New Crown Hotel Jeju Jeju City

... for a short break from the wind. Justin was desperate for some hot chocolate, and even offered to trade me for a cup, but nobody took him up on it. So, we were happy to be on
the way down, but after we took a quick break for some ramen and kimbop at the Unesco station again,
it started to rain and the torrents just got worse and worse evertime J
said they couldn't. It might have been God laughing at us, I'm not
sure. But it was a lot of fun ...

... any sensible person was shod in walking boots or trainers at the very least, also considering the temperature underground and the constant dripping of water, you would think a rain coat or poncho would be a must. No, no...herds of silly Korean girls were staggering down the steps and along the crater-like pathways of the tunnel in their flimsly (but o so fasionable!) strappy high heeled sandals - as they tottered Bambi-like accross 2km of uneven surfaces ...

La petite ile d'Udo vallait bien une entree speciale a elle seule pour ajouter des photos ! On a parcouru ses 17kms de circonference avec un scooter de location, Pauline au volant, ce qui faisait bien rire les Coreens qui sont un peu machos quand meme...

... the park, we drove to another park which featured lava tubes. These lava tubes once held the magma that flowed for miles under the island. They are some of the largest underground caves in the world - in some places they are about 35-50 feet tall. Our next night was in a sauna resort. The locals' favorite winter activity is taking in a sauna, which we did. In this particualr sauna ...

... know if this is a stereotype but all the women, if under one hundred are very attractive. Maybe it's because everyone is skinny. -The Korean cinema is good. I saw a The Dark Knight poster. Oh, here are some funny things. Though most things are either the same price here or cheaper. The Ramon noodles, not name brand but same idea, are more expensive. I paid 2,000 won (about two dollars) for five of them, though they were bigger and better it was ...

... and wandered along the coast for a while to get a different perspective of the volcano. Headed back to the bus stop as it started to rain, only a brief shower though before it brightened up. Returned back to Seogwipo for some wholesome Korean food and caught another bus to Sanbanggulsa, which is the location of a 395 metre high extinct Volcano situated on the south coast of the island. You can't walk to the top unfortunately, but you can walk half way up where ...

... my stomach, we headed south from our north coast location. The first destination was the Teddy Bear museum, Helen's choice. On our way we got to enjoy some snow capped vistas of Halla mountain. It was way better than I expected. Teddy Bear's were dressed up and displayed in all sorts of interesting, strange fashions. Some of my favorites were the renditions of Gandhi, the moon landing and Michael Jordan. Best of all was my experiment with Korean fast food ...

... part was a private land and prohibited to enter. At the foot of the mound, a photo exhibition was open to public. There were a few pictures of which we had planned to visit and they inspired us. From there, we headed for Jeongbang Waterfall in Seogwipo by way of Pyoseon. Passing by a convenience store, we were talked by a shopkeeper in perfect Japanese. There seemed to be a lot of Japanese-speaking Koreans living in Jeju. We got off the bus at the crossing of ...

... a beautiful afternoon and I had more success with the crane game. Wahoo!! Our flight back to the mainland was as bumpy as the flight to the island, this time with the overhead cabinets shaking considerably as we landed. More buses to the terminal, but this time they travelled for about 5 minutes and we couldn't actually see the plane once we made it to the terminal! Overall, Jeju was awesome!! I totally recommend it to anyone heading to South Korea!

... the caldera after stashing our bags in our room. On the way up the grassy hill, we watched a number of Korean tourists marvelling at the flowers in bloom beneath the towering shell of the volcano. Oddly enough, the park authorities had gotten a hold of a few horses and set them loose in the area, undoubtedly in an attempt to give the place a certain pastoral feel. The actual climb itself was fairly quick and painless, offering fine views across the neighboring coastline ...