Palace Jeju City

Justin got to Korea on Thursday night and on Saturday morning we caught an flight to the "Hawaii of Korea", Jeju Island. When we got in we caught a bus to Sunrise Peak, which is on the east side of the island. Actually, we caught several buses. We had to catch one from the airport to the bus station and from there a bus to the peak. Jeju-do is a great place to go to get away because its not as busy or industrialized as the rest of Korea. Everything feels ...

... and they are of imense pyroclastic and geological significance due to their size and topography, but oh no, that isn't enough in itself to make a tourist attraction...

"what's that there in the middle?"

"why I think its a lava rock, which, if you step back and turn your head to the side a bit..and squint a little...looks just like an ancient turtle (no, not just a regular turtle!)

"yes, yes...and now that you mention it, in this dimly lit ...

... au paysage un air particulier. On trouve aussi sur l'ile des plages de sable blanc, brun, noir bordees de roches volcaniques tres noires. Il y a meme une plage de corail sur une plus petite ile a l'est appelee Udo qui est, elle, restee bien rurale, a notre plus grand bonheur.
Nous avons ete supris par la taille de Jeju city, le tourisme doit bien marcher dans le coin ;-)
On a rencontre la communaute des profs d'anglais via nos couchsurfeurs. Les Coreens sont tres avides d ...

... pretty beautiful sunrises - hence the name. But unfortunately we could not make it in time for the sunrise...too early and too cold. There are stairs to assist you but the climb is quite steep and we were having a laugh watching some of the women in boot stilletos climb the mountain. The next morning we would be taking a flight out to visit Pusan (Busan) and meet Michelle's mother Jenny.

... all are so *******n good looking and nice. I think its because I don't know Korean, which I'm trying to learn and it is hard man, and they don't know English very well-this allows for a lot of optimistic interpretation. Anyway, so my school gives me a cell phone to use. It's all hip and nice. It can take pictures, play games, write in Korean and best of all it doesn't need a charger. Well, it does but they forgot to give me it. Another good ...

... coastline. Old Korean fishing women cook and sell their catches on the rocks of the coast. Never seen rock formations like this before, really unusual place. Got eaten alive by mosquito's waiting 2 hours for the bus to arrive to take me back to Seogwipo. I spoke too soon when I said the buses were efficient. To be fair though the bus had been re-routed to a different road around 50 metres away, the sign informing of this change was in Korean which I obviously ...

... was Jeju's famous poop pig, biting at a boy's butt while he was doing his business. In defense, the boy used a long slender stick. After driving to the other side of Halla for a rather lame park, we went to one of more entertaining stops, Love Land. Really it should be called 'Sex Park,' as almost all the statues are of naked folks either doing it or about to. Needless to say, it was entertaining and a great diversion from the rather tame stops of the day ...

... front on the cliff, where we asked the way to Jungmun Resort. The office worker didn't speak good English, although we barely understood what she told us. Eventually, we walked 15 mins up to KAL hotel to catch a bus, but when I talked to the bus driver, I found my pronunciation of "Jungmun" was incorrect. Anyway, we headed for another waterfall, Cheonjaeyeon Waterfall in Jungmun. We were not sure again where we should get off the bus, but the place where we got was ...

... tower. The gardens are meticulous... not a weed to be seen and all the plants so happy, healthy and well kept. The indoor gardens were HOT!!! I actually thought I was going to melt it was so hot in there!! Especially in the cactus garden. although I don't know if it was actually hotter or whether it was because we spent so long in there. In the centre area of the building there were air conditioners blasting out cold air, so ...

... interesting) selection than the usual stock in conbinis back in Japan. But we made sure first to catch the sunset from a outcropping just west of town; the streaks of cloud on the horizon made for a gorgeous display of color as the sun dipped down beside the shadowy outine of Hallasan. The sunset, however, takes a distant second to the almost religious experience equated with a sunrise viewed from the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong - the caldera. For many domestic visitors ...