Jeju

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As I was finishing my hair so I could finally get out of the house for the day and go do something, a torrential downpour began. This happens a lot these days in Korea. I think it rains more here than in Seattle. So here I am, blogging. 😊

Jeju Island. Korea's romantic honeymoon destination. It was great and beautiful! But not what I have in mind for my honeymoon. Ha ha. From what we had heard, it sounded like it'd be like Hawaii filled with restaurants and shopping. Let's just say it seemed more Korean than the city we live in. We actually had a pretty difficult time finding things in English and ordering food but I think this is because of the area where we stayed. Near our hotel, we couldn't find a single thing in English. No restaurants, no coffee shops, and no anything open before noon. We arrived in the morning, around 9 and we were starving and it proved to be difficult to find a single place that was open. We drove 30 minutes and found a paris baugette bakery. We went inside and I tried to ask for a toilet. "toilet? bathroom? restroom? toilet? (hand gestures)" The young girl behind the counter had no idea what I was saying. I was kind of in shock because most bathroom signs are in English and I am always told that all young Koreans speak English. But that's definitely not true. She had no idea what I was saying and let me add, I now know how to say toilet in Korean. The toilet thing is quite unbelievable in this country. From what I can gather, you just don't use the bathroom if you're out. You can't because there aren't any. If you're in Seoul, or shopping in a mall, or a bus terminal, then yes, there are bathrooms. But if you're out walking in a city and you need to go, there aren't many options. There will be about 20 businesses in one building and they don't each have bathrooms. There is usually one common one that they share, and it's usually pretty disgusting. Anyway, in Jeju I walked down the street until I found a staircase (usually the bathrooms are up there) and I found a janitor's closet with a squatter in the ground. It was just lovely.

We got off to a rough start because we were so tired and hungry and lost. We rented a car and the navigation system was great but all in Korean. So we had a Korean women shouting directions at us the whole time and we pushed mute continually the entire weekend but it didn't shut her up. You could enter words in english or korean and I did both and it would say 0 results almost every time. It was pretty frustrating. We got food and then kind of gave up on exploring and headed back to the hotel for a nap. The hotel is another story. Beautiful hotel with individual balconies facing the beautiful, bright blue ocean. We get our room key and head upstairs. We see 7 or 8 empty rooms, that were just cleaned, with their doors open. The view is amazing....and we quickly realize that we have a room on the other side of the hotel. I was like "no way, this is not happening!" We go look out the window and see the hideousness of Korean buildings everywhere. The rooftops of buildings. We go downstairs and kindly beg for an ocean view and he says that we ordered a "mountain view." We did no such thing because when I booked the hotel I was never asked what kind of view I wanted. Long story short, he said no. The joys of trying to communicate in a foreign country!

I was really bummed about the hotel and let me tell you why. This was a "h"otel, not a "m"otel. Motels in Korea are everywhere, they are called love motels and they are often rented out for an hour or 2 at a time. However, they are a common place for foreigners because they are cheap and way more common than hostels. Love motels give you shampoo, conditioner, razors, towels, face masks, water dispensers (because you can't drink the faucet water) and anything else you could need. Not to mention, ENORMOUS flat screen tv's and often times a computer with internet. Well, because I do not know how to book those online, I decided to go with a nice hotel. A hotel in English, found on English websites. So I booked a real hotel through some travel website and keep in mind it's twice the price of a love motel. BECAUSE I thought I was staying at a nice hotel, I decided against bringing all of my toiletries (I was only taking a backpack and needed space) because I was certain the hotel would have everything. Upon checking in, I was told that if I touched the water, juice, or beverages in the mini cooler I would be charged. Okay...that's normal. And then I was told that if I used the shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrush, or any other toiletry I would also be charged. I was a little upset. And we were instantly told that we did purchase breakfast with the room. Great, thanks! The room was kind of a bummer but the hotel was right on the beach and it was beautiful.

After a nap, we tried to have a better attitude and it was easy to do once we got in the ocean. It was warm and beautiful and turquoise and clear. You could rent jet ski's, or kayaks, or go on a banana ride behind boats. After lunch by the water, we headed back into Jeju City, which is where the airport and everything else is. Once we started driving around a little more we began to find things, English things, thing we recognized. We found a restaurant that said American grill, pizza and pasta, and immediately pulled the car over. Yes, we are that lame. Americans looking for American food. It can be so difficult to order at Korean restaurants sometimes and I don't always feel up to the challenge. The American grill place was great. Jake had pizza and I had chicken fettuccine and it was wonderful. We also found all the coffee shops that we like. We chased the sunset for a while and saw some of the other beaches on the island and then headed back to the hotel. We got ice cream from the GS mart and hung out in front of our hotel by the water where families were lighting off fireworks. It was great to actually be able to see stars!

The next day was much better....it started off with blended mint frappaccino's from Tom & Toms, one of our favorite places. Then we drove over the huge, main mountain (halla mtn) on the island over to the other side. The mountain is an old volcano with a big, beautiful crater at the top. The drive was beautiful. Everything was so green and the sky was bright blue with numerous fluffy, white clouds. I really want to do some of the hikes around that mountain but we found out they are 7-9 hours long. So hopefully next time 😊 On the other side, we stopped at the World Cup Stadium to see where some of the 2002 games were played. And then we went to 2 beautiful waterfalls! I love waterfalls and hiking so this was probably my favorite part. One of the waterfalls is said to be the only waterfall in ASIA that falls into the sea. So that's pretty interesting and I was excited to see it. After the falls, we went to the popular, tourist beach and Jake tried to body surf some waves. It's hard when there are Koreans in floating tubes all around you. After this, we had dinner which consisted of Jeju's famous black pig. The pigs are rumored to be black from eating feces. I am still unsure if that is completely true or not. My students swear it is, but it sounds strange. It was delicious though!

Monday morning I convinced Jake to wake up at 4 in the morning so we could go hike this old volcano. It's a famous place for watching the sunrise and it was awesome! We had about an hour drive to get there and then maybe about 30 minutes of climbing to the top. It was pretty beautiful and I'll let the pictures explain the rest.

It's been almost two months since this trip, so some of the details have faded but we had a great time in Jeju and really want to make it back there. There is so much more to do that we didn't have time for, so we'll definitely do it again!

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Photos

water
in front of our hotel

hotel
the tall, box like one

car
first time driving in 6 months!

Comments

[Jeanne Curtis]

Oh, Bet!! I miss you already!! Thanks for the beautiful pictures and description of your time at Jeju!! I got home safe and sound and can't begin to describe to everyone what the trip was like for me, it was so perfect!! Thanks for everything!! OH...can't bring SoJu through Japan: I checked two different stores; and of course Japan didn't know what I was talking about! Oh well, I really tried!! Been up about 28 hours by now!! Love you!!