We finally went to Jeju-do!

The week after New Year's our boss told us to take a much needed vacation.  So, where do you go in winter on a short schedule? Jeju Island!  This little island is south of Korea.  They like to call it the Hawaii of Korea, but its more like the Florida and South Georgia of Korea.  It does have lots of volcanic rocks, but its not quite tropical.  We decided to take the ferry there to add more to our trip.  Riley had never been on a boat that long.  It was called the Pink Dolphin.  It was a small ferry with only passengers, so it went really fast.  This was nice to get there, but we both got a little seasick on the way.

This is supposed to be a dragon that was turned to stone for stealing something from the mountain god

Jeju has palmettos and volcanic rock everywhere.  Also, there is fish everywhere.  In front of every seafood restaurant there are usually fish or octopus, but in Jeju they were much bigger than I was used to.  The first evening we wandered down the waterfront past the restaurants and Ramada Inn Casino to see a lava rock in the ocean that is supposed to look like a dragon.

Lava Tube!

We traveled on the bus the next day to explore lava tubes.  The bus let us off about a mile from the lava tubes and we got to walk though a rural country side with woods and birds.  It was really nice.  The tubes were neat, and we ran into the one touristy place we went, a giant maze of hedges.  We even got lost!  I kept expecting to run into a spinx.

Riley lost in the maze

Then we headed off to one of the most photographed places on the island.  Its a volcanic crater off the coast.  Its almost an island,but its eroded its way back to the mainland.  You can climb up the side and watch the sunrise on the stands on the edge (its called Sunrise Peak).  It was really beautiful, but it seems smaller the closer you get to it.

Sunrise Mountain.  Believe it or not, the trail to the top is only 1km.

 The next day we headed off across the island past the Teddy Bear Museum, the Citrus Museum, the Glass Castle, horseback riding, Riply's Believe it or Not, and various other tourist traps.  This is one of the most popular vacation places for Koreans, so there are many places that cost lots of money.  We decided to go to our own tourist spot, McDonald's breakfast!  It was right next to our hotel, and real sausage was amazing!

Look!  Hashbrowns!  Real creamer!

The south side of the island was really nice.  It had a lazy feel to it with little islands of the coast and nice cliffs with a few waterfalls into the ocean.  We traveled to some cliffs that looked like french fries.  Somehow, cooling lava forms the shapes as it cools.

French fry cliffs

The next day we climbed the highest mountain in Korea, the dormant volcano that created Jeju Island in the first place.  Luckily, the bus drops you off halfway up.  We got up early and started as the sun came up.  It was covered in snow.  A beautiful 9.6 km trek through the woods.  There were lots of people with us, but the only animals I could see were these large crows that would sit in trees near the trails and stare at you, waiting to see if you would make it.  You had to make it mostly up the mountain by 12pm or they wouldn't let you up that last 2 km to the rim of the crater.  We did make it, and we ate lunch at the top.  You could see the edge of the whole island from the top.  The crater was huge and had a frozen lake in the middle.  Then we hiked the 9.6 km back.  There was a little mountain with a crater on the way down.  It had the best view of what we had just climbed.

Flat woods!  Don't be fooled, there were a lot of people on this trail.

Riley above the tree line

We made it to the crater!  I'm glad its dormant, its huge!

Where we just climbed.  Going down was a lot faster than going up.

Our last day we had a little more time.  So, we decided to go to a 800 year old forest to pass the time.  This is the only forest of its kind in the world.  The tree is called nutmeg, but its related to the yews.  The forest was really old and peaceful.  The trees were used for oil from their nuts, and the wood is very beautiful.  The wood was used to make a board for a game as a present for the king.  The king liked this wood so much, he declared this forest to be preserved.  Thus, the very old forest.

Old trees!

Then we hopped on the ferry and headed back.  We knew the ferry would be bigger because it held cars, but we didn't expect the seven eleven, cafeteria, bakery, coffee shop, concert, and arcade.  It was like being on a cruise.  We couldn't hardly feel the waves.  The dining room even had chandeliers on the ceiling.  We didn't get seat, but were assigned to a small room with about 10 other people to sit on the floor (or sleep as several of our fellow passengers did).  It was a very nice way to finish off our trip to Jeju!

The dining room on the ferry boat.

 Our trip to Jeju was a nice refresher to many of the things we miss here in Korea: flat woods, old woods, and sausage for breakfast!