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Published: July 13th 2011
Veiw from Sunrise Peak
Veiw from Sunrise PeakWell stage one of my journey has come to an end! My memories of South Korea will always stay with me as a country who’s people make it a truly amazing place, if you’ve ever thought of coming here and had reservations for whatever reason then I very much recommend making it a place to visit. The people I’ve met both local and foreign have made this an unforgettable start to my travelling, if the trip continues in this way then I’m in for one hell of a good time.
My last week in South Korea involved an internal flight to an Island called Jeju for 3 days, 2 days in Busan and 3 days in Seoul. Jeju Island also known as the Hawaii of South Korea was stunning but came with the normal random weather, one day it’s blistering sunshine and the next it’s like a scene from the perfect storm! I have to admit I’m not going to miss this bloody awful rain but it hasn’t detracted from my overall experience here.
Whilst on Jeju Island I visited Sunrise Peak which is where many locals will gather on New Year’s Day to pray for their wishes towards the rising
Manjanggul lava tubes
Manjanggul lava tubes sun, I know I was a bit early with my wish but I prayed for no rain the following day when I would embark on a 19k hike up Mt Halla. As you can probably guess I think my request was probably in a queue and will be dealt with as soon as possible, because it absolutely pi*sed it down on the trek, more on that in a minute. There is so much to do on the island but sadly I was only there for 3 days, the other area I visitedon my way to Sunrise peak was the Manjanggul Lave tubes which are meant to be among the largest and most impressive in the world. Don’t worry I won’t bore you with a history lesson about their formation and timeline leading to their creation mainly because I can’t remember what the signs said but the photos will help explain I’m sure.
After much contemplation on my last day on the island I decided to trek to the summit of Mt Halla the largest mountain on the island even though it was raining before I set off. With the summit at 1950m which is double the hike in Saroksan, this
Busan Bridge at Night
Busan Bridge at Night trek was bloody hard and took the best part of 6 hours. The wind and rain were crazy and it was like walking up and down a stream on the footpaths, you would think I would have learnt my lesson after last time, but no, I decided to carry on regardless! I have made both a mental and physical note this time that if it’s raining like there is a burst pipe directly above my head then I probably should give the trek a miss. But at least my challenge to trek to the summit of the tallest mountain in each country has got past the first hurdle! So every cloud really does have a silver lining.
After leaving Jeju I went to Busan the second largest city in South Korea, I spent a couple of days there before heading back to Seoul. It felt slightly more “westernised” than Seoul but was a really cool place. They have the worlds largest shopping mall there, complete with driving range, ice rink and the world largest spa called Spa Land. I spent my allotted 4 hours in the spa with considerable ease and have to say it’s the most relaxing place I
Dog!
Korean dog...erm lush have ever been to, Bannatyne’s gym could learn a lot here. It’s set over 3 floors, has approximately 25 different themed rooms and was just what I needed after my hike the day before.
I’m leaving out a lot of the detail about various events because Im conscious these could be boring to some of you, but whilst in Busan I tried yet more varieties of local dishes. Some of you may have seen my Facebook update but for those of you who didn’t well where do I start…..
The photos below will explain far more than I can but on my second night the meal consisted of me and 3 other guys from the hostel (one of whom was local) hitting the fish market and selecting our dinner from a tank of live fish, the one we picked looked bloody huge in the tank. It was then killed and gutted in front of us and whilst we made our way to our table 7 floors up overlooking the beach our dinner was served 5 minutes later, fresh and raw! After the initial shock of what had just happened we all tucked in and it was lovely. The night continued
on with us all going clubbing and getting very drunk, which is normally ok however in our drunken state we all agreed that tomorrows dinner would be something a little different. So at 3pm the following day we all sat down in some back street restaurant to have Korean dog! It was a little difficult to blank it from your mind what you were eating but it tasted ok, it was very strong in taste and had a texture like lamb. It’s fair to say I won’t be trying it again though.
Im now back in Seoul and flying out tomorrow, I’ve just been for a Korean pizza at the local market, which was nothing like the name suggests. Basically it was an omelette with octopus. As you can see from the above accounts of the past few days the food here is quite a bit different from back home, most of it is lovely but some of it is stomach churning.
Well it’s been a great first three weeks and I’ve happily settled into travelling life well and can’t wait to experience China next.
Good bye South Korea and thank you everyone who has made this an unforgettable three
weeks.
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