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Published: April 8th 2013
Got up early and said my goodbye to the nice staff at New Day GuestHouse in Haeundai beach and took the train to the airport. I have to change trains, the line that goes to the airport is a monorail. A very quick check in at Jeju Air counter and then I relaxed at the lounge waiting for my flight. it was a smooth less than an hour flight, arriving at Jeju, I quickly try to locate exit 5, as per the Doldam GH instructions, I should be able to find the bus that goes to Seogwipo,I was also told to call them before I leave the airport so they can approximate the time of pick up at the bus stop, ask the tourism office to call us, they said, but the branch next to the exit 5 is closed for lunch so I hurriedly went to the main desk which I happen to notice as I came out of the arrival area, they sorted me out and now I ran to make the bus.
It was about more than an hour ride, the shuttle stops at a few places, I heard the driver telling me we reached
my stop and waiting for me there is Mr. Doldam the owner of the GH, his English is not very good, keeps saying ok, ok without answering my inquiries but he is always smiling. He dropped me off about a few minutes from his guesthouse so I can have lunch, I have a choice of Italian, Seafood or Korean, the Korean place was busy so I decided I'd go there, food must be good. and I wasn't mistaken, I ordered the grilled mackerel and it was heavenly! It may have cost me a good $15 but I was stuffed when I left the place and gingerly walked back to the GH, where Mr. Doldam was waiting for me. I met Sue, the cheerful wife, her English is better and right away gave me tips of things to do in the village, the GH is located in a quiet area near the water at Daepyeong-ri village.
The bunk beds are in a separate building behind the main area, it was a nice place, very clean, I was the only one, later on a couple of Korean hikers came and spent the night before moving on to the next
trail. there is plenty of hiking trails in this island I think around 18! The trail nearest us is 8 and 9 and I intend to do at least 3 or 4 of them. in the afternoon I hiked up the cliff to the right of my GH, it's part of route/trail 9, wow it is gorgeous up there, great view of the village below and there are peopl living there, planting veggies and some herds of cow in places. The sunset wasn't so nice as it was cloudy, I kept walking halfway through the trail, a couple of Korean hikers warned me it is getting dark and trail 9 is still a long ways away before the end, so I decided to walk back down with them and try again another day.
Dinner was at the seafood restaurant downhill near the water front, it was bustling, they right away know I wasn't local and gave me a simplified English menu, i chose the sushi platter, oh boy it was good and I cannot finish it! The side dishes are ore than enough to fill you up. went back to the hostel and turned in for the
night, it was cold and windy and the heat was set up by Mr. Doldam, in the middle of the night I need to go to the loo, I forgot about the floor heating and I felt like walking on hot sands on a hot summer's day tip toeing to the bathroom. Now I realized why they give us sandals!
The next morning after a hearthy breakfast I was ready to go and strat my hike. mr. Doldam volunteered to pick me up at the end of trail 9 on the other side, he aprroximated it would take me about 6 hours to finish, so we set up a meeting place. So off I go, Sue, the wife gave me some oranges from their orchard for snack. It was a gorgeous sunny day, albeit cold, the trail is beautiful and well maintained, along the way I only saw a couple hikers, up and downhill, some areas have cows grazing, which intimatred me a bit when they are near the trail, they have big horns, and some have younglings with them, I was afraid they will attack me, I throw rocks at them to clear the path, it
worked!
I can see an islnad from a distance, I think this is Gapado island, there are lots of pine trees and veggie patch along the trail, I can't believe people live here atop the cliff, they make use of every patch of land. To make a long story short I made it to the end in 4 hours! I was fast and so I have time to kill, I decided to do a little bit of trail 10 which I later found out was nicer then trail 9, you have to navigate through huge boulders near the beach to get to the other side, at low tide otherwise you go up some man made trail above the beach canopy. some people are fishing, some just chilling and picking up shells. As Mr. Doldam should be back soon, I decided to go back and true enough moments later he arrived.
I was really knackered and opted to have dinner at the GH, Sue served me some black pork meat grilled right in front of you, it was delicious with great side dishes, I just did not like the sesame leaves that you can use as a
wrap to eat the meat with before dipping in the sauce, for me it has a very strong pungent taste. They have a cute dog named Dol, I played with him for awhile then back to the dorm, 3 new people, one is an American dude with long hair, he wasn't chatty so I lft him alone. The other 2 were Korean hikers, and we exchanged stories about our own hikes.
Next day I was thinking of doing trail 10 when Mr. Doldam introduced me to a nice Korean girl from Seoul, staying at the GH as well but of course in the ladies dorm, she wants to know if I would go with her to hike Kunsan, a small extinct volcano that jutts just beind the village, she has a car, we can drive to the trail and hike from the starting point, I said yes and we set off quickly as the weather is turning bad. We got to the start point but we waited in the car as it was super windy and rain and hail started! It stopped so we headed on, trail was slippery and steep, we eventually got to the top
and it was very cold! somehow on the way down we took the wrog way and was ways away from the place we park the car! so we took a taxi and have it drive us to the car park, then we headed for lunch, she took me to this special place where they serve a specialty, a cold noodle soup dish. It was busy but we got served quickly, it was good, but it was cold soup! I could not get used to this, I know its special dish but I like my noodles hot!
Angie, the Korean girl had checked out from the GH and will be staying at her company's hotel for one night so we drove to this huge compound it has it's own church, museums, beach, wow quite luxurious. We drove around the area a bit then we deicded to head back to Daepyeong village, we had coffee at a small cafeteria near the waterfront and watched the sunset but it was tad bit cloudy, anyway she left and I went back to the hostel and planned my hike next day with the Doldams, I took all their advises and went to
bed. i got up very early to catch the 1st bus to Seogwipo, today I will attempt to hike Hallasan, the highest mountain in the island. I was surprised to see Sue already awake and making me sandwiches for the hike, she made sure I have enough food to eat along the trail. I was a bit nervous as apparently it take 8 to 9 hours to complete the hike roundtrip.
I took the bus and got dropped off in town and struggled to find the other bus station that will take me to Seongpanak trail, I chose this trail as it is accesible by public transport, I asked a baker, a pedestrian and finally a piloceman to direct me to where this bus leaves from, the policeman literally walked me to the station, as I could not understand his instructions. the bus was just about to leave, i hopped in and told the driver to drop me off at the beginning of the trail, then 2 hikers in front told me in English, they are heading that way also, and that thyey will let me know when we reach our stop. Greatful, I sat down and
enjoyed the view. It was raining and as we keep climbing the mountain snow started to fall, as we alight from the bus, the snow has now become consistent, it is beautiful but worrisome, maybe there is blizzard up there and we cant see clearly.
There were already lots of cars before us and so I assume others started the climb early, it is now 8:30am, went to the loo quickly and then I headed to the starting point and off I go, barely a second had gone when I almost slipped from the slippy wooden plank that mark the beginning of the hike! So from there I walked gingerly, assessing the situation on how slippery the ground was. Once I got my footing, I flew up the trail, passing lots of Koreans that seem to be walking in the park, taking their sweet time, as I hike, the snow keeps going, this is lovely! I never hiked before in the snow!
I felt like walking in a winter wonderland, as the trail starts to climb up, you have to navigate through rocky paths covered in snow, so you have to be careful with
your footing, I got to the first resting point, the snow is getting worse but not much wind so it's good. People taking a break here there are toilets and huts, I had my 1st snack here then continued on, after about an hour, the 2nd hut appears, there are signs that says if you aren't on this spot by 12noon you cannot continue on to the peak! It was maybe 1100 am when I got there and there are rangers checking to make sure people are ok. So I kept going, no time for rest this was the trickiest part, lots of stairs, very tiring, but the view is amazing, all vegetation is covered in snow, no wind, everyone is enjoying the continuously falling snow, and to say the least I made it to the peak but could not see a thing!
The for was thick so people just had their fotos taken next to the sign that say you are at the top, a kind Korean dude offered to take my foto, then I had my 2nd snack then I tried to find the other trail, Gwaneumsa , I thought off going down that way,
but I observed most people are headed back the same trail we started, I guess it is because there is public transport at the foot of the mountain, apparently there will be taxis waiting at the bottom of Gwaneumsa trail but the weather is bad so I was worried, if there is no taxi there, then I am screwed and may freeze to death there! So I went back the same way, and made it down quickly, so it took me 6 hours to go up and back to finish the trail. I was sore but happy.
The buses that go back to town is frequent so no problem. I had a hearthy lunch at Seogwipo town , cilled a bit, saw a tourist trap waterfall called Cheonjiyeon. there are trails around it though so I followed some trails a bit then took the bus back to the small village. I was so exhausted, but proud of myself for making the climb alone. hats off to the Koreans though, the trails are all well marked, it is very easy to follow. The next day I fly out to Seoul, i said goodbye to Sue and Mr. Doldam
and to the dog who followed me to the bus stop! It was a smooth flight, back in Seoul again and it is frigid cold.
This time I stayed at Orange GH, at hostel world the reviews were amazing, but the moment I arrive, it felt cold not just literally and unwelcoming. It is off season so maybe that explains why. it is located in the Hongdae University area. The area is teeming with students, lots of bars and restaurants. The staff were nice enough and gave me some tips but it semms they are uninterested, I double booked accidentally as the internet stalled on me when I did it online, I wrote them an explanation, they acknowledge it but when I checked in, the guy asked me there is another guy checking in of the same name as I, and that if I know him, duh??? I guess they did not understand or care to check!
My dorm is located in the basement and for the love of god I could not figure out why it stinks there. Then I realized it's the sewage! We have to close the dorm door all the
time, the smell is appaling. The reception is also in the basement and there is a small lounge area next to the toilet, it's messy and unkempt, it does not feel homey to say the least, contradicting what was on the website.
Oh well only a few days more and I leave anyway so deal with it. A young friendly dude half Japanese half Swedish became my roommate and we enjoyed making jokes about the sewage stink, he even suggested maybe all the staff wrote the reviews on hostelworld to give them high rating! Eventually the staff warmed up though, I should cut them some slack, it was newly opened and they are still sorting out the kinks, but I just could not bear the smell. And some Polish girl arrive to work there and she was noisy and annoying, singing all the time, worse, she stays in our dorm.
A few days before I left I decided to sort out how I could get to the airport early enough, My flight leaves around 9am, the reason I stayed in the area is the ease of access to the new airport subway line. I asked one of the
satff to help me sort it out as it is in Korean, they have no listings of train schedules so she looked online, I listened to her explanation but I decided to double check anyway at the train stop nearby, to my surprise she gave me the wrong info! She mixed the schedule up, instead of time shcedule going to the airport, she gave me the time shcedule leaving from the airport, phew I dodged that one, so I had it with them and checked out the same day and moved to another hostel nearby, called JJ guesthouse.
JJ is clean and not smelly and owned by a family, the young son speaks good English and chatted with me while his parents clean the dorms, apparently they do a big cleaning every weekend, vacuuming and all aside from the daily chores, I am so happy I moved here and will trully enjoy my last few days in Seoul. It is so cold here, I am relieved that the floor heating system is working. Meanwhile I partied one last time at the Hongdae area before leaving early the next day. korea was great and hope to come back
Daepyung ri village
route 9 trail beginshere again, in the summer.
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