Jeju Island is quite humid and the hotel even has warning
about mosquitos. They call it the Hawaii of Korea. Flowers are blooming everywhere and there is
always a jasmine scent waffling in the air.
Jeju is famous for its tangerines and we can see why. They are huge and are hanging all over on the
trees everywhere. In fact, we soon find
out that the waffling jasmine scent is from the tangerine flowers.
We decided to spend our first day exploring the western side
of the island. Our first stop is Yakcheonsa,
advertised as the largest temple in Asia!
The buildings in Seogwipo quickly fade away and we are greeted by green
space once again. Yakcheonsa is indeed
BIG. The building is massive. This temple was started by one monk and his
family. They even have room & board
for pilgrims and tourists to do temple stay.
Our next stop is Jusangjeolli which is a geological attraction featuring hexagonal basalt columns by the shore.
The basalt columns were formed when lava started to cool down and form
hexagonal crystals. These columns are
similar to the Giant Causeway in Northern Ireland.
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| The massive Buddha temple Yakcheonsa |
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| Festival of Lanterns |
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| This deity is believed to protect the local people on the island |
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| Jusangjeolli - hexagonal lava crystal structures |
Near Jusangjeolli is the town of Jungmun which is populated
with all kinds of mega resorts. One
hotel complex is even built in the form of the kazar structure in
Timbuktu. This reminds me of Las Vagas
where you can see Egyptian pyramids, statue of Liberty, and Eiffel Tower,
etc., We drove next to Sanbansan, a
massive and imposing cliff formed by the flow of very viscous lava. An ancient grotto temple can be reached by
climbing up several hundred steps. This
affords us a wonderful view of the entire shoreline. Following the trail to the shore leads us to
a replica of the Dutch ship Hendrick Hamel which ran aground in the 1500s and
the crews were detained by the emperor.
Their diaries became the earliest record of Korean society from a
foreigner’s point of view. Eventually,
they escaped back home via Japan.
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| Impressive cliff at Sanbangsan |
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| Sanbangsan |
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| On the way up to the Grotto Temple |
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| The Grotto Temple on Sanbangsan |
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| View looking down the coast from Sanbangsan |
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| Replica of the Dutch ship |
Next to the ship replica is the entrance to the very scenic coastal trail around the cliff base Yongmeori. Here the sedimentary structure of the cliffs has been eroded by unrelentless wave actions into beautiful and awesome curves and shapes. Here, at the base of the cliff, we also saw the first of many makeshift eateries for locally caught seafood like sea snails, sea cumcumbers, and octopus.
For lunch, we headed to the nearest village and picked a BBQ restaurant to try the famous Jeju black pig. We ordered the pork belly and spare rib as well as a cold buckwheat noodle dish. They are all so so good, especially grilling on real charcoals! The owner’s wife started to give us a hand on how to do BBQ properly when she saw we obviously have no clue on what to do. The cold noodles came served in a bowl of shaved ice! Here we also had our first taste of the Korean rice beer, makgeolli. It tastes really good and super cheap. Only 1500W (CAD 1.80) for a 950 ml bottle! It soon dawned on us that we had ordered way too much food (and we skipped dinner).
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| Along the Yongmeori coastal hike |
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| Makeshift seafood eatery at the base of the cliff |
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| Short climb back up to the cliff top |
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| Delicious and famous Jeju Black Pig belly BBQ |
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| Real charcoal BBQ adds to the favour |
We drove along the SW side of the island until we hit Hallim
before we turned inland to visit the Osulloc Tea plantation. I was expecting a beautiful idyllic scenic
tea plantation like what we saw in Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, the tea plants here are very tiny and low, and the
horizon is punctuated by factory and other buildings. Worst, the price here is outrageous. A tiny 100g of tea costs over 50 USD! Nevertheless, the fancy presentation and
polished packaging pay off big time as the throng of tourists just kept
snapping up everything on sight!
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| Osulloc Tea Plantation |
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