Jeju Love

Saturday July 23 I was up bright and early and made my way to a bus stop for the Airport Limousine that would take me to Gimhae Airport for my flight to Jeju. I had never taken the shuttle service before, so I made sure to give myself plenty of time. It was actually quite easy and I arrived with lots of time to spare.

The flight to Jeju was 45minutes long, and I arrived by 10:00. Mariana and Amanda were there to meet me and we promptly rented a car and started our adventure. Luckily, Mariana has her international drivers license so there were no issues with the car rental. It was the first time renting a car for all of us, so it was a monumental experience… hence the need to take a photo in front of our ride for the next two days.

The driving was still a bit chaotic, but much less severe than on the mainland. Mariana did a great job weaving in and out of traffic and we soon arrived to our first destination: Loveland.

Loveland is an erotic theme park and is one of the most popular sites in Jeju, It has over 140 exhibits and attractions. Upon arrival, we weren’t quite sure what to expect, but were soon bombarded with figures, statues, paintings etc.

It was surprising to me that there was such explicit art there, because Korean culture is very sexually reserved. Furthermore, while we were touring around, we noticed that most of the other visitors were middle aged Koreans… not what I had expected at all. The tour book that had recommended Loveland had said that it’s a hot spot for Korean Honeymooners “looking for inspiration and education”. It surely would educate!

After Loveland, we headed to a nearby hedge maze called Kimyoung Maze. While we were there, we met a couple of American travelers who challenged us to a race, to see who would finish first. It was on! The winner would go to a platform and ring a bell signaling that they had arrived first. Well our opponents split up and one arrived before us, but he didn’t have his partner with him, so we claimed victory!

The maze was followed by a trip to the Manjanggul Lava Tubes which is claimed as being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tubes were formed by hot lava rushing through during the volcanic eruption on the island. Some areas are 23m high! The area accessible to the public was about 1km long, and we walked there and back. It was surprising how much cooler it was down there… a very nice refresher from the overwhelming heat on ground level.

As a reward for our strenuous efforts walking through the lava tubes, we decided to indulge in a Korean treat called Pot Bing Sue. It’s basically shaved ice with red bean, condensed milk, fruit and corn flakes—surprisingly delicious!

A little while later we were on our way to a garden filled with Dol Hareubangs, also known as Jeju’s Grandfather Statues. The Dol Hareubangs are said to said to be gods that offer fertility as well as protection against evil demons that travel throughout the island. Directly translated, their name means stone grandfather. They are carved out of porous volcanic rock and have distinctive facial features. The mushroom head is often said to me a phallic symbol. These are the top symbol of Jeju and are sold in almost every store on the island.

Later, we decided to go for a scenic drive. We stopped on a beach and had a wonderful view as the sun was setting. It would be dinner time soon, and we found this restaurant in our travel book that boasted about Frisbee sized hamburgers. We decided this would be the perfect dinner, so we set it into our GPS and off we went.

About an hour later we were still driving around and becoming increasingly hungry and irritable. The sky was now dark and we weren’t sure where we were going as we could not find the restaurant. We ended up stopping and I asked for directions. It was then that I was told that the restaurant was no longer open… apparently it had closed down some time ago. AHHH!

Hungry and tired, we decided to opt for the next culinary thing on the list…. black pork. We arrived to the restaurant the Lonely Planet: Korea book advised only to discover that they no longer served black pork. By this point, we were quite on edge. We travelled on foot until we finally found what we were looking for…. Hallelujah!

The meal was fabulous. Jeju is known for black pork galbi (where you get raw pork and cook it yourself on a hot grill at the table). It is said to have a very distinct flavor… I didn’t notice the difference in taste so much, but it was divine! The galbi was served with many little dishes including kimchi, mushrooms, onions, lettuce, pumpkin, garlic and several sauces.

It wasn’t until the end of the meal (after I had thoroughly stuffed my face) that Mariana pointed out to me that if you looked closely, you could see little black hairs in the meat….DISGUSTING! I was not impressed!

We had a bit of a difficult time finding accommodation that night. We had decided not to pre-book a room because that would mean that we’d actually have to find it, instead of just stopping wherever when we were tired and finding a random place to crash. The thing we hadn’t really banked on was the fact that this was high season and things were quite filled up. We found a few rooms available but they looked quite dodgy and several of them had cockroaches… something that we were not prepared to deal with, since one of us would be sleeping on the floor.

Eventually we found a place that was reasonably priced, clean and had many blankets to build a makeshift bed on the floor. I was the one who slept there and it wasn’t too horrible.

The next morning we woke up bright and early. There were no grocery stores around and so breakfast consisted of milk, cookies and chocolate from a nearby convenience store… very healthy! We drove Amanda to Mt Hallasan which is the tallest mountain in Korea. She was inspired to try to climb to the top… I was not, so Mariana and I went Scuba diving.

Yet again, our Lonely Planet Korea guidebook was no help in finding the SCUBA shop, but after some searching, we found another SCUBA instructor who personally guided us to where we were supposed to be.

Our instructor was a German man named Ralf. He was very friendly and spoke good English. He was about 50 years old and reminded me so much of my Onkel Heinz from home… I felt a strange sense of familiarity with him, which I had to keep reminding myself wasn’t actually real.

After all of the legalities were finalized, we got all of our equipment and headed for the ocean. A boat took us to “little moon” island and we were joined by quite a few other SCUBA groups.

Our instructor taught us how to use all of the various equipment and then we each went into the water one at a time. The dive only lasted for about 25 minutes but apparently that’s standard.

We went to a depth of about ten meters and it was amazing. Certified divers can go much deeper for longer amounts of time, but that’s an incentive to get certified I guess. Nevertheless, the dive was amazing. I was surrounded by hundreds of different fish that would swim right up to me. I saw a blowfish and tons of other aquatic life. It’s amazing underwater… it feels like you’re on a completely different planet. I loved it!

We got back from the dive trip at around 3pm and went to pick up Amanda from the mountain. From there we went to the Chocolate Museum.

The Chocolate museum was said to be one of the top ten in the world so we were all expecting a fabulous establishment. The reality wasn’t so impressive. It was nice and educational, but we drove an hour each way to see it, which in my opinion wasn’t really worth it at all. It was interesting to see the chocolates being made… it reminded me of my mom (not that she makes chocolates, but the chocolateers were in a very impressive kitchen being meticulously careful about the products they were crafting).

In the gift shop, I thought to buy some chocolates as souvenirs and possibly to send home, but the prices were astronomical and they weren’t sold individually, so that plan didn’t go through.

Once we left the chocolate museum, we decided to keep on with our museum phase and go to the Teddy Bear Museum. This was actually a cute and delightful experience.

Due to the fact that we’d eaten junk all day, I was really craving something remotely healthy. Jeju island is known for their home grown tangerines. I made Mariana pull over at the side of the highway so that I could buy some. They were expensive but worth every penny. So sweet and delicious; they definitely hit the spot!

A short while later we arrived at the museum. It was three floors and was filled with different types of teddy bears. Some were very historical and most were just scenes throughout history portrayed by bears. It was very cute and charming. We didn’t stay too long because we wanted to see the volcanic rocks before sunset.

(yes, this is the scene from the Titanic)

The volcanic rocks are said to be quite a sight. They are known to have very obscure shapes and rounded edges, unlike regular rocks. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the sun had set and it was quite dark, but it was enjoyable to be in a nice park overlooking the ocean.

The last thing we did for the evening was to head back to the north of the island. We all had flights leaving early the next morning so we thought it would be good to crash close to the airport. This worked out very well because our good friends Ross and Nicole (the couple I met one my flight to Korea) had just arrived in Jeju for their belated honeymoon. We decided to meet up and have dinner together (very romantic for them, I know!)

We found a cute little Korean restaurant and blindly chose two dishes off the menu not knowing what to expect. The food was surprising good and was made even better by the great company. It was very nice to meet up with friends especially since we were far from the mainland.

After a crazy day packed with activities, we were all pretty tired, so after dinner we found a love motel and crashed for the night.

The next morning came way too soon and soon I was on my flight back to Busan. After landing, I went to find the Airport Limousine to take me home, but one was leaving just as I bought my ticket. A bus driver saw that I missed the bus and asked where I was going. I told him and he said that I should just get in his bus. My area wasn’t one of his stops, but he seemed to say that it didn’t matter. I was the only person on this huge bus and he dropped me off right in front of my street… so helpful…And very surprising.

My boss was kind enough to give me the morning off because due to a scheduling miscommunication, I was actually supposed to start work at 9am on Monday. I quickly went home and showered and got to work for 1pm… it was a long day but a very rewarding weekend!

I LOVE JEJU!

Boryeong Mud Festival

Saturday morning bright and early we boarded the bus for the five hour ride to Boryeong (a town 200km south of Seoul) for the 8^th annual mud festival.

I was really looking forward to the weekend because it would be a new experience and also because many of my friends were going, so I knew it would be enjoyable.

Originally, the festival was intended to publicize the healing qualities of the Boryeong mud, which was the basis in many cosmetics. However over the past few years, it has become more of a tourist hot spot and a chance to let loose. Apparently in 2007, there were 2.2 million tourists that came in the two week period of the festival, so it draws a lot of tourism to the little town.

When the bus finally arrived, we were hugely disappointed to see large clouds in the sky. Just as we stepped onto the pavement there was a huge downpour that caught everyone by surprise, because the forecast said that it would be sunny all weekend. As we made it to our accommodation, everyone’s backpacks were soaking and the mood was slightly depressed.

Our accommodation was a pension—which is a common thing in Korea: it’s basically a room that gives you pillows and blankets and you sleep on the floor. I didn’t know what I expected when I signed up for this, but looking at the room, I was not overly impressed. The room was about the size of my family room back home and eleven people were supposed to cram into it. On top of that, there were only 8 blankets (which were supposed to be used as a bottom sheet and a top cover…. figure that math out!).

Nevertheless, after about 20 minutes of getting settled, we headed back outside to go to the beach. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the sun was beaming and it had turned into a beautiful day! Eric, Dorrial, Amy, Diana, Mariana and I headed to the beach where we were bombarded with mud plastered people.

The day was just starting but people were all into the festivities. The first thing we did was go to this station where you can cover yourself with mud… it was more liquid than I expected. It had the consistency of heavy whipping cream and actually felt nice on the skin.

Next we went to the local 7-eleven and bought some drinks and headed into the park where there were numerous mud slides, mud races, mud wrestling, mud prisons etc. My favourite experience of the weekend was the mud wrestling. There was a large inflatable pool filled about 3 inches deep with mud. People just went in and splashed around and got COVERED. It was great and I thororoughly enjoyed it (it reminded me a lot of the play fighting in my childhood). The fun stopped, when I got a mouthful of the stuff, but it was good while it lasted.

Walking around, a bit later we noticed that the lines were slightly long, so Amy and I decided to go to the beach after a while… we sipped some soju and drifted in water tubes.

On the beach was a large stage where they had performers and live music all day…. it created a very strong ‘spring break’ feel. This was probably the first time I’ve seen so many foreigners in Korea. Everywhere you looked there were people speaking English… it was very surreal and felt like I was out of Asia for the weekend.

Later that evening after we went back and showered and cleaned up (much more difficult than I would have expected, with all of that mud) we went out for dinner. The area was packed with people so it was slightly difficult to navigate around and find somewhere to eat… it ended up being bibimbap, a regular favourite.

After dinner, we took a stroll on the beach which was very nice. The crowds had moved to the main stage area and the beach was much less populated. The tide had gone way out and you could see many sea creatures crawling around in the sand.

At around 11:30, there was an amazing fireworks show. it was so beautiful to watch it on the beach because it was also reflected in the ocean. Amy told me that Gwangan (where I live) has an extraordinary fireworks show in October, so I’m excited for that.

A little while later Amy, Mariana and I decided to head back to our pension to try to get some sleep… this was not easily achieved on a floor that felt like concrete. The night was pretty rough…. the only way I was comfortable was sleeping on my back with my knees bent in the air. I was up pretty much every hour, on the hour, waiting for an appropriate time to start my day.

By 7am, I got up (with a very sore body) and left all of my friends still sleeping. I went for a long walk and got to observe how different the area looked without all of the people in it. The main attractions area was pretty creepy that early in the morning. All of the inflatable slides etc had been deflated and it looked very abandoned. By the time I made my way back around 9am, things were beginning to go up again, and life was returning.

Sunday was spent mainly on the beach. It was a beautiful day and the water was so nice (minus a bit of garbage floating around from all of the visitors… yum!). Some people decided to go back to the mud, but I didn’t want to be on a bus for 5 hours with mud crustys on my body.

As some of my friends went to soak up some mud, I stayed with our stuff on the beach and overheard people talking German… random! I started talking with them (testing out my Deutsch) and found that they were here from Austria on a 5 week learning exchange. It was great to meet new people and hear a foreign language that I actually could understand (unlike all of the Korean I’m surrounded by).

By 3pm we were back on the bus and arrived back in Busan by about 8:45… I was so ready to get off the bus! As I got back into my apartment, I knew I had a lot of dirty laundry to do, but the weekend was well worth it!

City Tour and Orphanage Visit

Saturday morning began very early at the subway station. A few friends and I departed to meet up with a local public school class who were hosting a foreigner’s tour. The kids don’t have much of an English program and so they decided to pair each child up with an English teacher and have them give us a tour for the day. Although the kids were nervous to give the tour, they were really excited to get to practice their English with native speakers.

My child’s name was Billy and he was 14 years old. At the beginning, he was very quiet but he warmed up to me throughout the day and we got to know each other very well.

The tour began on a double decker buss that took us around the city. It dropped us off in an area called Taejongdae which is known for it’s rugged beauty of cliffs on the coastline and a beautiful temple.

All along the tour, Billy was telling me well rehearsed facts of the area and I learned that the cliffs have been dated back 120 million years (that seems like a lot, but who knows). We stuck together for the day and I began learning many things about this boy. At one point, I went to the washroom and when I came out, he had bought an Iced Coffee for me… so sweet!

After seeing the cliffs and pebble beach at Taejongdae, we went to a nearby temple that was also having a flower festival. So many beautiful flowers! It reminded me of my grandmother back home, who happens to have quite the green thumb.

Lunch was next on the agenda. We were taken to a nice coffee shop and treated to sandwiches, smoothies, cake and coffee. It was rather surprising that the school has covered all of these costs for us… I wasn’t expecting such a nice spread.

After lunch we went to the Jalgalchi Fish Market, which is one of the largest around. Billy told me that the fish market is a great sign of ‘a mother’s love’ because after the war, everyone was very poor and it was the mothers who would catch and sell fish with the hopes of making some money for their families.

This was a very interesting experience because Billy was able to tell me all about the different fish and which ones he enjoys eating. Unlike me, who was rather squeamish around the moving fish, Billy quite enjoyed them. He enjoys fishing with his father so he showed me all of the fish that he usually catches.

The tour finished around 1pm and it was quick goodbyes as the kids went home. I plan on sending Billy an email with all of the pictures we took together.

After the tour, a small group of us continued onto another area in Busan. This event was for a local orphanage. The plan was to take all of the kids out to a garden and park area and play with them outside. However in the afternoon, the weather decided not to cooperate. It began pouring (and I mean pouring!). The streets were becoming flooded, so we all got into cabs and piled inside of the orphanage. Luckily, there was a large area that we could play in, so all was not lost.

I actually volunteered to go upstairs and play with the young kids. They’re about 2 years old and very playful. At first, they were slightly shy but after about ten minutes, I’d have four small children jumping all over me, playing with my hair and wanting to be tickled.

It was a really nice opportunity to go and interact with these cute kids. They were all very interested in my camera, and so I would carefully let them take pictures. It worked out quite well until one boy tried to smash his Lego block into the lens… then I put it away.

One interesting thing was that one of the boys was dressed in a pink outfit (that the girls wore), he had his hair in a little ponytail with a little charm in it, he had nail polish on and completely appeared to be a girl. The only way we noticed that he was a boy was when he was getting his diaper changed. I don’t understand why they would dress him as a girl… it seems that this would be rather confusing for him as he grows. We wanted to ask the staff, but this is virtually impossible with the language barriers… I guess it’ll stay a mystery.

Otherwise, the kids seemed quite well cared for. There were kids who couldn’t come and play because they had ‘hand, foot and mouth disease’, but luckily the rest of the children were healthy. There was something very soothing about playing with and comforting children who are so young. It’s based purely on non verbal communication and the underlining fact is that they don’t care who you are as long as you pick them up and hold them when they cry. It breaks my heart that these beautiful babies don’t have parents but at least they’re in an environment where most of their basic needs can be met.

At around 5pm the kids were ready for dinner which meant that it was time for us to go home. This was totally fine for me because I was on kid-overload. Although I enjoyed everything I did that day, I was ready to go home and relax!

Traditional Wedding Bells

I had recently found out that my friend Amy was invited to a traditional Korean wedding. I have experienced Korean weddings before but not the traditional kind so I was very intrigued. I asked Amy if it would be ok if I was her date and it was so I was very excited to be a part of the celebration taking place on Sunday July 3^rd.

The bride’s name is Sora and she is Korean. She is marrying a French man named Nicholas. They met on a blind date in Korea and decided to tie the knot. They will have two weddings—one in Korea and one in France.

On Sunday, the day of the wedding, I met up with Amy and two other friends, Diana and Kayse and we headed out to a town called Ochenjeong. We were told to arrive early because they had ordered traditional Korean outfits called Hanbaks and we would need help putting them on.

When we arrived to the location, we were surprised to see a beautiful asian inspired garden with a beautiful stage and chairs set up. Sora was getting ready in a Hanok which is a Korean house type room off to the side of the yard and we went in to see her and get ourselves dressed. Her wedding dress wasn’t the traditional white that I would expect but rather a beautiful intricate design of red, gold and many colours. She looked beautiful.

When it came time to put on the Hanbaks, there were only three (because I was an ‘add on’) so Amy, Kayse and Diana sported the look. It was really interesting watching the Korean women dressing them… there were so many steps involved. When they were finally ready, they looked like cute little Easter eggs… so bright and colorful!

When the ceremony began, a Korean dancer bagan and then Nicholas was brought to the ceremony area in a golden cart type thing that four men were carrying. He then stepped out and walked up to the ‘alter’. The ushers then laid out a white cloth pathway for the bride, who arrived in a golden cart carried by four women. She stepped out and made her way up to the ‘alter’ as well.

The ceremony was conducted by a Korean ‘minister’ (for lack of a better word). He spoke some English and would make little jokes throughout the ceremony. I noticed that the overall ceremony was very similar to a tea party.

Both the bride and groom sat on opposite sides of the alter and the minister would say things and then they would have to drink tea and eat rice cakes. Although the ceremony was conducted in Korean, the minister would randomly make comments in English about the groom’s use of chopsticks etc. It added quite a bit of humour.

As the ceremony was finishing up, the bride and groom stood in front of the audience. Two chickens were kept wrapped in cloth throughout the whole ceremony, but now they were unwrapped and brought to the front as well. I was quite nervous that there would be a sacrificial offering or something strange. Instead, they threw the chickens high in the air and they thudded on the ground (ouch!) and then ran around. At this point, various people in the audience began throwing rice at the couple and then the bride had to go on the groom’s back for a matrimonial piggy back ride.

After the outside ceremony finished we were brought back into the little Hanok and changed (this is where I tried on one of the Hanbak’s just to see what it looked like). At this time, the parents and Sora and Nicholas sat at a decorative table and had their own private ceremony. We weren’t sure whether we were intruding, so we decided to leave the Hanok and give them all some space.

Lunch followed the ceremony where there were plenty of different dishes.. all very delicious. As with other Korean weddings I’ve attended, dining isn’t as formal as back home. Once people sit at a table they just begin eating and there is no set up of a head table. None the less, it was very delicious and there was a beautiful baby beside us who was very charming.

After lunch we gave Sora and Nicholas an envelope with money inside (this is the typical gift… unless you’re family you don’t give actual presents, just money) and we headed home.

It was a great day filled with awesome new experiences!