So, a few weeks ago the girls and I took the one hour flight from Cheong-ju to Jeju-do to make the most of our 3-day weekend. Jeju island, for those who are unfamiliar is known as the 'Hawai' of South Korea. The timing of our flights meant we had three nights but only two full days. Therefore we were determined to make the most of it!
We arrived on Friday night. We landed at seven-thirty in the evening, took the ten minute taxi ride to our hostel, dropped off our bags and were out in the main eating and drinking area of Jeju city by nine o'clock. We settled for some Korean barbecue as we were pretty peckish and Korean barbecue is always the right choice. I had also been told by co-teachers that we MUST try the black samgyup-sal, as Jeju was famous for it! (Samgyup-sal is a popular barbecue meat in Korea, it's basically Pork Belly.) The black samgyup-sal is unique to Jeju-do. The meat comes from a small black furry pig and is thought to be more delicious than the regular stuff. I liked it! We also washed it down with some Hallasan Soju - which we realized was much stronger than the regular stuff in the green bottles that we are used to.
After dinner, we wandered down the street for a few minutes and found a lively cocktail bar. We had a girly evening of cocktails and drinking games. It would have been so easy to get carried away and rock up at the hostel at 4am, but knowing we only had two days and an early start we called it a night at 1am. Only once we got back to the hostel and realized the people we were sharing a room with were fast asleep did we realize how tipsy we were. Tiptoeing around in the dark trying to get ready for bed is always a recipe for disaster. Friday nights escapades consisted of Justine falling backwards from the top bunk bed, with her massive bag flying backwards with her, her landing on the floor pretending to be asleep and the poor girl on the bed underneath her sitting bolt upright with fear. Holding in my laughter was painful and brought me to tears.
The next morning we shuffled out of bed at seven-thirty. After quick showers, homemade scrambled eggs and orange juice we were good to go. We took the public bus to the east coast of the island. We thought the drivers would be a lot more calm on this beautiful island. Turns out it's just the same as the mainland. After an hour and a half of flying over speed bumps we finally arrived at Seongsan! We dropped our bags off at our hotel and set out to climb IlChulBong (Sunrise Peak). Looking at it we felt like it was going to take an hour or so to reach the top, but it turns out it takes less than twenty minutes. Deceiving. The weather was beautiful.
We took some pictures at the top came back down and searched for some lunch. We came across the fastest speaking American woman in the world who recommended "the burger joint on the corner" which we knew was Lotteria (Korea's Mcdonalds, nothing fancy). Eventually we found a cute little sandwich/coffee shop.
After lunch, it was time for Emma's choice of activity - Manjanggul cave. Stalagmites and stalactites made of lava. For me this was a little bit of higher geography revision (the one higher I failed and didn't even achieve a D).
After the caves we took the thirty minute walk back to the bus stop and attempted to find a nice beach to sit on for the last two hours of sunlight. We found one, but the tide was in, so we decided to walk to the lighthouse and watch the sunset. We had to abandon these plans as two massive guard dogs chased us away from the peer! One of the most terrifying moments of my life!
After the sunset we took the bus back to the hotel. Assuming we would head out for something to eat at about nine-thirty but we were all in bed by eight-thirty and that's where we stayed until seven-thirty the next morning. Losers. I think the sun really took it out of us.
The next morning we got up early and headed for the ferry to U-do island. After the quick fifteen minute ferry ride we rented some bikes out and set out in search for breakfast and pretty beaches. A five minute cycle down the road we found a little house where we discovered some delicious burgers (yes, burgers for breakfast don't judge) and Anne of Green gables. The house was designed to look like Anne's and the upstairs was like a creepy museum dedicated to the Canadian novel. We ate our burgers whilst being watched by hundreds of creepy looking Anne dolls.
After breakfast we set out on a cycle around the island. We spent a few hours cycling and stopping to take in the views and chill on one of the beaches. It was fun and the exercise was definitely needed after the monster burgers we ate for breakfast.
We took the ferry back to the main island of Jeju mid afternoon and then took the bus back to Jeju city. We freshened up at our hostel, played with their adorable kitten and then headed out for our final night on the island. We decided to go for some italian food, followed by gelato and some end of night cocktails. It was a fairly tame evening. The most crazy part of the night is when the girls allowed some (probably underage) korean boys abduct me for the purpose of taking a picture. They did not get a picture in the end. I was having none of it, but Emma and Justine stood back and found it hilarious.
After a decent nights sleep, we took the ten minute taxi ride to the airport, checked in and flew back in time for school that day. It was a lovely weekend, I only wish we had more time to visit Seogwipo on the south of the island.
Kirsty x
Kirsty x