In case you are wondering the significance behind the Chuseok holiday, read here and here for more information and to read what I did last year.
제주도 or Jeju island is located off the southwest coast of Korea. It is a major holiday and honeymoon destination for Koreans. The island is beautiful and covered with volcanoes, mountains (including the tallest mountain in SoKo which we weren't able to climb because it was raining so hard, booo,--guess we just have to go back!) and of course, beaches. My first thought after landing was how green it was! Seoul is definitely a concrete jungle so it was nice to be surrounded by grass (and palm trees!). :)
Some fellow SFSers (Misty, Kristen, Laura) and I planned this trip during the summer and we decided to go through Adventure Korea. Adventure Korea is a tour group that plans the entire trip (flights, accommodation, transportation, interpretation, food) for a large group of people (there were 40 people total on our trip). It was my first trip with them and everything went smoothly. I definitely plan to use them again for another trip around SoKo.
On Saturday, September 10th, we got up early and headed off to Gimpo airport (the other airport in Seoul which is a lot closer than Incheon). We met the rest of the Adventure Korea Jeju trip travelers, got on our plane and headed off to Jeju. The flight was only 55 minutes long. Our first stop after we landed was a restaurant. Then we headed off to our first hike of the trip, Mt. Songak.
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| Check out the differences in packing and traveling style between us:) |
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| Gimpo airport |
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| Outside of the restaurant and our first stop in Jeju. Time for touristy pictures! |
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| Views as we climbed Mt. Songak |
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| Beautiful Jeju |
After our first hike, we headed to an interactive show called Airarang. It included taekwondo performers, nanta drums and B-boy dancers.
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| Taekwondo! |
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| The Korean flag while everyone yelled the famous soccer chant "Dae Han min guk!" which means Rep of SoKo |
We then headed to our hotel, had dinner and rested for the next day. The next day we attempted to hike Mt. Hallasan but the weather was really bad. Instead we went to Jusangjleori to get some great views of the coastline. Then we went to Hallim Park, the biggest park on the island (which also included a lava tube cave) and we ended the day by goin to Jungbang waterfall, which drops straight into the sea.
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| I survived. |
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| Amazing views of the coastline |
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| Sporting our hats at Hallim Park |
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| Group shot by the waterfall
On Monday we were able to sleep in a little bit and headed off to Loveland which is an outdoor sculpture park. Some of the sculptures showed the human form in all its glory...haha. The sculptures were designed and built by graduates of Hongdae University. Misty said that they should've named it Lustland because all the sculptures are sex-based. It was definitely very odd. Haha! Here are a few PG-13 pictures.
awkward!
Next, we headed to the beach for some much needed relaxation. We took a nap, went swimming and then rented a little boat for a few hours.
 
Our last day, we headed to a green tea plantation and climbed the Jeju Volcanic Island.
  
We also did noreabang one night, took many group pictures and ate a lot!
   What a fun trip! |
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