Vacationing on Jeju Island

For our first week off, we decided to travel down to Jeju Island to check it out. It was originally where we were offered contracts to teach, but we thought we would be too far from everything, so we turned them down. After visiting there, we are basically regretting that decision. Jeju is absolutely beautiful. It is called the Hawaii of Korea. Its where many honeymooners go from the mainland.

Although most people fly to Jeju, we wanted to take the ferry so we could really check out the country. We took the KTX down to Mokpo, 2 hours, and found a cheap motel. Ok...NEVER go to Mokpo. There isn't a bar around! We spent 1 hour looking for something to eat, eventually found a pizza place, and then spent another good hour looking for a bar - found this dingy place that we are pretty sure women are not supposed to go to, but whatever...they had beer - so we went.

The ferry leaves 2x a day to go to Jeju. So we took the 9am ferry. Although we were stupid and booked second class seats...we weren't sure how it was going to be and we wanted to make sure we wouldn't be stuck sitting without seats in economy. Stupid move, but learning experience. Basically second class seats are just oversized seats in a room staring at a wall- weird. Who wants to sit on a 4 1/2 hour ferry ride in a chair? Downstairs though there was a convenience store (same prices as the mainland - they don't try to rob you as American convenience stores would) and a restaurant. You could also go up top and sit at picnic tables, which is where we ended up spending the entire journey. We had a blast! It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. We ended up hanging out with all the English speakers (a total of 3 other people; Simon, Troy, and Dan) the entire time. We all sat outside and played cards and drank plenty of beer. What a great time! Yep - so when we arrived in Jeju we were all wasted...smart move. :)

We booked a hotel online before leaving because we weren't sure if it would be hard to find one, but we only booked one night because we weren't sure where we wanted to go. The cab driver knew exactly where we were staying, so that was nice. Our hotel was awesome - we had a shower curtain AND carpet!! Geez...the things we take for granted. The bed was excellent - comfy with soft pillows...things NOT usually found in Korea. So we were in heaven. Since we were already wasted we decided to head over to the beach to relax and continue drinking. Simon, from the ferry, joined us - he was backpacking around Jeju, lives in Seoul and is from England. That night we went out and partied in Jeju City - needless to say, we were quite hungover the next morning, which is part of the reason why we spend $5 on a cab ride to a McDonald's about 20 minutes away. :)

When we got up the next day we decided to head over to Jungmun beach, which we heard is amazing and beautiful. We took the bus (not fun when hungover) across the island (40 min bus ride) to the beach. We found this awesome place to stay for only $50 a night!!! Once again...another comfy bed and this place even had a kitchen! Very nice for Korea. We hung out on the beach that day and drank some more; also met Rebecca, from Utah - teaches in Seoul. We met up with Simon again as he had taken the bus down there earlier that morning. In Jungmun is where we saw our first Dolharubangs. They symbolize protection and/or fertility Gods, which is basically an oxymoron. They are funny statues you can see all over the island, which we loved to take pictures of. Jungmun was another location without bars...so the four of us (Simon, Rebecca, and us) went to the grocery store and bought beer, sat outside on our patio and drank. (Are you starting to wonder if we are alcoholics?) It rained and was windy while we were at the beach, so nothing very exciting to report. It was pretty and we would definitely go back though.

Since we woke up the next day to another rainy day, we decided to head to the other side of the island in hopes of better weather. We took an hour bus ride to Seongsan Ilchulbong, otherwise known as Sunrise Peak, which is a dormat volcano. So we climbed up about 1000 stairs to the top - it was amazing and beautiful, but 1000 stairs - straight up! Our quads were screaming and considering we hadn't worked out in 6 weeks...we really needed the exercise. And that was basically our first tourist attraction - go us! It only took us 5 weeks in this country to do something touristy. :) We know...you Mom's and Dad's - that's all you would have been doing, but we prefer to immerse ourselves in the lifestyle (drinking) over here. hahaha (P.S. Simon came to meet up with us here too).

The next day we decided to head back early because we need to book our trip to Beijing. So we took the night time ferry back (at 4:50pm). For the day though we went to this absolutely amazing beach called Hamdeok. It had crystal clear water and was basically empty. Simon came to meet up with us again after he went and did some of the caves on the island.

Then we eventually left Simon (he was going hiking the next day) and headed back on the ferry. We missed the KTX train by 10minutes, so we had to take the slow train...so instead of a 2 hour train ride, it took us 3 hours - arriving back around 2:30am. Long day!!

So now we are back to work and so glad its not intensives. We work about 18 hours a week from around 5pm - 10pm - what a great schedule! We actually joined the gym and are beginning to get into a regular routine. Also, Greg, our new co-worker from Philadelphia showed up and we are showing him the ropes (or attempting too since we still don't know anything).

Next weekend...off to Beijing! We'll keep you posted.