Jeju Island Pt. 1

As most of my family and friends know, this past Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), Soojeong, Seth, Lucy, and I went to Jeju Island for a three day and two night adventure. We took a 50 minute flight from Seoul to Jeju, where we set out to spend a few needed days away from work, taking in the island scenery. At the airport, we met the man who would be driving us around the island in a taxi for the next three days and set off on our adventure. He was very nice and took us along a scenic coastal road that took us past homes partitioned off by volcanic rock walls, and past rocky outcrops that jutted out into blue and green water.

 We spent a good part of the first day looking around a park and at a beach that had some of the clearest water I have ever seen. It also had a weird phenomenon where fresh water from the mountains is pressed out via natural springs into the seafloor, so what you end up with is this bubbling sand that when stepped upon, sucks you in like quicksand. It was really interesting and fun to play with. There were many little hermit crabs that scuttled to and fro along the rocks, and fish and shrimp that were nearly translucent.

 We checked into our hotel and then set out again to a cliff dotted with caves made during the Japanese occupation of Korea. They were made to be a form of defense in case of invasion. The beach there was very rocky and big. Not too far from that area, two Chinese ships had been partially sunk and destroyed by typhoons that had passed through. The view from that beach of the island in the distance was quite beautiful and I would have loved to have brought a picnic lunch there to enjoy it all longer.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the hotel, walking about, and talking about all that we had seen  and done. It had been a good first day.