Jeju Randomness - Photo Post

Deliciousness at Bagdad Cafe, Jeju-si

Creeping cloud near Seongsan Ilchulbong, the crater/peak we climbed on our last day. 

BOOBS

Particularly disturbing art at Love Land.
This girl was cowering as her parents had sex in the same room.

Trying to escape 'The Kiss'

Jangmun Beach. 70% empty. Despite beaches on all sides, most Korean people can't swim.
Beaches here are heavily guarded and there's even a net keeping people in the right place.

Troublesome art in Seogwipo

It's troublesome this passes as art. Chocolate Land, Seogwipo. (Save your 2k won, it SUCKS.)

Making faces in the Ripleys Believe It Or Not mirror...

... the other side of the mirror! Spent 10 minutes here laughing our asses off!

More Jeju: Waterfalls Galore

We spent almost an entire day of our 5-day stay in Jeju looking at waterfalls. And fair enough, they're super pretty! Two of our four nights on the island were spent in Seogwipo Harbour, which occupies a good part of the southern coast. We stayed at the excellent Jeju Hiking Inn which is super cheap, super comfortable, and has super WiFi and a superb roof to drink on in the evenings (I should know.)

A short walk from the Hiking Inn is the first of three Jeju Waterfalls we visited - Cheonjiyeon. Like almost all of the natural attractions on Jeju there's a fee (2,000 won) and then a short walk to the falls alongside the river. The falls are beautiful, and there's a large, clear pool beneath them writhing with freshwater eels. 

Also writhing were the tourists. 

This is the least tourist infested shot I got.

 The next stop on our waterfall tour was Jeongbang Falls. These falls are unique in that they cascade right into the ocean. It's a pleasant 20 minute walk from Cheonjiyeon to Jeongbang, around the coastline. 

If I thought the first falls were crowded, it was nothing compared to these ones. The crush of people started at the top, amongst traders hawking everything from chocolate to coconuts.

From the top, it's a steep walk downhill to the falls themselves (after handing over your ticket, of course.) While impressive and beautiful, the hordes of people are somewhat distracting. Tom and I picked through the crowd and were drenched by the spray of the waterfall - no pics unfortunately, didn't want to bust my camera.

The masses clambering over the rocks.

Spot the daring waygook!

The last falls we visited are apparently Jeju's most famous but were the least crowded. Cheonjeyeon Falls are close to Jeju's Jangmun Beach - a popular tourist spot - but I didn't feel the press of people as much as I had at the previous two locations. Perhaps because it was a bit overcast that day.

The beautiful carved bridge to the falls.

Reminds me of home!

It's about a 10 minute walk from the gate to the falls themselves, and at the top of the walk is a deep, clear, cold pool of water. The day we went there was a fine mist rising from the pool itself which made everything feel kinda eerie.

OK, it was still pretty crowded.

The main falls are downstream from the pool, and for a few minutes there were only 8 people on the viewing platform. An impressive feat, considering the business of all of the other falls we'd been to.

Gawjus!

Mini Mini Land

The only place in Jeju you can:

Inspect the Taj Mahal;

Capture the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, Niagara Falls and the Opera House in one shot.
(and some plastic ducks)

High-five Tinky Winky;

Make out with Socrates;

Capture a matching family walking past the Beehive; and

pick the nose of Our Lord and Saviour.

Korean Things I Have Eaten

It's been a while since I wrote one of these, so here goes. Tried two new things this week. Both were gross.

Item number one:

It's a corn flavoured ice block. CORN.

What are those little flecks of yellow? CORN.

This tastes of sweetened milk and corn. I took enough bites to take this picture and then threw it out the window of my bus. CORN.

Item number two:

I don't know why I thought this would be good. It's 'Breakfast Tofu' with blueberry. I know that some people use silken tofu in smoothies, and one of my favourite foods at school is soondubu (soft tofu) with a soy dressing. This tofu is not soft.

This is a chunky, grainy tofu with a soft, blueberry centre of grossness. The only thing I enjoyed about this tofu was faking that I liked it and then feeding it to Tom who made the best face ever.

Also comes in Kiwifruit.

맛있는 없습니다!

Possibly my Best Evening in Korea

Last week we visited Jeju-do, an island off the southern coast of Korea usually described as Korea's 'Hawaii.'

Although not as tropical as advertised,* the island boasts a number of cheesy/hilarious/touristy 'lands' dotted all over the place to entertain the locals. Some of the lands available include:

• Mini Mini Land (small-scale models of landmarks like the Eiffel Tower etc)
• Teddy Bear Museum
• Chocolate Land (not as good as it sounds)
• Psyche World
• Stone Land
• Love Land

The last one's my favourite, and I've wanted to go for months since Haesindang Park gave me a taste for this sort of stuff. It's a park full of statues of people doing it.

For the technical stuff - the park is a 9,000 won cab ride out of Jeju city. Entry is 7,000 won and it's open from 9am until midnight. It takes about an hour to walk around the park and I've been told the best time to go is right before dark. At night, the statues are lit up in all of their sexy glory! Now, on to the pictures. 

Oh, and on the off chance you hadn't figured it out already - extremely not safe for work.

BOOOOBS!

 

There are vending machines all over Korea. This felt appropriate. 

NZ represent!

Not sure it's water in the tub eh?

I got stuck in this sculpture and ended up bruising the hell out of my leg while my lovely (cough) boyfriend took pictures.

Birthday present to myself.

Loveland was amazing. I've got a few things I want to post about Jeju but this was the best, worth the round flight tickets alone.

*One of the best tricks I've used to cope in Korea is something I call the 25% Rule. 

Koreans I've met tend to be extremely patriotic (something I think New Zealanders can learn from) but sometimes this patriotism is a bit much and gets in the way of realism. Most of the time, activities and festivals and locations in Korea are about 25% as good as they're described by the locals. If you expect everything to be 25% as good, and the attraction is actually pretty damn awesome, it's a great feeling - my visit to Geumsansa was far more awesome than expected. If an attraction sucks and you've expected it to suck, the disappointment is a little less crushing. I forgot to apply the Rule to the Nonsan Strawberry Festival - just look at the beautiful pictures on that link! - and I was completely heartbroken when greeted by a muddy pit with barely any strawberries. The Rule. It works.

Fricken. Huge. Bugs.

I had forgotten about this part of Korean summer, but now it's too hard for me to ignore. 매미 (cicada) are dominating the Korean airwaves 24 hours a day. Here's a vid I took this afternoon:

It sounds like I'm panting and that's because it's hooooooot! Today at my English camp we made pizza, and the combination of cooking + oppressive summer heat + 25 students and 2 teachers breathing made my classroom unbearable. I think I could cope better if Korea had more swimming pools or beaches. Korea, hop to it!

Here's the picture I promised to post. The shops around my school are piled high with nets and these boxes, so maemi catching seems to be a popular summer pastime in Buan. If you look at this pic using something other than an mp3 player or netbook, the bug is appearing on your screen life-size. Huuuuuuuge!

This monster eats NZ cicadas for breakfast. Then Korean children eat him for lunch.
(Not really.)

New Coffee Shop in Gimje

Wanna go, Tom? 

In Lieu of a Real Post, Here are Some Pictures

T-shirt of the day.

Song Hak - one of my worst (but sweetest) 6th graders.
Song Hak has a HUGE crush on one of the English teachers. (hint: me)

Perfect for all important documents. 

Beautiful Lotus Blossoms near Bukdae in Jeonju. They are the size of dinner plates.

Kids splashing in Cheonggyecheon, Seoul.

Yup, it's Kimchi Chocolate, and it's coming to a care package near you.