Melkon planned our time in Jeju down to (what felt like) the minute. In two and a half days on the volcanic island, we climbed a volcano, basked in hot springs, spelunked down a lava tube, explored a tea plantation, raced children in a giant maze, clambered up one of the few waterfalls that falls directly into the sea, and attempted to eat fancy sushi. By the end of our time there, my very sore feet had decided to give up (though that was mostly due to the 12 mile hike up a mountain in only running sneakers - we'll get to that).
We got around to all of these places in our handy dandy Kia Morning, a tiny shell of a car that refused to go above 60mph or accelerate faster than me when I've discovered there's cake in the next room. This was frustrating for Melkon but great for me, since I could relax knowing he could never speed! (We disagree most heartily on appropriate driving techniques.) I was also helped in my cause by the GPS, which screamed out an annoying jingle every 10 minutes or so - whenever we passed a camera speed trap. The GPS also possessed the helpful feature of programming in phone numbers - you just punch in the phone number of your desired establishment, and boom! Avoid all the confusion of typing in Korean script. I'm not sure how well this will survive in the age of cell phones, but it worked well during our few days on the island.
Melkon and I dueled over comfortable ambient temperatures as well. Melkon, I have learned, prefers the air to be freezing cold, while he wears several layers of long -sleeve shirts. I am not a fan of this setup, and would much prefer a comfy 70 degrees or so. This probably makes Melkon the truer New Englander, but me the more regular human.
Anyhow, our first full day in Jeju we decided to hike up Mount Halla, the volcano that formed the island. This was a humbling experience for me to say the least. I've hiked before, even long hikes, but this was a killer. 6 miles of stairs the way up, and 6 miles of sliding down snow and risking my ankles on uneven boulders the way down. It. Was. HARD. Thankfully Melkon was a sweetheart and carried my bag halfway up, and cajoled me up the other half of the mountain with promises of "you'll be so glad you did this later" as I scorched his eyeballs with my fiery death glare. I had thought two months of walking miles every day would prepare me, but I've never been so wrong. We made it up the mountain, but not without my ego sustaining a severe blow (along with, I'm sure, Melkon's estimation of my amiability). This was made worse by all the old Korean ladies passing me at every turn. Really, there were older Korean people, at least 60 years old, scrambling up the trail past me with mountain-goat alacrity, not even sweating through their perfect makeup. Melkon was right - it was beautiful, and I am glad I did it....but 5 days later, my feet still hurt.
Below: beautiful Mount Halla photographed by the cranky and tired Lauren
That night we collapsed and almost gave up before dinner, but I dragged Melkon out of bed when Google revealed an amazing coincidence: one of the best restaurants in the island lay only a few minutes from us, and it was an udon place to boot! Nothing could keep me from scarfing down all my burned calories in the form of curry udon. (Udon is my favorite noodle, a thick wheat-based noodle originally from Japan generally served in soups with tempura.)
Below: curry of the gods
The next day, we tried to hit all the major sightseeing destinations: the tea plantation, lava tubes, hot springs, and sushi. We first visited the tea plantation Osulloc, on the western side of the island. We strolled around a cursory museum, are some overpriced green tea flavored delicacies, and headed out to the fields. It was lovely. One of the most surprising things I learned was that black and green tea come from the same leaves, but black tea leaves are fermented while green tea leaves are not allowed to ferment.
Below: tea party
We next ventured to the hot springs, hoping to relax our aching muscles. We didn't realize the springs were sex-segregated except for a few small outdoor pools, or that the sex segregated parts did not happen to feature clothes of any kind. We hung out in the outdoor pools awhile (properly bathing-suited up), then went inside for individual adventures. I had always presumed Korean culture to be a bit more proper or modest than the US, but there was not even a pretense of modesty here. Perhaps modesty here only applies when dealing with the opposite gender? Whatever the case, I followed suit and relaxed in a set of tubs with 50 older naked ladies. It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, but even so I'm not sure it's an experience I will repeat.
Melkon and I then attempted to visit the lava tube, only to be turned away at the entrance with the excuse of "closed for holiday." This actually happened to us quite a bit, especially in restaurants - some establishments which were clearly open would greet us with the cry of " closed" and crossed arms. Sometimes, I'm sure, this was truly the case, but other times I wonder if the trouble of a translated menu were not worth our business. For the lava tubes, nobody else was visiting, so I'm fairly confident it was well and truly closed. Instead we ran through a large maze nearby, initially confident we would complete it within 5 minutes with the other 5% of the population who were geniuses, but were reluctantly satisfied with our ~15 minutes time. We then headed to the city for a very fancy sushi place (Melkon loves sushi), only to be turned away by the hostess, who said it was closed even though we saw other patrons eating. A quick Google search led us to a better option, which fed us far more food than we had imagined. We had ordered a set of dishes, but had forgotten how much there was - when the waiter saw my incredulous look upon serving the 6th dish, he told me "Korean people eat a lot!".
Below: food food food and mazes
The next morning we scrambled up a waterfall for a few pictures before racing to the lava tube before our flight. Miraculously, I did not break my ankle in either place, and even survived with a few good pictures.
Below: waterfalling and spelunking
After our week in Jeju, Melkon sadly departed for home, while I continued on to my final destination: Japan.
We got around to all of these places in our handy dandy Kia Morning, a tiny shell of a car that refused to go above 60mph or accelerate faster than me when I've discovered there's cake in the next room. This was frustrating for Melkon but great for me, since I could relax knowing he could never speed! (We disagree most heartily on appropriate driving techniques.) I was also helped in my cause by the GPS, which screamed out an annoying jingle every 10 minutes or so - whenever we passed a camera speed trap. The GPS also possessed the helpful feature of programming in phone numbers - you just punch in the phone number of your desired establishment, and boom! Avoid all the confusion of typing in Korean script. I'm not sure how well this will survive in the age of cell phones, but it worked well during our few days on the island.
Melkon and I dueled over comfortable ambient temperatures as well. Melkon, I have learned, prefers the air to be freezing cold, while he wears several layers of long -sleeve shirts. I am not a fan of this setup, and would much prefer a comfy 70 degrees or so. This probably makes Melkon the truer New Englander, but me the more regular human.
Anyhow, our first full day in Jeju we decided to hike up Mount Halla, the volcano that formed the island. This was a humbling experience for me to say the least. I've hiked before, even long hikes, but this was a killer. 6 miles of stairs the way up, and 6 miles of sliding down snow and risking my ankles on uneven boulders the way down. It. Was. HARD. Thankfully Melkon was a sweetheart and carried my bag halfway up, and cajoled me up the other half of the mountain with promises of "you'll be so glad you did this later" as I scorched his eyeballs with my fiery death glare. I had thought two months of walking miles every day would prepare me, but I've never been so wrong. We made it up the mountain, but not without my ego sustaining a severe blow (along with, I'm sure, Melkon's estimation of my amiability). This was made worse by all the old Korean ladies passing me at every turn. Really, there were older Korean people, at least 60 years old, scrambling up the trail past me with mountain-goat alacrity, not even sweating through their perfect makeup. Melkon was right - it was beautiful, and I am glad I did it....but 5 days later, my feet still hurt.
Below: beautiful Mount Halla photographed by the cranky and tired Lauren
That night we collapsed and almost gave up before dinner, but I dragged Melkon out of bed when Google revealed an amazing coincidence: one of the best restaurants in the island lay only a few minutes from us, and it was an udon place to boot! Nothing could keep me from scarfing down all my burned calories in the form of curry udon. (Udon is my favorite noodle, a thick wheat-based noodle originally from Japan generally served in soups with tempura.)
Below: curry of the gods
The next day, we tried to hit all the major sightseeing destinations: the tea plantation, lava tubes, hot springs, and sushi. We first visited the tea plantation Osulloc, on the western side of the island. We strolled around a cursory museum, are some overpriced green tea flavored delicacies, and headed out to the fields. It was lovely. One of the most surprising things I learned was that black and green tea come from the same leaves, but black tea leaves are fermented while green tea leaves are not allowed to ferment.
Below: tea party
We next ventured to the hot springs, hoping to relax our aching muscles. We didn't realize the springs were sex-segregated except for a few small outdoor pools, or that the sex segregated parts did not happen to feature clothes of any kind. We hung out in the outdoor pools awhile (properly bathing-suited up), then went inside for individual adventures. I had always presumed Korean culture to be a bit more proper or modest than the US, but there was not even a pretense of modesty here. Perhaps modesty here only applies when dealing with the opposite gender? Whatever the case, I followed suit and relaxed in a set of tubs with 50 older naked ladies. It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, but even so I'm not sure it's an experience I will repeat.
Melkon and I then attempted to visit the lava tube, only to be turned away at the entrance with the excuse of "closed for holiday." This actually happened to us quite a bit, especially in restaurants - some establishments which were clearly open would greet us with the cry of " closed" and crossed arms. Sometimes, I'm sure, this was truly the case, but other times I wonder if the trouble of a translated menu were not worth our business. For the lava tubes, nobody else was visiting, so I'm fairly confident it was well and truly closed. Instead we ran through a large maze nearby, initially confident we would complete it within 5 minutes with the other 5% of the population who were geniuses, but were reluctantly satisfied with our ~15 minutes time. We then headed to the city for a very fancy sushi place (Melkon loves sushi), only to be turned away by the hostess, who said it was closed even though we saw other patrons eating. A quick Google search led us to a better option, which fed us far more food than we had imagined. We had ordered a set of dishes, but had forgotten how much there was - when the waiter saw my incredulous look upon serving the 6th dish, he told me "Korean people eat a lot!".
Below: food food food and mazes
The next morning we scrambled up a waterfall for a few pictures before racing to the lava tube before our flight. Miraculously, I did not break my ankle in either place, and even survived with a few good pictures.
Below: waterfalling and spelunking
After our week in Jeju, Melkon sadly departed for home, while I continued on to my final destination: Japan.
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