After weeks in the ubiquitous Japanese housing development, I'm finally getting out into the nature again! We covered Seoul in the last installment of the miniseries, and today I'm off to the volcanic island of Jeju, Korea's pearl in the Yellow Sea that hides many of the natural wonders of this stunning part of the world.
Flight to Jeju
The domestic terminal at Seoul's Incheon Airport is very clear, unlike the international one. I picked up a boarding pass at the counter like a pub receipt, went through fast security and within moments we were boarding and flying. Absolutely no problems, everything was fast, professional. The tarmac staff waved to us as we taxied in and within moments we were turning left after takeoff with a view of all of Seoul further down the track to Jeju, where we landed as the sun set after an hour's flight. Jeju (or also Cheju) is not a particularly large island, about 80 kilometers in length. After landing, the shuttle took us to the terminal and we just walked through the doors out of the airport. No checkpoints, just like when one drives an hour and a bit to, say, Budweis.
When I came out of the airport, it was already dark. I made it to my accommodation about 2 kilometers away in the capital of Jeju Island, Jeju Town. Jeju City itself isn't particularly interesting, so tomorrow I'll head straight on to the natural attractions of the island, which is why I'm here in the first place.
A motel accommodation in Jeju for a few hundred CZK. Cheap and good accommodation.
Interesting fact: Sometimes you can find a shower system in accommodations, where instead of a shower and tub, the whole bathroom is like one big bathtub. What does it matter that when you take a shower there is water everywhere and then you have to wade in it when you go to the toilet or sink...
East side of Jeju - Manjanggul lava tunnel and Seongsang Ilchulbong peninsula
I will be getting around the island by public transport, mainly buses. I've heard that they don't run very often and it's quite a problem to get anywhere with buses. I can't confirm that though, I think they have a good system. The two main stations are in Jeju in the north and in Seogwipo in the south of the island and between them the lines run across the island like a dividing cell in metaphase between centromeres. They are numbered consecutively, and the app shows the current buses, where they are, the number of stops to a particular stop, and the time remaining until arrival. What more does one need. The information system here is online, so even at the stops there are panels with the same up-to-date data, on the buses there are panels reporting the current and next stop, even in every bus there is wifi. When boarding, you just beep your T-money card and get off somewhere. No delays with payments. This is probably the best system I've seen anywhere. Even in the UK they didn't have better. As technology and information technology gets involved, it often makes life easier.
The driver drove the bus as if he had stolen it from somewhere. They all drive kind of aggressively here. But for a bus to be jumping over speed bumps, banging from side to side on curvy stretches of road, and falling over while rounding curves, I haven't seen that in a long time. An hour into the journey, I got off at Manjanggul Cave and walked the two kilometres to
There was hardly anyone at Manjanggul cave at noon, the crowds didn't arrive until around two when I left. The cave is actually a lava tunnel where lava flowed thousands of years ago during volcanic and volcanic activity on the island. It's about 8 kilometers long in total, with one cave open. But it's still enough and it's a real treat - a tunnel of solidified lava, different narrow and wide sections, ledges, stalactites, sinkholes, rafts, other special formations. And at the end is the largest lavafall in the world. The whole lava cave is probably the largest and most extensive in the world, which is why it is on the UNESCO list.
After visiting the cave, I returned to the stop on the main road around the perimeter of the island, waited again for bus 201 and continued further east to Seongsan Ilchulbong, a pseudo island or peninsula with beautiful scenery and 180 meters of elevation gain.
Although the weather was quite bad, cold and drizzly, this next UNESCO attraction was incredibly crowded with Koreans, unlike the caves. They love hiking and go to spend days and weekends at places like this, alone, in pairs, with kids. So a hill like this is riddled with staircases so that even a below-average Korean can make it up, all meticulously groomed, lights on the staircases for evening and night, information pouring out of speakers even at the top of the hill. Korean women don't worry about it and go on such hikes in their boots and skirts, as if they were going to the theatre and it was warm.
In an hour and a half in the rain and wind I walked the whole way. So many beautiful views, even when it's not clear.
In the bay is the house of the Henjo clam hunters, who dive to about 20 metres without anything and hunt for clams for the local gastro market. And they may be 70 years old. I didn't see any of them in the water today, it was 15 degrees and I wouldn't have gotten in the water, but at least I saw them at work processing the clams they'd caught. Cleaned, washed, hollowed out, cut, cooked and eaten.
When I descended to the foot of the hill, I booked a hotel in Seogwipo, because I finally decided that the other options I had in my head were not feasible, because tomorrow it is supposed to rain a lot, so I have to leave the climb to the central mountain Hallasan for the day after tomorrow, i.e. to go to Seogwipo today and wander around tomorrow. I waited for the bus and drove an hour and a half to Seogwipa. For 23 CZK, tickets are really cheap. In one day, I got around the whole half of the island in about 3 hours of travel for about 70 CZK on buses. And in such comfort.
A short walk around the city, the rest tomorrow.
Culinary tip: Soju is a Korean alcoholic beverage that is traditionally made from rice, but also from other ingredients such as wheat, barley, malt or potatoes. It contains around 20 percent alcohol (different varieties from 10 to 50 percent) and has a typically neutral taste, but is also sold with different fruit flavors. Soju is one of Korea's most popular beverages and is often served as a drink with meals or made into cocktails and mixed drinks.
Hotel accommodation in Seogwip.
Travel tip: Accommodation on the island is unexpectedly cheap, sometimes you can get a 4* room for around 500 CZK.
South Coast of Jeju - not only waterfalls around Seogwipo
Seogwipo is the second largest city on the island with a population of approximately 160,000 people and an ideal place for nature lovers. The most interesting are probably the waterfalls, of which there are several in and around the city.
One of the most famous tourist attractions is the Jeongbang Waterfall, which costs around 2,000 won to enter. However, there is little water flowing at the moment, so the waterfall is not very abundant.
Although smaller and lesser known, Sojeongbang Waterfall a little further down the coast to the east was tourist-free, unlike Jeongbang. It is also freely accessible.
Coast east and south of Seogwipa
From Jeongbang, I proceeded through downtown, to the harbor, and onto the interesting Saeyeongyo Bridge, which looks like a sailboat. It is an iconic Seogwipo structure, simple, functional, very aesthetic and well set in the landscape.
It leads to the pretty Saeseom Island, which serves as a park, nature reserve and resting place for visitors. There are even endemic plants growing there, making it biologically attractive.
On the cliff above the dock is another waterfall, Cheonjiyeon, on the river. This waterfall is 22 metres high and the surrounding park is full of camellias, rhododendrons and bamboos.
A walk along the cliffs leads to other smaller waterfalls on the Jeju Olle 7 trail, which runs another 10 kilometres west. Rough seas, wind, headlands, rocks, solitary stone pillars in the sea with stories on signs. After two months, finally, a proper nature!
Even when the weather is bad and it's Monday, there are a lot of Koreans walking around the coast. It's hard to tell if they're on vacation or retired. I was quite surprised at how good the trails and paths are here, everything is properly marked, the paths are paved with stones or wood, the railings are repaired, decorated with ropes and lights. They take good care of it here, no wonder Koreans love hiking.
Hotel accommodation for a few hundred CZK.
An ascent to the central mountain of the island, Mt. Hallasan
The locals say that Jeju is Hallasan and Hallasan is Jeju. Mt. Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea and the central volcano around which the entire island of Jeju is formed from its past volcanic activity. Today, the volcano is dormant, with no eruptions in over 1,000 years. There are several routes up the volcano, four, but only two main ones lead to the very top: the eastern route, which I will be ascending because there is a bus that goes up to it, so most tourists use it, and the northern route, which I will be descending back to Jeju City.
They have a pretty logical time system here that doesn't let tourists past certain passage points after a certain hour, so that everyone makes it back from the mountain by evening. It's a good idea to complete the trailhead by about nine, or at most ten hours, but that's pretty much the limit. At 1500 meters there is a main station before the summit, which no one is allowed to climb after 12:00 in winter, or 12:30 in spring and autumn, and after 13:00 in summer. From the top you have to disappear after 2 pm and then it doesn't matter, everyone will have finished down by night.
So I take an early morning bus from Seogwipa to Seongpanak, where there is about 9 km of climbing with 1200 meters of elevation gain. The start was fun, the road here is nicely groomed, there are Korean knitted mats on it, which is really something. As soft as they are, they are quite pleasant to walk on when you don't have to skip on rocks.
The nature around Hallasan is a National Park listed by UNESCO. In the lower parts of the hill there is a nice forest with rhododendrons and other trees, in the undergrowth there is Sasa, a kind of lime-like flower with white-green leaves, we know it from us, now and then it appears as an ornamental plant in the gardens.
There are no trees on the top of Hallasan, so above 1,500 metres above sea level it would be a nice view of the region if it wasn't cloudy. At least it wasn't raining. I could see the nearby area well, but I couldn't see the coast, it was under the clouds.
There were most people at the top, all sitting on the wooden steps. In general, they obviously take pretty good care of the path, or rather, they went to the trouble to make the stairs about halfway up. So there will be a few kilometres of stairs.
At the very top of Hallasan, one can peer into the crater of the volcano that disappears in the clouds every now and then, and at the lake that was supposed to be big and blue, but is now tiny, like a deflated one. There is probably not enough water. It's a fact that even in all those mountain streams and rivers, no water flowed from the peak.
It was pretty crowded all along the eastern route, I don't want to see what it looks like on weekends and in better weather. It's considered easier than the northern one, which runs from Jeju City. The latter is a bit shorter, but steeper. I continue down this northern trail. Actually, I probably like it better, I would say it is more manageable, there are more steps than the eastern one, there are more well-groomed rocks, and then at the bottom you can see more interesting things like two bridges, a wild river that was almost waterless for today, a cave or lava tunnel, a changing forest with each hundred meters of elevation.
On my way to Jeju I stumbled upon Mysterious road by complete accident, which was on my bucket list for Jeju too, but I ended up giving up on it because I didn't want to look for it and lose half a day to some road. The whole Mysterious road is not very interesting anyway. The illusion of the car going seemingly uphill works here, but if you look closely you can see that the road is still going downhill, but it only gets smaller compared to the big one from Hallasan.
I'm spending the night near the airport again and returning to mainland Korea tomorrow morning. Busan, that is Miami, Korea is waiting.
After weeks in the ubiquitous Japanese housing development, I'm finally getting out into the nature again! We covered Seoul in the last installment of the miniseries, and today I'm off to the volcanic island of Jeju, Korea's pearl in the Yellow Sea that hides many of the natural wonders of this stunning part of the world.
Flight to Jeju
The domestic terminal at Seoul's Incheon Airport is very clear, unlike the international one. I picked up a boarding pass at the counter like a pub receipt, went through fast security and within moments we were boarding and flying. Absolutely no problems, everything was fast, professional. The tarmac staff waved to us as we taxied in and within moments we were turning left after takeoff with a view of all of Seoul further down the track to Jeju, where we landed as the sun set after an hour's flight. Jeju (or also Cheju) is not a particularly large island, about 80 kilometers in length. After landing, the shuttle took us to the terminal and we just walked through the doors out of the airport. No checkpoints, just like when one drives an hour and a bit to, say, Budweis.
When I came out of the airport, it was already dark. I made it to my accommodation about 2 kilometers away in the capital of Jeju Island, Jeju Town. Jeju City itself isn't particularly interesting, so tomorrow I'll head straight on to the natural attractions of the island, which is why I'm here in the first place.
A motel accommodation in Jeju for a few hundred CZK. Cheap and good accommodation.
Interesting fact: Sometimes you can find a shower system in accommodations, where instead of a shower and tub, the whole bathroom is like one big bathtub. What does it matter that when you take a shower there is water everywhere and then you have to wade in it when you go to the toilet or sink...
East side of Jeju - Manjanggul lava tunnel and Seongsang Ilchulbong peninsula
I will be getting around the island by public transport, mainly buses. I've heard that they don't run very often and it's quite a problem to get anywhere with buses. I can't confirm that though, I think they have a good system. The two main stations are in Jeju in the north and in Seogwipo in the south of the island and between them the lines run across the island like a dividing cell in metaphase between centromeres. They are numbered consecutively, and the app shows the current buses, where they are, the number of stops to a particular stop, and the time remaining until arrival. What more does one need. The information system here is online, so even at the stops there are panels with the same up-to-date data, on the buses there are panels reporting the current and next stop, even in every bus there is wifi. When boarding, you just beep your T-money card and get off somewhere. No delays with payments. This is probably the best system I've seen anywhere. Even in the UK they didn't have better. As technology and information technology gets involved, it often makes life easier.
The driver drove the bus as if he had stolen it from somewhere. They all drive kind of aggressively here. But for a bus to be jumping over speed bumps, banging from side to side on curvy stretches of road, and falling over while rounding curves, I haven't seen that in a long time. An hour into the journey, I got off at Manjanggul Cave and walked the two kilometres to
There was hardly anyone at Manjanggul cave at noon, the crowds didn't arrive until around two when I left. The cave is actually a lava tunnel where lava flowed thousands of years ago during volcanic and volcanic activity on the island. It's about 8 kilometers long in total, with one cave open. But it's still enough and it's a real treat - a tunnel of solidified lava, different narrow and wide sections, ledges, stalactites, sinkholes, rafts, other special formations. And at the end is the largest lavafall in the world. The whole lava cave is probably the largest and most extensive in the world, which is why it is on the UNESCO list.
After visiting the cave, I returned to the stop on the main road around the perimeter of the island, waited again for bus 201 and continued further east to Seongsan Ilchulbong, a pseudo island or peninsula with beautiful scenery and 180 meters of elevation gain.
Although the weather was quite bad, cold and drizzly, this next UNESCO attraction was incredibly crowded with Koreans, unlike the caves. They love hiking and go to spend days and weekends at places like this, alone, in pairs, with kids. So a hill like this is riddled with staircases so that even a below-average Korean can make it up, all meticulously groomed, lights on the staircases for evening and night, information pouring out of speakers even at the top of the hill. Korean women don't worry about it and go on such hikes in their boots and skirts, as if they were going to the theatre and it was warm.
In an hour and a half in the rain and wind I walked the whole way. So many beautiful views, even when it's not clear.
In the bay is the house of the Henjo clam hunters, who dive to about 20 metres without anything and hunt for clams for the local gastro market. And they may be 70 years old. I didn't see any of them in the water today, it was 15 degrees and I wouldn't have gotten in the water, but at least I saw them at work processing the clams they'd caught. Cleaned, washed, hollowed out, cut, cooked and eaten.
When I descended to the foot of the hill, I booked a hotel in Seogwipo, because I finally decided that the other options I had in my head were not feasible, because tomorrow it is supposed to rain a lot, so I have to leave the climb to the central mountain Hallasan for the day after tomorrow, i.e. to go to Seogwipo today and wander around tomorrow. I waited for the bus and drove an hour and a half to Seogwipa. For 23 CZK, tickets are really cheap. In one day, I got around the whole half of the island in about 3 hours of travel for about 70 CZK on buses. And in such comfort.
A short walk around the city, the rest tomorrow.
Culinary tip: Soju is a Korean alcoholic beverage that is traditionally made from rice, but also from other ingredients such as wheat, barley, malt or potatoes. It contains around 20 percent alcohol (different varieties from 10 to 50 percent) and has a typically neutral taste, but is also sold with different fruit flavors. Soju is one of Korea's most popular beverages and is often served as a drink with meals or made into cocktails and mixed drinks.
Hotel accommodation in Seogwip.
Travel tip: Accommodation on the island is unexpectedly cheap, sometimes you can get a 4* room for around 500 CZK.
South Coast of Jeju - not only waterfalls around Seogwipo
Seogwipo is the second largest city on the island with a population of approximately 160,000 people and an ideal place for nature lovers. The most interesting are probably the waterfalls, of which there are several in and around the city.
One of the most famous tourist attractions is the Jeongbang Waterfall, which costs around 2,000 won to enter. However, there is little water flowing at the moment, so the waterfall is not very abundant.
Although smaller and lesser known, Sojeongbang Waterfall a little further down the coast to the east was tourist-free, unlike Jeongbang. It is also freely accessible.
Coast east and south of Seogwipa
From Jeongbang, I proceeded through downtown, to the harbor, and onto the interesting Saeyeongyo Bridge, which looks like a sailboat. It is an iconic Seogwipo structure, simple, functional, very aesthetic and well set in the landscape.
It leads to the pretty Saeseom Island, which serves as a park, nature reserve and resting place for visitors. There are even endemic plants growing there, making it biologically attractive.
On the cliff above the dock is another waterfall, Cheonjiyeon, on the river. This waterfall is 22 metres high and the surrounding park is full of camellias, rhododendrons and bamboos.
A walk along the cliffs leads to other smaller waterfalls on the Jeju Olle 7 trail, which runs another 10 kilometres west. Rough seas, wind, headlands, rocks, solitary stone pillars in the sea with stories on signs. After two months, finally, a proper nature!
Even when the weather is bad and it's Monday, there are a lot of Koreans walking around the coast. It's hard to tell if they're on vacation or retired. I was quite surprised at how good the trails and paths are here, everything is properly marked, the paths are paved with stones or wood, the railings are repaired, decorated with ropes and lights. They take good care of it here, no wonder Koreans love hiking.
Hotel accommodation for a few hundred CZK.
An ascent to the central mountain of the island, Mt. Hallasan
The locals say that Jeju is Hallasan and Hallasan is Jeju. Mt. Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea and the central volcano around which the entire island of Jeju is formed from its past volcanic activity. Today, the volcano is dormant, with no eruptions in over 1,000 years. There are several routes up the volcano, four, but only two main ones lead to the very top: the eastern route, which I will be ascending because there is a bus that goes up to it, so most tourists use it, and the northern route, which I will be descending back to Jeju City.
They have a pretty logical time system here that doesn't let tourists past certain passage points after a certain hour, so that everyone makes it back from the mountain by evening. It's a good idea to complete the trailhead by about nine, or at most ten hours, but that's pretty much the limit. At 1500 meters there is a main station before the summit, which no one is allowed to climb after 12:00 in winter, or 12:30 in spring and autumn, and after 13:00 in summer. From the top you have to disappear after 2 pm and then it doesn't matter, everyone will have finished down by night.
So I take an early morning bus from Seogwipa to Seongpanak, where there is about 9 km of climbing with 1200 meters of elevation gain. The start was fun, the road here is nicely groomed, there are Korean knitted mats on it, which is really something. As soft as they are, they are quite pleasant to walk on when you don't have to skip on rocks.
The nature around Hallasan is a National Park listed by UNESCO. In the lower parts of the hill there is a nice forest with rhododendrons and other trees, in the undergrowth there is Sasa, a kind of lime-like flower with white-green leaves, we know it from us, now and then it appears as an ornamental plant in the gardens.
There are no trees on the top of Hallasan, so above 1,500 metres above sea level it would be a nice view of the region if it wasn't cloudy. At least it wasn't raining. I could see the nearby area well, but I couldn't see the coast, it was under the clouds.
There were most people at the top, all sitting on the wooden steps. In general, they obviously take pretty good care of the path, or rather, they went to the trouble to make the stairs about halfway up. So there will be a few kilometres of stairs.
At the very top of Hallasan, one can peer into the crater of the volcano that disappears in the clouds every now and then, and at the lake that was supposed to be big and blue, but is now tiny, like a deflated one. There is probably not enough water. It's a fact that even in all those mountain streams and rivers, no water flowed from the peak.
It was pretty crowded all along the eastern route, I don't want to see what it looks like on weekends and in better weather. It's considered easier than the northern one, which runs from Jeju City. The latter is a bit shorter, but steeper. I continue down this northern trail. Actually, I probably like it better, I would say it is more manageable, there are more steps than the eastern one, there are more well-groomed rocks, and then at the bottom you can see more interesting things like two bridges, a wild river that was almost waterless for today, a cave or lava tunnel, a changing forest with each hundred meters of elevation.
On my way to Jeju I stumbled upon Mysterious road by complete accident, which was on my bucket list for Jeju too, but I ended up giving up on it because I didn't want to look for it and lose half a day to some road. The whole Mysterious road is not very interesting anyway. The illusion of the car going seemingly uphill works here, but if you look closely you can see that the road is still going downhill, but it only gets smaller compared to the big one from Hallasan.
I'm spending the night near the airport again and returning to mainland Korea tomorrow morning. Busan, that is Miami, Korea is waiting.
itinerary by Martin Konhefr
After weeks in the ubiquitous Japanese housing development, I'm finally getting out into the nature again! We covered Seoul in the last installment of the miniseries, and today I'm off to the volcanic island of Jeju, Korea's pearl in the Yellow Sea that hides many of the natural wonders of this stunning part of the world.
Flight to Jeju
The domestic terminal at Seoul's Incheon Airport is very clear, unlike the international one. I picked up a boarding pass at the counter like a pub receipt, went through fast security and within moments we were boarding and flying. Absolutely no problems, everything was fast, professional. The tarmac staff waved to us as we taxied in and within moments we were turning left after takeoff with a view of all of Seoul further down the track to Jeju, where we landed as the sun set after an hour's flight. Jeju (or also Cheju) is not a particularly large island, about 80 kilometers in length. After landing, the shuttle took us to the terminal and we just walked through the doors out of the airport. No checkpoints, just like when one drives an hour and a bit to, say, Budweis.
When I came out of the airport, it was already dark. I made it to my accommodation about 2 kilometers away in the capital of Jeju Island, Jeju Town. Jeju City itself isn't particularly interesting, so tomorrow I'll head straight on to the natural attractions of the island, which is why I'm here in the first place.
A motel accommodation in Jeju for a few hundred CZK. Cheap and good accommodation.
Interesting fact: Sometimes you can find a shower system in accommodations, where instead of a shower and tub, the whole bathroom is like one big bathtub. What does it matter that when you take a shower there is water everywhere and then you have to wade in it when you go to the toilet or sink...
East side of Jeju - Manjanggul lava tunnel and Seongsang Ilchulbong peninsula
I will be getting around the island by public transport, mainly buses. I've heard that they don't run very often and it's quite a problem to get anywhere with buses. I can't confirm that though, I think they have a good system. The two main stations are in Jeju in the north and in Seogwipo in the south of the island and between them the lines run across the island like a dividing cell in metaphase between centromeres. They are numbered consecutively, and the app shows the current buses, where they are, the number of stops to a particular stop, and the time remaining until arrival. What more does one need. The information system here is online, so even at the stops there are panels with the same up-to-date data, on the buses there are panels reporting the current and next stop, even in every bus there is wifi. When boarding, you just beep your T-money card and get off somewhere. No delays with payments. This is probably the best system I've seen anywhere. Even in the UK they didn't have better. As technology and information technology gets involved, it often makes life easier.
The driver drove the bus as if he had stolen it from somewhere. They all drive kind of aggressively here. But for a bus to be jumping over speed bumps, banging from side to side on curvy stretches of road, and falling over while rounding curves, I haven't seen that in a long time. An hour into the journey, I got off at Manjanggul Cave and walked the two kilometres to
There was hardly anyone at Manjanggul cave at noon, the crowds didn't arrive until around two when I left. The cave is actually a lava tunnel where lava flowed thousands of years ago during volcanic and volcanic activity on the island. It's about 8 kilometers long in total, with one cave open. But it's still enough and it's a real treat - a tunnel of solidified lava, different narrow and wide sections, ledges, stalactites, sinkholes, rafts, other special formations. And at the end is the largest lavafall in the world. The whole lava cave is probably the largest and most extensive in the world, which is why it is on the UNESCO list.
After visiting the cave, I returned to the stop on the main road around the perimeter of the island, waited again for bus 201 and continued further east to Seongsan Ilchulbong, a pseudo island or peninsula with beautiful scenery and 180 meters of elevation gain.
Although the weather was quite bad, cold and drizzly, this next UNESCO attraction was incredibly crowded with Koreans, unlike the caves. They love hiking and go to spend days and weekends at places like this, alone, in pairs, with kids. So a hill like this is riddled with staircases so that even a below-average Korean can make it up, all meticulously groomed, lights on the staircases for evening and night, information pouring out of speakers even at the top of the hill. Korean women don't worry about it and go on such hikes in their boots and skirts, as if they were going to the theatre and it was warm.
In an hour and a half in the rain and wind I walked the whole way. So many beautiful views, even when it's not clear.
In the bay is the house of the Henjo clam hunters, who dive to about 20 metres without anything and hunt for clams for the local gastro market. And they may be 70 years old. I didn't see any of them in the water today, it was 15 degrees and I wouldn't have gotten in the water, but at least I saw them at work processing the clams they'd caught. Cleaned, washed, hollowed out, cut, cooked and eaten.
When I descended to the foot of the hill, I booked a hotel in Seogwipo, because I finally decided that the other options I had in my head were not feasible, because tomorrow it is supposed to rain a lot, so I have to leave the climb to the central mountain Hallasan for the day after tomorrow, i.e. to go to Seogwipo today and wander around tomorrow. I waited for the bus and drove an hour and a half to Seogwipa. For 23 CZK, tickets are really cheap. In one day, I got around the whole half of the island in about 3 hours of travel for about 70 CZK on buses. And in such comfort.
A short walk around the city, the rest tomorrow.
Culinary tip: Soju is a Korean alcoholic beverage that is traditionally made from rice, but also from other ingredients such as wheat, barley, malt or potatoes. It contains around 20 percent alcohol (different varieties from 10 to 50 percent) and has a typically neutral taste, but is also sold with different fruit flavors. Soju is one of Korea's most popular beverages and is often served as a drink with meals or made into cocktails and mixed drinks.
Hotel accommodation in Seogwip.
Travel tip: Accommodation on the island is unexpectedly cheap, sometimes you can get a 4* room for around 500 CZK.
South Coast of Jeju - not only waterfalls around Seogwipo
Seogwipo is the second largest city on the island with a population of approximately 160,000 people and an ideal place for nature lovers. The most interesting are probably the waterfalls, of which there are several in and around the city.
One of the most famous tourist attractions is the Jeongbang Waterfall, which costs around 2,000 won to enter. However, there is little water flowing at the moment, so the waterfall is not very abundant.
Although smaller and lesser known, Sojeongbang Waterfall a little further down the coast to the east was tourist-free, unlike Jeongbang. It is also freely accessible.
Coast east and south of Seogwipa
From Jeongbang, I proceeded through downtown, to the harbor, and onto the interesting Saeyeongyo Bridge, which looks like a sailboat. It is an iconic Seogwipo structure, simple, functional, very aesthetic and well set in the landscape.
It leads to the pretty Saeseom Island, which serves as a park, nature reserve and resting place for visitors. There are even endemic plants growing there, making it biologically attractive.
On the cliff above the dock is another waterfall, Cheonjiyeon, on the river. This waterfall is 22 metres high and the surrounding park is full of camellias, rhododendrons and bamboos.
A walk along the cliffs leads to other smaller waterfalls on the Jeju Olle 7 trail, which runs another 10 kilometres west. Rough seas, wind, headlands, rocks, solitary stone pillars in the sea with stories on signs. After two months, finally, a proper nature!
Even when the weather is bad and it's Monday, there are a lot of Koreans walking around the coast. It's hard to tell if they're on vacation or retired. I was quite surprised at how good the trails and paths are here, everything is properly marked, the paths are paved with stones or wood, the railings are repaired, decorated with ropes and lights. They take good care of it here, no wonder Koreans love hiking.
Hotel accommodation for a few hundred CZK.
An ascent to the central mountain of the island, Mt. Hallasan
The locals say that Jeju is Hallasan and Hallasan is Jeju. Mt. Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea and the central volcano around which the entire island of Jeju is formed from its past volcanic activity. Today, the volcano is dormant, with no eruptions in over 1,000 years. There are several routes up the volcano, four, but only two main ones lead to the very top: the eastern route, which I will be ascending because there is a bus that goes up to it, so most tourists use it, and the northern route, which I will be descending back to Jeju City.
They have a pretty logical time system here that doesn't let tourists past certain passage points after a certain hour, so that everyone makes it back from the mountain by evening. It's a good idea to complete the trailhead by about nine, or at most ten hours, but that's pretty much the limit. At 1500 meters there is a main station before the summit, which no one is allowed to climb after 12:00 in winter, or 12:30 in spring and autumn, and after 13:00 in summer. From the top you have to disappear after 2 pm and then it doesn't matter, everyone will have finished down by night.
So I take an early morning bus from Seogwipa to Seongpanak, where there is about 9 km of climbing with 1200 meters of elevation gain. The start was fun, the road here is nicely groomed, there are Korean knitted mats on it, which is really something. As soft as they are, they are quite pleasant to walk on when you don't have to skip on rocks.
The nature around Hallasan is a National Park listed by UNESCO. In the lower parts of the hill there is a nice forest with rhododendrons and other trees, in the undergrowth there is Sasa, a kind of lime-like flower with white-green leaves, we know it from us, now and then it appears as an ornamental plant in the gardens.
There are no trees on the top of Hallasan, so above 1,500 metres above sea level it would be a nice view of the region if it wasn't cloudy. At least it wasn't raining. I could see the nearby area well, but I couldn't see the coast, it was under the clouds.
There were most people at the top, all sitting on the wooden steps. In general, they obviously take pretty good care of the path, or rather, they went to the trouble to make the stairs about halfway up. So there will be a few kilometres of stairs.
At the very top of Hallasan, one can peer into the crater of the volcano that disappears in the clouds every now and then, and at the lake that was supposed to be big and blue, but is now tiny, like a deflated one. There is probably not enough water. It's a fact that even in all those mountain streams and rivers, no water flowed from the peak.
It was pretty crowded all along the eastern route, I don't want to see what it looks like on weekends and in better weather. It's considered easier than the northern one, which runs from Jeju City. The latter is a bit shorter, but steeper. I continue down this northern trail. Actually, I probably like it better, I would say it is more manageable, there are more steps than the eastern one, there are more well-groomed rocks, and then at the bottom you can see more interesting things like two bridges, a wild river that was almost waterless for today, a cave or lava tunnel, a changing forest with each hundred meters of elevation.
On my way to Jeju I stumbled upon Mysterious road by complete accident, which was on my bucket list for Jeju too, but I ended up giving up on it because I didn't want to look for it and lose half a day to some road. The whole Mysterious road is not very interesting anyway. The illusion of the car going seemingly uphill works here, but if you look closely you can see that the road is still going downhill, but it only gets smaller compared to the big one from Hallasan.
I'm spending the night near the airport again and returning to mainland Korea tomorrow morning. Busan, that is Miami, Korea is waiting.
After weeks in the ubiquitous Japanese housing development, I'm finally getting out into the nature again! We covered Seoul in the last installment of the miniseries, and today I'm off to the volcanic island of Jeju, Korea's pearl in the Yellow Sea that hides many of the natural wonders of this stunning part of the world.
Flight to Jeju
The domestic terminal at Seoul's Incheon Airport is very clear, unlike the international one. I picked up a boarding pass at the counter like a pub receipt, went through fast security and within moments we were boarding and flying. Absolutely no problems, everything was fast, professional. The tarmac staff waved to us as we taxied in and within moments we were turning left after takeoff with a view of all of Seoul further down the track to Jeju, where we landed as the sun set after an hour's flight. Jeju (or also Cheju) is not a particularly large island, about 80 kilometers in length. After landing, the shuttle took us to the terminal and we just walked through the doors out of the airport. No checkpoints, just like when one drives an hour and a bit to, say, Budweis.
When I came out of the airport, it was already dark. I made it to my accommodation about 2 kilometers away in the capital of Jeju Island, Jeju Town. Jeju City itself isn't particularly interesting, so tomorrow I'll head straight on to the natural attractions of the island, which is why I'm here in the first place.
A motel accommodation in Jeju for a few hundred CZK. Cheap and good accommodation.
Interesting fact: Sometimes you can find a shower system in accommodations, where instead of a shower and tub, the whole bathroom is like one big bathtub. What does it matter that when you take a shower there is water everywhere and then you have to wade in it when you go to the toilet or sink...
East side of Jeju - Manjanggul lava tunnel and Seongsang Ilchulbong peninsula
I will be getting around the island by public transport, mainly buses. I've heard that they don't run very often and it's quite a problem to get anywhere with buses. I can't confirm that though, I think they have a good system. The two main stations are in Jeju in the north and in Seogwipo in the south of the island and between them the lines run across the island like a dividing cell in metaphase between centromeres. They are numbered consecutively, and the app shows the current buses, where they are, the number of stops to a particular stop, and the time remaining until arrival. What more does one need. The information system here is online, so even at the stops there are panels with the same up-to-date data, on the buses there are panels reporting the current and next stop, even in every bus there is wifi. When boarding, you just beep your T-money card and get off somewhere. No delays with payments. This is probably the best system I've seen anywhere. Even in the UK they didn't have better. As technology and information technology gets involved, it often makes life easier.
The driver drove the bus as if he had stolen it from somewhere. They all drive kind of aggressively here. But for a bus to be jumping over speed bumps, banging from side to side on curvy stretches of road, and falling over while rounding curves, I haven't seen that in a long time. An hour into the journey, I got off at Manjanggul Cave and walked the two kilometres to
There was hardly anyone at Manjanggul cave at noon, the crowds didn't arrive until around two when I left. The cave is actually a lava tunnel where lava flowed thousands of years ago during volcanic and volcanic activity on the island. It's about 8 kilometers long in total, with one cave open. But it's still enough and it's a real treat - a tunnel of solidified lava, different narrow and wide sections, ledges, stalactites, sinkholes, rafts, other special formations. And at the end is the largest lavafall in the world. The whole lava cave is probably the largest and most extensive in the world, which is why it is on the UNESCO list.
After visiting the cave, I returned to the stop on the main road around the perimeter of the island, waited again for bus 201 and continued further east to Seongsan Ilchulbong, a pseudo island or peninsula with beautiful scenery and 180 meters of elevation gain.
Although the weather was quite bad, cold and drizzly, this next UNESCO attraction was incredibly crowded with Koreans, unlike the caves. They love hiking and go to spend days and weekends at places like this, alone, in pairs, with kids. So a hill like this is riddled with staircases so that even a below-average Korean can make it up, all meticulously groomed, lights on the staircases for evening and night, information pouring out of speakers even at the top of the hill. Korean women don't worry about it and go on such hikes in their boots and skirts, as if they were going to the theatre and it was warm.
In an hour and a half in the rain and wind I walked the whole way. So many beautiful views, even when it's not clear.
In the bay is the house of the Henjo clam hunters, who dive to about 20 metres without anything and hunt for clams for the local gastro market. And they may be 70 years old. I didn't see any of them in the water today, it was 15 degrees and I wouldn't have gotten in the water, but at least I saw them at work processing the clams they'd caught. Cleaned, washed, hollowed out, cut, cooked and eaten.
When I descended to the foot of the hill, I booked a hotel in Seogwipo, because I finally decided that the other options I had in my head were not feasible, because tomorrow it is supposed to rain a lot, so I have to leave the climb to the central mountain Hallasan for the day after tomorrow, i.e. to go to Seogwipo today and wander around tomorrow. I waited for the bus and drove an hour and a half to Seogwipa. For 23 CZK, tickets are really cheap. In one day, I got around the whole half of the island in about 3 hours of travel for about 70 CZK on buses. And in such comfort.
A short walk around the city, the rest tomorrow.
Culinary tip: Soju is a Korean alcoholic beverage that is traditionally made from rice, but also from other ingredients such as wheat, barley, malt or potatoes. It contains around 20 percent alcohol (different varieties from 10 to 50 percent) and has a typically neutral taste, but is also sold with different fruit flavors. Soju is one of Korea's most popular beverages and is often served as a drink with meals or made into cocktails and mixed drinks.
Hotel accommodation in Seogwip.
Travel tip: Accommodation on the island is unexpectedly cheap, sometimes you can get a 4* room for around 500 CZK.
South Coast of Jeju - not only waterfalls around Seogwipo
Seogwipo is the second largest city on the island with a population of approximately 160,000 people and an ideal place for nature lovers. The most interesting are probably the waterfalls, of which there are several in and around the city.
One of the most famous tourist attractions is the Jeongbang Waterfall, which costs around 2,000 won to enter. However, there is little water flowing at the moment, so the waterfall is not very abundant.
Although smaller and lesser known, Sojeongbang Waterfall a little further down the coast to the east was tourist-free, unlike Jeongbang. It is also freely accessible.
Coast east and south of Seogwipa
From Jeongbang, I proceeded through downtown, to the harbor, and onto the interesting Saeyeongyo Bridge, which looks like a sailboat. It is an iconic Seogwipo structure, simple, functional, very aesthetic and well set in the landscape.
It leads to the pretty Saeseom Island, which serves as a park, nature reserve and resting place for visitors. There are even endemic plants growing there, making it biologically attractive.
On the cliff above the dock is another waterfall, Cheonjiyeon, on the river. This waterfall is 22 metres high and the surrounding park is full of camellias, rhododendrons and bamboos.
A walk along the cliffs leads to other smaller waterfalls on the Jeju Olle 7 trail, which runs another 10 kilometres west. Rough seas, wind, headlands, rocks, solitary stone pillars in the sea with stories on signs. After two months, finally, a proper nature!
Even when the weather is bad and it's Monday, there are a lot of Koreans walking around the coast. It's hard to tell if they're on vacation or retired. I was quite surprised at how good the trails and paths are here, everything is properly marked, the paths are paved with stones or wood, the railings are repaired, decorated with ropes and lights. They take good care of it here, no wonder Koreans love hiking.
Hotel accommodation for a few hundred CZK.
An ascent to the central mountain of the island, Mt. Hallasan
The locals say that Jeju is Hallasan and Hallasan is Jeju. Mt. Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea and the central volcano around which the entire island of Jeju is formed from its past volcanic activity. Today, the volcano is dormant, with no eruptions in over 1,000 years. There are several routes up the volcano, four, but only two main ones lead to the very top: the eastern route, which I will be ascending because there is a bus that goes up to it, so most tourists use it, and the northern route, which I will be descending back to Jeju City.
They have a pretty logical time system here that doesn't let tourists past certain passage points after a certain hour, so that everyone makes it back from the mountain by evening. It's a good idea to complete the trailhead by about nine, or at most ten hours, but that's pretty much the limit. At 1500 meters there is a main station before the summit, which no one is allowed to climb after 12:00 in winter, or 12:30 in spring and autumn, and after 13:00 in summer. From the top you have to disappear after 2 pm and then it doesn't matter, everyone will have finished down by night.
So I take an early morning bus from Seogwipa to Seongpanak, where there is about 9 km of climbing with 1200 meters of elevation gain. The start was fun, the road here is nicely groomed, there are Korean knitted mats on it, which is really something. As soft as they are, they are quite pleasant to walk on when you don't have to skip on rocks.
The nature around Hallasan is a National Park listed by UNESCO. In the lower parts of the hill there is a nice forest with rhododendrons and other trees, in the undergrowth there is Sasa, a kind of lime-like flower with white-green leaves, we know it from us, now and then it appears as an ornamental plant in the gardens.
There are no trees on the top of Hallasan, so above 1,500 metres above sea level it would be a nice view of the region if it wasn't cloudy. At least it wasn't raining. I could see the nearby area well, but I couldn't see the coast, it was under the clouds.
There were most people at the top, all sitting on the wooden steps. In general, they obviously take pretty good care of the path, or rather, they went to the trouble to make the stairs about halfway up. So there will be a few kilometres of stairs.
At the very top of Hallasan, one can peer into the crater of the volcano that disappears in the clouds every now and then, and at the lake that was supposed to be big and blue, but is now tiny, like a deflated one. There is probably not enough water. It's a fact that even in all those mountain streams and rivers, no water flowed from the peak.
It was pretty crowded all along the eastern route, I don't want to see what it looks like on weekends and in better weather. It's considered easier than the northern one, which runs from Jeju City. The latter is a bit shorter, but steeper. I continue down this northern trail. Actually, I probably like it better, I would say it is more manageable, there are more steps than the eastern one, there are more well-groomed rocks, and then at the bottom you can see more interesting things like two bridges, a wild river that was almost waterless for today, a cave or lava tunnel, a changing forest with each hundred meters of elevation.
On my way to Jeju I stumbled upon Mysterious road by complete accident, which was on my bucket list for Jeju too, but I ended up giving up on it because I didn't want to look for it and lose half a day to some road. The whole Mysterious road is not very interesting anyway. The illusion of the car going seemingly uphill works here, but if you look closely you can see that the road is still going downhill, but it only gets smaller compared to the big one from Hallasan.
I'm spending the night near the airport again and returning to mainland Korea tomorrow morning. Busan, that is Miami, Korea is waiting.
