The Korean "Hawaii": Jeju Island from June 28th-30th, 2013

To start I should say HAPPY CANADA DAY!! Although we both missed being in Canada and going to cottages this past weekend, we had a great time in Korea. We decided to go on a trip to the famous southern island called Jeju. Ever since I started researching and planing trips in Korea, Jeju-Do ('do' means island) has always made it in the top ten on every list. Koreans refer to this island as the "Hawaii of Korea" and as the top vacation spot. So after looking into it, we figured we had to go and see it for ourselves. We wanted to go on a long weekend, since you need to take a flight there, but we simply couldn't use our vacation days at this time so we just made it a jammed pack weekend. 

Friday June 28th, 2013

Friday night, we raced home and then headed to Gimpo airport with only a small backpack each. The flight is very short and we were at our hostel in Jeju city by 9:30pm. 

Ready to go!!

Flying to Jeju Island

Saturday June 29th, 2013

On Saturday, we woke up very early to take a bus to the entrance point for the Seongpanak trail up Mt. Halla. Hallasan is a volcano in the middle of Jeju island, and it is also Korea's tallest mountain. The trail up is 9.6km long and the park estimates it should take a person 4- 4.5 hours to hike up to the peak. I am proud to say it took Ian 3 hours and me 3 hours and 15 min (I was exhausted by the end). The trail started off easy and then quickly turned into a million stairs. Luckily, we had great weather which made for beautiful scenic views, that I especially enjoyed as I took breaks along the way. At the peak, we were on the edge of the crater of the volcano. It was cool looking down into the pond of water in the crater. It was also nice seeing all the hikers at the top stopping to take in the views and share snacks with each other. We joined in as well, sharing our trail mix and banana chips. After a much needed break, we took a different route down, a trail called Gwaneumsa which was thankfully only 8.7km. By the end of the hike down our legs felt like jelly - the hike really took it out of us! The hike was challenging but by far our favourite part of our trip.

Starting out on our hike at 8:45am.

I was very excited to see the peak at this point.

Ian patiently waiting and encouraging me - thanks Ian :) 

Final stretch to the top!  This is the view looking down.

Volcano crater

This is where we parked to have our snacks.

Ian is sitting on the tallest point in Korea!

YAY - We made it to the peak!! 

Everyone stopping to refuel on snacks. We saw a lot of Koreans brought up kimchi with them to the peak.

About to start our hike down Gwaneumsa Trail.

After the hike, we decided to go to a beach and relax. There are several famous beaches in Jeju making it hard to choose, but we decided on Hyeopjae Beach after talking with a few Jeju locals. When we got there, it felt so nice to just sit and have our feet in the sand or wade in the water. It was cool looking out on the bright blue water and the dark black volcanic rocks.

Our spot on the beach. We had a sunny day and then clouds came in just as we go to the beach.

Felt so nice dipping our feet in the water!

There were plenty of mouples (matching couples) on the beach. 

After resting for a bit we walked around to explore the beach area and found this mermaid. 

We loved being there! A sign on our way back to the hostel.

After our big hike and beach adventure we treated ourselves to some Indian food and to some beers on a patio. 

Sunday June 30th, 2013
On Sunday, we decided to check out the other side of the island. We checked out of the hostel and took a bus to Seowigpo, a city on the southern side. We then proceeded on our waterfall tour segment of our trip. Who knew there were so many beautiful waterfalls so close together. Here are the stops we made.

1. Our first stop was Jeongbang Waterfall, which is 23m tall and 10m wide. It was nice because it was on a cliff and flowed into the ocean.

For each waterfall, we had to pay an entrance fee (~2,000 Won). This is after we entered the park and were walking towards the falls. 

Jeju is semi-tropical and has cool flowers.

You can even buy coconuts to drink!

First view of the falls, as we were walking down the stairs.

Jeongbang Waterfalls

The coastline was beautiful with the cliffs and bright blue waters. 

 2. We then walked around 20 mins over to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. After grabbing a quick lunch we entered this park and discovered that Jeju is now one of the 7 New Wonders of the World. We weren't quite sure what other places made it on this list, but it sounded impressive. This is where we saw the Jeju Man, as we called him. The Jeju Man is an iconic statue made of volcanic basalt rock. In Korean he is called Dolhareubang, which means Stone Grandfather. We saw these statues all over the island.

Walking over to the second falls, we saw interesting art along the coastline.

Harbour along the walk.

Korea's national flower - Rose of Sharon (a type of Hibiscus)

Nice walk along the water to the second falls.

This is the Stone Grandfather (Dolhareubang) seen all over the island.

Yoga in front of Cheonjiyeon Waterfalls.

Ian contemplating jumping in to escape the heat! It was so hot and humid.

Cheonjiyeon Waterfall is 22m high and 12m wide.

Walking around the park was lovely. It felt like we were in a rainforest.

Trail in the park leading to the falls.

 3. We then took a bus to the International Convention Center, and from there walked over to the Jusangjeolidae Cliffs. This was one of my favourite parts of the day. These cliffs are famous because they have polygonal columns that run along 2km of the shore. We learnt that the columns were formed as molten lava cooled and solidified around 14,000 to 25,000 years ago. We spent a lot of time walking around the park, looking at the cliffs, and lastly walking along the water.

Outside the International Convention Center.

I took this picture because I liked how pine and palm trees were growing beside each other. 

Ian yelling out to the sea!  

 4. The last stop of the day was Cheonjeyeon Falls, which consists of three waterfalls in a row. Over the flowing water, there was also a famous bridge called Seonim-gyo, which we had to cross to reach the waterfalls. The park was huge with a bunch of trails to walk and explore around.

View from the bridge.

Seonim-gyo Bridge

This is the second waterfall (of the three in the row).

This is the first of the three waterfalls at Cheonjeyeon. We sat on the rocks by here for a while because the colour of the water and the columns were so pretty. 

I bought Jeju oranges to have as a snack. They were delicious!

Walking to the third waterfall in this park, I loved seeing the line up of palms.

The third waterfall at Cheonjeyeon.

Waiting at the bus stop to head to the airport. Bye bye Jeju!