Jeju Part 3 - Udo Island

By far my favorite part of Jeju was in fact a different island, Udo Island. The people on the island were great and we had a blast. To sum it up in a nutshell, we had a great camping spot, met the entire police force of Udo Island, saw women divers, went on a beautiful hike, and rented scooters. For some people, that would be an entire weeks worth of events. For Katrina and I, we managed to do all of that in two days. This is the final Jeju update and thus concludes my week of vacation, at least in terms of pictures.

(Campsite - right on the beach between two palm trees)


(The water - something special)


(Wishing rocks from what I understand. People in Korea stack rocks and make a wish. I'm not totally certain what happens if the rocks fall because I have seen plenty go down.)


(Sunset of the grape seed field)


(Women collecting seaweed - seems to be a popular form of income on the island as we saw 20 to 30 older women collecting it.)


(Sweet lighthouse on top of an awesome geological formation)


(This is the view from the lighthouse. Jeju island is in the background.)


(Famous stone statues found on Jeju)


(Katrina riding her scooter on the back streets of Udo Island. It cost us 30,000 won or about 30 bucks to rent two scooters for two hours. We had a lot of fun and got to see all the parts of the Island. I would highly recommend it.)


(Katrina in an action shot. I think she was scared someone was passing her, I'm not quite sure. However, I think this is my favorite shot of the whole trip!)

(Another beach on the island - you can see Hallasan faintly in the background, the tallest mountain in Korea and the one Katrina and I hiked up a few days before)


(Udo Island is famous for its women divers and apparently Jeju is as well. This is just a shot of Katrina on her scooter with the women getting ready. When I say women, I want you to know, these are not teenagers or 20 somethings. Many of these women looked well over 50.)


(The women in action. This woman is rolling a bag of seaweed out of the ocean. All the orange buoys correspond with a woman diving. GO LADIES!)


(The island is so famous for it's women divers there were statues all over the island and two right on our beach. Here's Katrina in an action photo with one of the statues.)


(The Udo Police Force. From left to right: Officer Jwa, military man, Daniel the magician, Katrina, myself, and the chief of police on Udo Island)

We got to the island and weren't sure if we could camp or not. So, Katrina asked one of the officers on patrol, "Camping. Ok?" He said, "Ok! Maybe..." Nevertheless we set up the tent. Then, a little later another police officer stopped by while we were on the beach and I asked again if it was ok and said it was ok, maybe. The next morning I heard someone say hello in Korean and got it. It was Officer Jwa. He asked if we were going to camp there again that evening and I said yes and asked if it was alright and he said no problem. I ended up talking to him for about 15 minutes and before he left he gave me his business card and cell phone number in case I had any problems on the island. He also told me he would come back later that day.

Katrina and I hiked up to the lighthouse that day then rented scooters. We were back on the beach and the next thing I know I hear, "J-Shi! J-Shi!" which is a common pronunciation of JC in Korea on a loudspeaker. Officer Jwa was in the police car using the loud speaker to get my attention. Katrina and I went over to our campsite and he had a coke, cookies, and some yogurt drinks for us. We chatted again for another 10 to 15 minutes. Same as earlier in the day, he told us he would be back later.

That evening he showed up with two bananas and we chatted some more. It was a bit chilly out so he invited us to the police station, which is the picture above. We spent about an hour or so at the police station, had some coffee, and learned a few magic tricks. It was a nice evening since there wasn't a lot we could do in our tent. So, if you ever make it to Udo Island be sure to say hello to the police, especially Officer Jwa and tell him J-Shi says hello.

(Katrina and I at the Ferry Terminal soak and wet from our walk in the rain. The great part about our walk was the scooter guy from the day before stopped and picked us up so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain. Like I said, I love Udo Island - great people.)

Jeju Part 2 - Donneko/Hallasan

After Jungmun and the falls, we hopped on a bus to the Segwipo area. We explored a bit in the area and had some Dunkin' Doughnuts before catching a bus to the Donneko Campsite. Once at the campsite, we set up our tent, and went for another little hike. We saw some signs for waterfalls so we went down to check them out. I'm not sure, but I think in Korea if there is a trickle of water, that constitutes a waterfall.

After our hike, Katrina and I decided to head back into town due to the fact that we weren't completely prepared for camping. We ended up buying a pizza and taking it back for dinner as well as getting some supplies for our hike up Hallasan the next day.

The hike was great, wasn't very difficult, but Donneko trail didn't have the best views. There was a great view right when we started the hike and then again about 20 minutes from the top. In between, there were a lot of trees. Nevertheless, it was a great hike and we hardly saw any people. It was a bit cold closer to the peak. We had rain the night before which was laying on the ground as a bit of snow as we went up the mountain. I thought I had frostbite at the top without any gloves and only in a t-shirt, fleece, and wind jacket. However, we made it down and cooked some dinner before going to sleep and going to Udo.

(Me as I conquer Korea's Niagara Falls)


(A very big rock, in the same riverbed as the waterfall)


(The hike up to the trail. The campsite is actually about an hour walk to the start of the trail. Catch the number 3 bus closer to the top and get off at the "Loyal Soul Cemetery" if you are hiking. It's the last one. This was just an interesting rock formation with grave plots in the background.)


(Me hiking, great hike, just lots of woods)


(More woods and here you can see the snow that fell the night before)


(The was a platform at the top with Seogwipo in the background and the ocean behind it)


(Great shot from Katrina - peak in the background and ice crystals on the branches. Those ice crystals are about half an inch long formed by the wind and moisture from the clouds which had constantly brazed the peak.)


(That's as close as we got to the peak due to time, tiredness, and the fact it was FREEZING!)


(Katrina as we were finishing our hike)


(A better view of the plots. Each plot was walled in and I had never seen or perhaps noticed, the unique style of burial, at least to me.)

(Cooking up ramen for dinner at the campsite with our new stove and warming up our hands a bit)

* The Donneko campsite was a great campsite. There was a shower house and bathrooms. Also, there were plenty of places for kids to play and even a rock wall. I would recommend it, especially if you rent a car. If not, make sure you head to the campsite supplied. The buses out there don't run very often, maybe once an hour. So, you might spend some time waiting for a bus or waiting to find one back to the campsite. With that being said, make sure you look at the schedule so you know what time you have to be at the bus.

Jeju Part 1 - Jungmun

The bus ride to the airport was longer than the flight to Jeju but everything worked out great! Somehow, on the flight over, we were upgraded to first class. First time ever I rode first class, I was just sorry it was such a short flight. Got off the plane, grabbed our bags, and headed to the information desk. We had a rough plan, if indeed you could call it a plan, of things we wanted to do and places to visit. Our first stop was the south part of the island - Jungmun, a resort area. We couldn't really find a place to camp, even asking the Tourist Information center. There was an area, but it was a bit shady. So, we stayed in a minbak for the night and had panjeong, a Korean pancake (flour, egg mix with vegetables and seafood or kimchi usually). We woke up and explored some of the area, which we had done a lot of the night before, walking around looking for a campsite, and decided to see the falls. Later in the afternoon, it was off to Seogwipo before moving on to the Donneko Camping Grounds.

(Katrina literally laying down in first class)


(Us as we got off the bus to begin our adventure. It's hard to hold the camera and take a good picture)


(The beach at Jungmun - beautiful)


(Part of the waterfall area we visited - interesting rock formations)


(The trail in the area, a nice little hike to start the day)


(Katrina and I at one of the three waterfalls)


(Katrina on this very steep bridge)


(View from the bridge)


(Last waterfall - couldn't get too close...)

Itaewon, Indigo, and Pizzarium

Last Saturday Katrina had to do some shopping for her family back home so we went to Insadong first to pick up some goodies then over to Itaewon to grab a bite to eat. We met up with Spenser, Erik, Sori, and eventually Justin and went to an interesting sandwich shop called Indigo. We ended up spending about 5 or 6 hours there just drinking and having a good time. Met an interesting fellow named Shelton who is attempting to start his own newspaper. After that, we decided to get some pizza at Pizzarium in Itaewon, not the best, but not bad. It has always smelled so delicious and I have always wanted to try it, so I did. Had some problems catching a bus home and ended up taking the subway to Gangnam then back to Katrina's place. It all worked out, it just took a little longer than normal.

( JC & Katrina )

( half of Spenser's amazing chicken pesto sandwich )

( Erik and Sori )

( Justin contemplating the meaning of life )

( the decor in Indigo )

( Sori & Katrina )

( Menu Board at Pizzzarium - some interesting flavors)

( The choices, each rectangle is a serving )

( Justin, Katrina & myself)

( Like I said, tasted good. I think it looked and smelled better than it tasted. Maybe I hyped myself up a little too much. )

( Pizzarium )

Jinhae Cherry Blossoms and Jagged Ridge

I'm not sure how many weekends ago it was, maybe 2 or so, I headed South with Katrina along with some other friends. We were headed to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival, which we did on Sunday, as well as the best hike I have been on so far - Jagged Ridge Island. We took a bus over night and got there early enough Saturday to watch the sun rise. From there, we took a ferry to the island, went on our hike and then took the ferry back. We slept in a pension Saturday night, got up early Sunday, went and saw a turtle ship then headed to the cherry blossom festival. We had about 2 hours at the festival before returning back to Seoul. (My apologies for the delay, I have had some serious problems with blogger lately...) Here are some pictures from the trip.

(From of the island from the ferry - notice the jagged ridges, hence the name)

(The group as we prepare to start our hike - Spenser, Katrina, myself, Justin, and Amarisse)

(Placing a stone on a good luck pile)


(Sweet little lunch spot, if I do say so myself)


(The person with their arms raised is me)


(Spenser had to have this Lord of the Ringsesque photo. Looks good Spenser, looks good.)


(Part of the hike, up the side of a little hill)


(Me going up that little hill - in the grey shirt)


(Another action shot of the group)


(The boys posing on one of the peaks)


(Spenser and Katrina eating dinner - 10,000 won for all the meat you could eat, essentially)

(Turtle ship - called such because of the roof)


(Katrina and I at the Cherry Blossom festival)


(Me walking along the river with the hordes of other people)

(Fun pose at the cherry blossom festival - missing Amarisse and Spenser, sadly)


(Some interesting food at the festival - baby chickens, maybe?)