John’s Diary – Part 3b Jeju
Feb 24th 2007
Time for a holiday down south at Jeju Island. Feel free to leave a comment at http://gcasey.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/johns-diary/#comments
We had 11 nights on the island of Jeju – quite a lengthy holiday. Jeju City (population 300,000) is the capital and is on the northern shore. Seogwipo (80,000) is the only other sizable city and that is located on the opposite coast, hence south of the capital. The island has a volcanic mountain range across the middle so that although it’s only 40 km between these two cities it takes 70 minutes to travel that distance by bus. The circumference of the island is only 180 km and it is considered the “honeymoon” island for Koreans. The island is also linked by ferry and plane to Japan and China.
The view from our hotel room (not many people in for the winter months) is spectacular – city scape including “bright lights”, coastal view, airport take off and landing. The advertisement promised internet access in our room but its “not working” so we can only use the internet in the Business Centre, but we manage.
The ferry trip here from Mokpo took almost 5 hours and we have decided that we will return directly to Seoul by plane for about the same cost as boat plus bus/train and at a saving of at least 8 hours in travel time.
The Mokpo ferry passed hundreds of islands/islets continuously throughout the trip. The cost was ~Aus$28 each for economy class (there were 3 other classes all the way up to a stateroom with big bed and a sitting room for ~Aus$110 each) and our economy accommodation was shared with approx 20 people many of whom stretched out and slept horizontally next to each other. We spent most of the time on deck or in the comfortable chairs in the lounge and dining areas. Being winter time there were few passengers. For the first time we had “toast” which is a toasted scrambled egg sandwich with, of all things, sugar sprinkled over it. We have since had this twice more with added cheese and/or ham but have finally mastered the art of restraining the use of their automatic addition of sugar. (Almost all Korean bread is sweet and it is difficult to purchase “normal” bread.)
We are now “experts” in using the buses (there is no subway system here) and have had several lengthy trips that could almost rate as tours – for less than a dollar each. Of course there are times when it doesn’t go as planned, when you end up in the “sticks” because you got on as the bus was going in the other direction than that which you intended.
We are not so expert in the use of the Post Office, however. We mailed some gifts to Gail’s friends in Gwanju (sorry, nothing for those in Australia and, anyway, it would take 2 months to get there) and the experience consumed almost 2 hours – it’s quite difficult when there is a language barrier. After one package was finally posted (and ~half an hour of “discussion”) I returned to the same woman who had been serving me, with another 2 packages; she put her head on her desk and covered her head with both arms. I think she liked me, a Korean gesture of friendship – what do you think?
The lunar new-year saw 3 days (18 -20 Feb this year) of limited transport and shopping. We saw people in traditional clothing as families linked together in celebration. More than 30 million Koreans travelled to the homes of their elders at this time and road/bus/train travel, by others, was to be avoided if possible.
We’ve travelled to Seogwipo (~$4 each way) where we went for a walk to a waterfall and we came across an Englishman (he stood out like a beacon, of course) and his youthful Korean wife, who had worked for some years in the UK. They had been here for ~3 years in total and he was eager to speak with Australians which he assured us are far superior to the few Canadians and Americans that are seen hereabouts. They showed us around the park (very pretty and relaxing) then took us to their apartment, gave us tea and home-made wine (he called it Rose and is a blend of grape and mandarin) which is genuinely nice and professionally presented as well. We left feeling very spoilt and with 2 bottles of the aforementioned home produce. We just finished both tonight – only 5 days later.
Having seen their quality apartment, for reasonable rent, made Gail think that it was time we settled somewhere (my sentiments too) and she immediately applied for an English teaching job (there are dozens that appear each day) – and consequently she has an interview 2 hours after we arrive back in Seoul.
We’ve also done numerous other touristy sorts of things around the island – the area where the 3 demi-gods came down to (or up from) the earth ~4300 BC, a park of strange natural wooden and stone shapes, the City Hall, markets with fish arranged next to clothing, beaches (mostly poor by Australian standards with no surf even though it is an island), a dragon shaped coastal rock and a theme park called Loveland (probably would be better described as “sexland”) as well as many towns and coastal and mountain views.
Hallim Park was a wonderful surprise – we had believed it to be a botanical garden but found that in addition it had a lava cave and a limestone cave (half a km), stone and bonsai garden (one pine was 300 years old), bird zoo, water garden (complete with artificial waterfalls, etc), exhibition hall, a traditional folk village and a series of large subtropical hothouses. We spent 3 hours there instead of it being a stop-off point for lunch.
At the 5 day market (its on every 5th day, – each month on the 2nd, 7th, 12th etc) we were given rice cakes by a man who was buying them for his kids and obviously thought that westerners should try them (for free) and 5 minutes later a woman chased us to give us popcorn and health beans made in the traditional way in a sort of very hot and large pressure cooker. At home there would have been an “agenda” but these people simply wanted us to experience their culture, no charge. This market was enjoyable as it seemed to represent ordinary farmers as well as traders – almost all things were available and (both Jodie and Shaun would understand) I was particularly wanting one of the many puppies for sale. No puppies, but we did buy food and cosmetic items.
On the bus today (a one hour trip) a young man and his girlfriend were eating mandarins and left their seats to offer one each to us with the assurance that they were delicious (they were). Nice people.
On Saturday we went to the world’s largest lava cave, more than 7 km long, but the bus dropped us off more than 3 km from it – so we walked. Then, in the cave (which is huge but has no other “attractions”) there was a 1 km walk – each way – and then after a short taxi ride and a 15 km bus ride Gail decided that we should walk up (and down) a mountain – vertically – she says that the view from the top was okay, but I cannot confirm this as I only got to ~80% of the way before deciding that it couldn’t be worth it. This mountain (Ilchubong) is considered to be Korea’s number one attraction and I can agree (with ~ 80% certainty); it was fantastic both looking up and down – across the bay, the township and the ocean (but it was a bloody steep mountain) – very organised and set up for tourists (almost all Korean) of course.
Of course there are almost no “Caucasians” here – in total I have seen 7 white (the Englishman, 3 in the supermarket and 3 climbing a mountain) people in 10 days and I feel sure that I have missed none; as I have said (or similarly) they stand out like a bright light-house beacon at night.
Koreans are not as vertically challenged as I had been led to expect. Older people often are short but about 25 years ago they started giving their children milk, hence bone growth became more rapid and consequently younger male Koreans are my height or taller. I do not stand out above the crowd, only as white.
Generally in Korea, tourist attractions and department stores and subway stations, etc have western-style toilets (and would shame those in Australia for cleanliness etc) but public amenities elsewhere may be mainly of the Asian “squat” type; there, you need to take paper (if its available at all) with you from the general toilet entry into the cubicle, as there are no toilet rolls therein and the toilet “bowl” is, of course, at ground level.
For me, walking as a pedestrian is dangerous in Korea. Not because it’s Korea but because of the direction of traffic flow (they drive American style – on the right side of the road). My built in, automatic reaction is always wrong – if I look right I needed to look left and vice versa – and although we both have international drivers licences I will not consider driving, even though there is clear sense to what should occur here, but my auto-sense would let me down every time, similar to when crossing the road as a pedestrian where I am more likely to step in front a moving vehicle than not.
Also, many Korean food outlets don’t understand requests such as “chicken only”; this means, to them, chicken, kimche radish, kimche cabbage, chilli sauce, kimche sauce, gherkins, garlic pieces, onion and/or egg soup and onion pieces (only a minor exaggeration) – the add-ons are so much a part of their way of life that they do it without noticing. (This is “chicken only”.) In addition, take away food outlets sometimes have inflexible “sets” where you have to have the entire group of foods and cannot select individual items.
