Summer holidays on Jeju Island

I am feeling so relaxed and happy after a perfect few days away at the beach on Jeju Island, Korea's holiday paradise, and it really was. Karma seemed to be smiling on us as nothing was difficult and we kept getting many lucky breaks.

DAY 1 - Wednesday
Sara and I flew in on Wednesday morning and we both had that perfect sense of happiness you get at the very beginning of a holiday, all anticipation and excitement. Janine met us at the airport after spending the previous day travelling down to Jeju by bus and ferry - which was apparently incredibly stormy and slow and caused everyone to be very seasick. The weather was perfect, hot and sunny and lovely. We grab a cab and head off to find some lunch at this cute wee place on the waterfront where we shared one meal and somehow managed to get free icecream. We could instantly see Jeju was quite different from the mainland, everyone is so happy and smiley on Jeju. We got a great taxi again who took us to Hamdeok beach, our base for the next three nights and the driver even called ahead and found us somewhere to stay.

Hamdeok Beach

Our lunch spot on Jeju Island

Then we decided to go to Udo Island, a much smaller island off the eastern side, it was amazingly beautiful, very cute and quaint. We hired rickety old bikes and headed to the beach, although it was very cold so we all failed to actually swim, it was nice just to lie in the sun and relax.We went for a ride around a bit of the island where we were waved at by everyone. There were horses and some of the biggest dragonflies I have ever seen, I almost crashed my bike and ate one when it flew into my face. Quite surreal feeling.

I totally fell in love with this wee dog, which I named Scampy,

he came and accosted us for our snacks, and kept coming back

for cuddles, didn't seem to have an owner, and I was pretty smitten,

despite his need for a very good wash!


On the ferry to Udo Island

Riding bikes on Udo Island - so much fun.



Me, Sara and Janine on our fabulous rusty rental
bikes - all of which matched our outfits.

That night we discovered what became our regular hangout, Sea Blue, a great restaurant overlooking the water, which served the most amazing homemade burgers and the strongest margherita's I have ever tasted. The couple who owned it were so friendly and offered to make us breakfast the next morning, pretty exciting as you can't really get decent western breakfast here (eggs, bacon, homefries etc). Then we headed into Jeju-si, the biggest city on the island to try and find some bars talked about in Lonely Planet - yet again LP FAIL, the maps were rubbish, very hard to understand and the bars absolutely weren't there when we got there. But we found a place to sit and chat before heading off for a bit of Noraebang action. We'd given ourselves a 3am curfew but flew past that after almost THREE hours of singing, a whole bunch of fun, and we were totally ridiculous, amongst the repertore was Mmmbop, a whole bunch of MJ (he will permanently be on the menu at karaoke now, I am sure of it) and Sugababes - despite my North American buddies having no idea who they were - it was bizarre!

DAY 2 - Thursday

We wake up at 8am to a phone call from our friend Elaine who had just arrived on the island after a very early flight. She comes to meet us and we take a few hours before we can function and head off to Sea Blue for our amazing breakfast - it didn't fail to deliver, we were thrilled. We then headed down to the beach, rented an umbrella and spent the day in the sun and sea. Perfect day for me. Lots of swimming, a little tanning, a little napping and some reading. Sara however manages to fall asleep in the sun and ends up pinker than a lobster and some of the most painful looking burn I'd seen in a long while.

When we go into Jeju-si again, this time looking for this special galbi restaurant which serves black pig which is forcefed sh*t - it sounds brutal, but after some of the things that are eaten here (dog, horse, silkworm lavae) it doesn't really seem all that bad. Pigs eat everything so what's the difference if they eat their own poop. Our taxi driver takes us to this amazing traditional restaurant and talks to the owners there who look after us so well. We have an absolute banquet of poop pig - it was delicious, the nicest pork I've had here so far, and very moreish. Our friend Benusa meets us here after spending the day heading down on the train and ferry. Eventually we head back to Hamdeok, get some beers and fireworks and go sit on the beach for a few hours, quite lovely and lowkey.

Janine and Elaine loving the poop pig

Our galbi feast of different bits of poop pig, mushrooms,

prawns, garlic and kimchi, totally delish

Sara and I happy as pigs in... poop...

DAY 3 - Friday

Back to Sea Blue for another amazing breakfast and then we head to Seongsan Ilchubong - Sunrise Peak. This is an extinct volcanic crater which has risen straight out of the ocean and gives incredible views of the area. The inside of the crater has been overgrown with vibrant greenery, which makes it quite spectacular from the air, but when you're standing on the edge you don't really get the idea of if being a volcano.

Seongsan Ilchubong

View from the top of the crater

Me, Sara and Elaine at the peak

Jeju is known for it's mandarines and oranges, and they make famous chocolate with it - I have never been a fan of orange chocolate but this was rather incredible, as well as cactus chocolate, delicious.We had another great taxidriver who took us the scenic way on the way there along the coastline - so what should have been maybe 1/2 hour in a cab ended up more like an hour, so when we eventually got back to the beach in time to see Elaine and Janine off - they were flying home sadly because Janine had to work at a summer camp on Saturday.

Benusa Sara and I stayed at the beach for a very long time, it was just so warm and beautiful and as the tide came in the waves got higher and much more fun.

Korean beaches are rather random places - and especially on Jeju, the honeymooners island.

For starters you're hardpressed to find one who isn't wearing full clothing over their togs - if wearing togs at all. You see them in jeans, in plaid shirts, in SHOES even, it's pretty ridiculous. And then every Korean man there has their girlfriend/wife in an innertube - noone knows how to swim here.

They just like to loll about in the shallows and the lifeguards are sitting out in a boat when the water has barely gone past your chest whistling at anyone who attempts to swim out further. Pretty funny place.

And so many people came up to us to talk to us, they're such sweet people, very good at stoking the ego, they think big eyes and small faces are beautiful and they will always tell you so, the kids especially are just adorable and so nice, they love to practise their English, and they're very fun to tease (eg by asking if they have a boyfriend/girlfriend and then suggesting whoever they're with should be their boyf/girlf whether it be their friend, brother/sister or mother!)

After that there was lots of walking around trying to find a good restaurant - pheasant is another specialty of the island but our wee beach town didn't have anything like it. After dinner we sit outside a convenience store for hours playing cards and generally being pretty silly, a lot of fun.

Benusa and Sara

Moi

While we're there a Korean guy who was rather aggressive earlier in the night to Benusa after some misunderstanding gets his car maimed by a guy who musta been drunk on a motorbike who slams into the side of it. We figured Karma, but it was pretty amazing to see an accident as by and large the drivers here are CRAZY and yet accidents seem to be pretty rare.

- Red lights are a suggestion, not a rule. Taxis will rarely ever stop at them, buses never will.

- Likewise pedestrian crossings, they'll carry on driving even if there are people crossing.

- Seatbelts?! HA! In fact, taxi drivers are often offended if you do wear them because they think you think they're bad drivers.

- Speedlimit? How fast can your car go?! Sometimes scary fast.But the thing is they're all very good defensive drivers. They're very quick to respond when something happens or pulls in front of you, and even quicker on the horn.

DAY 4 - Saturday

Final day, pretty sad and a repeat of the previous days, breakfast then beach. This time we notice these wee cabana huts and decide to see how much they are only noone comes to talk to us for over an hour, then this woman in a bumbag sidles along and we watch as she inflates the price from 30,000 won to 50,000 won (roughly $30 - $50) - insane, and so obvious. Instead we head for some palm trees to provide shade. Spend as much time as possible in the water as is the last swim I will be having for a while. In all, a really perfect holiday, I am really keen to head back to Jeju again, it's pretty easy to get to by plane (only an hour and relatively cheap) and there's still so much more to explore.