, but I suppose they likely tamed it down because of lawsuits.  Lawyers (sorry Mark) suck the fun and recklessness out of everything.

Hooray for smaller waves!

You catch some serious speed on these rides.  I had to go down these slides 3 times because Sohee didn't have the camera setup properly (or missed a shot).  It was fun, but it chaffed my buttocks in the landing area making a "CHA CHA CHA CHA" sound.  I know you all wanted to know that.

Moments before the CHA CHA CHA CHA.

On that note, I think I'll wrap it up, but I'll clean your thoughts right now with a nice family photo of us just waking up:

Busan - Part 2

The next day is beautiful and sunny. But we are far from the beach. Nonetheless, we trek to the Busan tower, which is a tower built on a little mountain. We rejoice in the fact that we don't need to hike up this little mountain. It has 4 long escalators (not even kidding).

Busan Towahh!

At the summit (or whatever you want to call it), there are plenty of little sites to see. The first thing you see is the new years bell. Which is used to bring in the new year (correct me if I'm wrong). It is of course housed in a beautiful traditional building that is a staple of Korea.

Perhaps the greatest bell I have ever seen.

Buddha's birthday was coming up so everything was decorated in preparation for the event. All these folk displays were set up. They were made out of a thin paper-like material and I'm guessing that they light up at night. Would have been cool to see, but we had limited time here, and crowds are not super fun when you have a stroller to push around.

There was also a little love seat where you can take a picture with your loved ones. On the fence were a bunch of locks that had love messages on them. You can't take them off the fence. It is a symbol that you are locked together forever (unless you know the combination :P ).

Love my family :)

After paying $5, we go up the tower and are treated with some crazy nice views of the city:

Oh my... next day, we hike up that mountain in the background.

Crazy roof building is the fish market.

Hannah doesn't seem to know where she is or what's going on. We certainly are troll parents because we take her to all these awesome places and she'll never remember them. At least we have pictures :)

After the tower stuff, we check out the music museum that is next door. It had instruments that were native to Korea and there were a lot foreign instruments as well. What was cool about the museum is that on the second floor, every single instrument is available for you to play.

Next, we meet our friend Jin Hwan, and go to another temple called Beomeosa. This is one of the biggest urban temples in Korea. By the entrance, they have a ton of lanterns set up Buddha's birthday. Makes for a nice shot.

There are a ton of these buildings around the area, as at one point in history, over a 1000 monks stayed here.

Ma girls.

There are also a lot of these beautifully crafted things (I can't articulate very well):

The water here is special. Folklore says it comes from a golden well and the water never runs out. I have to agree as it ran the whole time I was there. It was also delicious.

After going home for a little rest, we meet up our friend SangMi to go to a baseball game. The game is like nothing else I have ever seen. It is one big party. You can bring in your own food and drinks, so everyone is bringing in their own case of beer and making pyramids with the empty cans. Every hit, strikeout, homerun, etc the crowd goes insane as if a championship was just won. Literally everyone is dancing, singing songs, etc.

I'm going to attempt to post a video here to try so you can experience some of the craziness:

Near the end of the game, the whole crowd does the "rally" caps thing, but they use orange plastic bags.

When a pitcher comes in relief, he is delivered in a Mini Cooper Convertible.

The bullpen pitchers are lazy.

The next day, we go to Taejongdae park. It is a nature trail with temples, observatories, and it also has a lighthouse. It is a long walk. About 6km, most of that is uphill in flip flops. Here we go again...

Map of our ridiculous hike.

The observatory is neat. It has a few restaurants and a great view of the ocean.

Random isle all lonesome.

Walking down a bit further, there is a neato lighthouse. We had to do a fair hike down the side of the mountain to get here, but it's pretty neato site.

After this fun, we go back to the hotel to pick up our bags and prepare to leave Busan. Not before hitting up a sushi restaurant first. You always gotta have sushi in a city near the ocean. This is one of the best sushi places I have ever been to. It has 2 sushi trains. One slow one that has all regular menu food, and a fast "bullet" train that the chefs send out for specialty orders.

Mouth is watering just thinking about this meal again.

Well, that's it for Busan... ah wait! Just about to leave, but then we remember the famous korean pancake (podaek) that a street vendor is selling nearby. What's special about this is that there are various nuts inside the brown sugar gooeyness. If you are ever in Busan, you need to find this. And eat it.

OMNOMNOMNOM!!