Archive for August, 2009
Day 3 Jeju’s Unforgiving Weather
Aug 31st
We started the day in wonderful weather and grabbed a bus to the beach. On the way to the beach, the bottom fell out. We decided to turn around and head back home. We really thought that the worst of the rain had fallel and that we could get back without getting that wet…..Boy were we wrong. I have never been this wet. We crossed the street to grab a cab and luckily a cab stopped quickly after we got to the other side of the road. There was literally a gallon or two of water in the cab’s seats when we got out at JJ’s mother’s house. I had to dry out everything from my wallet and was extremely worried about my camera. My Lowepreo bag with rain cover came through. The outside was soaked. My padding inside the bag was a little damp, but my camera and lenses were not touched.
We had a bunch of time to kill inside, so we played some games, looked at old photographs and cooked a lot of food. This was when I noticed that I had made the Oh family Wall of Fame. Can you see my competitors. We joked that the reason that I am here is that my Korean level is about that of all the grandchildren.
This was our last day on the island.(Which sounds so wierd, since I am watching LOST as I type this) We had to get up early the next day to make it back to the mainland. The weather really cut one of the days out of our trip and I was really looking forward to getting some sunset shots on the beach. I may have to wait until Honolulu to get those. We are heading back to Jeju in a month, but it sounds like we are going to be way to busy for me to have any time to get back to the beach.
Today marks the 60 day count-down till we are back in the states.
Ilchulbong Volcanic Crater
Aug 30th
We got to Seongsan Ilchulbong(성산 일출봉) at about three in the afternoon after another hour long bus ride. You can read more about Ilchulbong here, here and here. Also, be sure and check out Joanne’s post over at the Jeju Life Blog. (They don’t update the blog anymore, but there is a wealth of information there) We began the short hike up to the top shortly after arriving. The climb was pretty easy and only took us about 30 minutes to get the top with multiple stops along the way. Having lived in Korea for over four years, I wasn’t surprised at all to see Korean women climbing to the top in dresses and high-heels.
There was a viewing section set up at the top. There were a bunch of tourist with us. I can only imagine what the sunrise would be like from this point.
We passed this rock on the way up and down the crater. There were benches set up about every 30 meters or so. There were plenty of opportunities to stop and take a rest.
At the foot of the crater there was an area with small convenience stores and a couple of restaurants. This area was hugely popular with everyone that finished the hike.
We had to use my gorillapod to get a photo of us at the base. We were pretty tired from a long day and headed back after having a couple of beers at the base.
We had so much planned for our third day, but……
Day 3 in a later post.
Old Friends Old Bars
Aug 30th
I lived in Yeongtong when I first moved to Korea. Yeongtong is a meduim sized area on the outskirts of Suwon. I lived here for almost two years and spent way too much time visiting all the local bars. Pavox was always my favorite and I spent way too much time and money here. It is a flair bar and they do put on a pretty good show. I won’t lie and say that it is cheap, their drinks are a little but more expensive than other bars in the area, but I always have had a good time here. I can’t tell you the number of times that the owner took me out for breakfast when they closed down for the night. It used to be one of the most popular bars that foreigners would flock to besides the infamous Now bar. It is a smaller place and unlike the Now bar, there are usually more Koreans than Westerners. This place is like my Cheers. They know my name and greet me with my favorite drink and my darts which they hold on to. We have always been treated well here and they even let me juggle bottles one night , but for some reason they wouldn’t let me breathe fire!
The above video was taken by one of my coworkers at my first school in Korea.
We ventured here last night with Patrick and Alex who are leaving soon. This was our last night with them before they head off on their European adventure. It was nice to come back to Pavox. Most of the staff has changed since I last visited here, but Danny and Kazoo still are there. We stayed for a few hours throwing darts and having some great drinks.
JJ Thanks for bringing your camera!
If you ever make it to Pavox, tell them that Mississippi Jason sent you. Try the mint shot, girly, but good! . Kazoo and Danny will both fix you up with a strong drink, but don’t play them in the darts.They are pretty good. We use to play for beer all the time and let’s just say that I bought them more beer than they bought me.
Pavox is located in Yeongtong on the same side of the street as the Now bar, but closer to the park. It is located in the last building on the right across from the love motel. It is on the second floor. When you get off the elevator, you can’t miss it!
Jeju Vacation Day 2 Sanbangsan
Aug 29th
We woke up early on Wednesday and were of course greeted to a huge breakfast cooked by JJ’s mom. After breakfast, we walked over to the bus terminal with JJ’s father. It took a while checking with everyone at the bus station to make sure that we were going the right way. At first I thought that no one had ever heard of Sanbangsan, but realized that they were just trying to figure out the fastest way. At one point, there were at least 6 people all looking at the bus route for us. We finally figured out which bus to take and were on our way. The driver was awesome and bowed to everyone when we boarded and let us know that he was going to take good care of us.
The weather was great and it was awesome to get some fresh air as opposed to that on the mainland. This area is on the southern part of the island. We were about an hour away from Seogwipo, We first headed down to Dragon Head Rock and walked around the beach where women were selling fresh seafood and soju that was way over-priced.
We weren’t allowed to climb this but spent a lot of time checking out the coastal area near the mountain.
She was refilling her bucket to hold the seafood that she had already caught. She was part of the group of women that were selling the seafood.
We had a great time enjoying the nice weather.
We stopped for some ice cold beer which was nice after walking around for a few hours.
If you have ever visited Jeju, you know that these statues are everywhere. These Dol hareubang(돌 하르방) statues are famous and a lot of tourist end up buying a couple of small ones to take home.
We ended up spending about four hours here and then made our way to Seogwipo for lunch.
Day 2 Part 2 To Come Later.
