DAY 3-4 (Dec 13 to Dec 14)

Day 3

Did I mention the name of hotel which we were staying at Jeju Island? It was Jeju KAL. I am not quite sure about the number of stars which the hotel is rated. According to the tour guide, a hotel which has a rating of 5 stars over at Korea is equivalent to a 4 stars in Singapore. =(

Alright, let's continue with my Korea itinerary for the day. :)

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." And of course our Tour agency knew that the most important meal of the day should naturally be a good and a satisfactory one. They provided us with delicious international breakfast buffet. Seriously, what's more can we demand for?







After the delightful breakfast, we set out for the first attraction which was Yongduam rock.

YONGDU-AM (DRAGON-HEAD ROCK)

At the western end of Jeju City, where the Hanch'on stream runs into the ocean, is a large rock formation shaped like a dragon's head. (Depending on the viewing angle, it sometimes looks more like the head of a bunny rabbit.) A short trail has been carved out going down the cliffs to give several views of the rock. Several old women sell fresh seafood in the area.

Legend states that the Dragon King's messenger was sent to Halla Mountain to gather bulloch'o (an herb reputed to give eternal life). The messenger was killed by an arrow from an angry mountain god. Part of the messenger's body sank into the water while the head remained above the water, trying to return to the sky. On windy days, the waves crashing against the rocks suggest the fury of the dragon.







Next up; Dokkaebi Road / Mysteriou Road

Since most of the attractions in the Jeju island are clustered together, it didn't take very long for us to travel from one attraction to the next.

Yup. Our next stop was the amazing mysterious road. You guys must be wondering what's so special and mysterious about the road.

On Mysterious Road (or Dokkaebi Road), a parked car on a slight hill road rolls uphill instead of going down hill. Yes. I'm not kidding! A parked car will literally move upslope by itself. Creepy, isn't it?
There were a few tests for tourists to carry out, just in case we don't believe.

1st Test- Shut of car engine test
The driver deliberately shut off the bus engine. As we were waiting curiously, the bus started moving upslope by itself. That moment was jaw-dropping. Seriously, I could not believe it myself. "BUS MOVED UPSLOPE BY ITSELF ??"

2nd Test-Walking test
We were told to walk backward down and up on the slope. Surprisingly, it was easier to go up the slope than going down.

3rd Test- Ride a bicycle test
We can choose to ride a bicycle up and down on that slope. When going down the slope, cyclist has to pedal for the bicycle to move down. While, on the way up, cyclist can release the pedal and the bicycle will still move up.

4th Test- Bottle test
Place a plastic bottle which is filled with water on the slope. We observed that the platic bottle instantly move up the slope by itself. Oh gosh... Is this a paranormal phenomenon?


Explanation:
This is a result of an optical illusion in which the lower part looks higher because of its surrounding environment. In other words, the upslope is actually a downslope and vice versa.







Our next destination was RapeSeed Flower Farm. Frankly, I wasn't impressed by it until I got to know that this flower is the representative spring wild flower of Jeju Island. Wasn't it amazing to see them during Winter? Indeed. Indeed. Thanks to genetic engineering, the owner of this farm managed to cultivate such flower even during winter. Bravo! Haha







After we have seen such pretty flower during winter, we headed to our next stop which was the Seongsan Sunrise Peak.

Let me give you a brief introduction of that place.

Seongsan Sunrise Peak

Near the eastern town of Songsan-ri, a volcanic crater with vertical cliffs rises up from the shore. As the easternmost tip of Jeju Island, this area is the first to greet each day's new sun, thus earning the name of "Sunrise Peak." A hefty climb brings visitors to the top of the peak. Visitors are prevented from entering the crater by barbed wire, but they can still enjoy the panoramic views of the surrounding area. Jagged rocks stick up like teeth along the crater's perimeter. It is definitely worth the view, even if you do not make it in time for the sunrise.

In order to get to the peak, we had to literally "climb" up. Of course, there were stairs to facilitate the "climb". Can you believe I perspire alot on the way up even during winter? Yeah. Owing to the layers of clothes I wore that day, it was almost impossible for my body to not to perspire dring the climb. I even had to take off a few layers of clothes as I proceeded up the cliff.

Of course, I had to take some pictures on the top of the cliff after the hard work. Don't you thnk so? =D















Next, we continued our trip to Tangerine farm.

The tangerine (Citrus × tangerina) is an orange- or red-coloured citrus fruit. It is a variety of the Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata). Tangerines are smaller than most oranges, and the skin of some varieties will peel off more easily. The taste is often less sour, or tart, than that of an orange.

It was my first time plucking ripe fruits from some random trees, without even getting scolded. We practically plucked each and every tangerines to taste them. Haha. Guess what? We were even allowed to keep those tangerines which we have harvested. Well, it felt as though we own those fruit trees. =D







Alright. Time for our lunch! So... what was lunch for that day?

If my memory didn't fail me, I think we ate BBQ pork for lunch that day. Similarly, different side dishes were served. Question! Name one of the side dishes. Haha... That question is easy, isn't it? No Korean meal is complete without kimchi? =D









A scrumptious and satiate meal indeed. If you actually realise, pork served in Jeju island was mostly darker in colour (towards the black spectrum) as those were from black pig. In fact, this type of pork is famous in the island.

After such a fabulous lunch, we were charged up and ready for more sight-seeing and all. Jusangjeolli was our next nature sight-seeing venue. A substantial introduction of the venue is shown below. =D

Jusangjeolli

If you follow the farm road 600 m to the southwest from Depo-dong, at the end of the pine tree forest is a cliff. At the base of this cliff is the Jisatgae Coast along with the imposing stone pillars. The Jusangjeolli are stone pillars piled up along the coast and is a designated cultural monument of Jejudo Island. The Jusangjeolli was formed when the lava from Mt.Hallasan erupted into the sea of Jungmun. They are rock pillars shaped like cubes or hexagons of various sizes and almost seem as if stonemasons had carved them out. The administration of the district named them 'Jisatgae Rocks' from their old name 'Jisatgae'. Its 20 m cliff makes it a popular spot for high tide, sea angling. The waves of the high tides crashing into the side of the cliff provide a breathtaking view of the ocean surrounding the pillars.









I think our next section will be a "must read" section for Teddy Bear fan. If you think that Teddy Bear museum can only be found in England, you really have no idea how wrong you are.

One of the most famous Teddy Bear museums is found in Jeju island. You should not miss this venue if you are a serious fan of Teddy Bears. Frankly, I am not really a fan of Teddy Bears yet I was fortunate enough to visit this one and only Teddy Bear museum in Jeju island. As usual, I shall give you guys a brief introduction of the museum.

Teddy Bear Museum

The Jeju Teddy Bear Museum opened on April 24, 2001. Here you can find everything you want to know about Teddy Bears! It contains two galleries, a museum gift shop, and a museum cafe. Also, on site is a museum bar/restaurant, a wonderful place to meet friends, family, and lovers. From the outside garden, there is a great view of Chungmoon Beach.

Millions of people around the world collect Teddy Bears and they seek out old, unique, and valuable teddy bears for their personal collections. The Jeju Teddy Bear Museum opened especially for the European collectors and is more exciting than ever with special "Teddy Bear" entertainment.

Teddy Bears have been loved and cherished since they were first introduced over 100 years ago. They are named for America's 26th president, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. According to legend, President Roosevelt went on a bear-hunting trip, but had not shot any bears by the end of it. One of his staff members caught a bear cub and lashed it to a tree for President Roosevelt to shoot. However, President Roosevelt refused, feeling it was inappropriate behavior for a sportsman such as himself.

The story spread rapidly, and people soon started to make their own Teddy Bears. Morris Michtom, an American and Margarete Steiff, a German, were the first manufacturers to produce teddy bears commercially. The Steiff Co. was the most successful of the two toy companies. You can see many of Steiff's traditional bears in the Jeju Teddy Bear Museum.





Picture speaks a thousand words :D I shall let the pictures do the talking instead. Hehe.










I took a lot of photos in Teddy Bear Museum. Unfortunately, due to space and time constraints, I only posted selected pictures above. Sorry...

Alright. Lets continue our Korea adventure...

Next Destination: DINOSAUR PARK

Do you want to see extincted dinosaurs, want them to reappear in front of you? It seems almost impossible. However, for the least, you can see them standing motionless in front of you in Jeju Dinosaurs park. As the park's name implies, the park is full of dinosaurs. Of course, they aren't real but they certainly look real enough to fool some of the young children. Anyway, I think Jeju Dinosaur park is the best alternative for seeing these extincted dinosaurs.











Dinner was raw sashimi! Eating Sashimi at Korea seemed abit off. Nevertheless, they were fresh and satisfying. :D










Day 4

This entry is getting longer! Luckily, I am beginning on Day 4 of the Korea trip in this section.

That morning, we had to wake up before sunrise to catch an early flight back to Seoul. Remember we were still at Jeju island? Yup. It felt as if I am in the green organisation. Soooooooo Early! Yawn~~ I was feeling very lethargic. Thank goodness, we had coach as our mode of transport from point to point in Korea. This means I could still sleep in the coach.

The highlight of that day's breakfast was abalone porridge. As usual, there were other small serving of side dishes to satisfy our appetite. Look at those photos of breakfast. They sure look appealing and mouth-watering.



After our breakfast, we bid farewell to Jeju island and hurried to domestic airport for our flight back to Seoul. The whole flight took approximately 50 minutes after take off, which is roughly the same as the arrival flight from Seoul.

[Video of plane take off (Korean Air) from Jeju to Seoul]


[Video of plane touch down (Korean Air) at Seoul from Jeju]










In the blink of eyes, we reached Seoul(Soul of Asia), Incheon International Airport. I forgot to mention the fact that the average temperature in Jeju Island is about 6-8degree Celsius higher than Seoul.

For the past few days at Jeju island, the average temperature was hovering between 7-12 Degree Celsius. Imagine Seoul temperature is expected to be about 6 degree Celsius lower than Jeju island. The chill when we exited the airport was overwhelming
Fortunately, we didn't have to stay in the chill for long before boarding the bus.

That day's lunch was early. The bus headed straight to the restaurant for our lunch. Lunch was delicious Seafood Steamboat. If you realise, different parts of South Korea have different delicacy. For instance, delicacy of Jeju island is BBQ black pork. As for the area of the restaurant, their delicacy is octopus. Yummy! I had never eaten such a big serving of octopus.







After that fantastic lunch, we continued our itinerary to the highlight of the day, Magnificent Mount Seorak. =D It has crowned the title of "snowy crags mountain" by the Korean for its abundant snowfall in winter.

We went to Baekdamsa Temple, which is situated at Mount Seorak National Park, before reaching for the peak of the mountain. :D













After visiting the temple, it was time to head to the peak of Mount Seorak. It was another "mountain climbing" session. Haha. No wonder, I could lost about 2kg over at Korea.

To use the shortest time to get to the peak of the mountain, we took a cable car to somewhere near the peak. Hence, the actual climbing distance was actually quite short. =D


(This is the cable car which we took)

I swear it was freezing cold at the peak of the mountain. Not a single bit of exaggeration. The strong chill wind amplified the effect of the coldness on our body. I was certainly shivering uncontrollably. To make matter worst, the coldness caused numbness to my ears. My ears were red and numb to the extent that I was afraid it might just fall off. =X Luckily, tour guide, Coco offered to help me to cover my ears with the scarf. Guess what? I decided to get myself a beanie to protect those delicate ears in such cold weather that evening. =p

Alright. Get ready... More pictures are coming up!

PICTURES!


























That evening, we experienced Korea indoor hot springs or rather hot spa. It was nice and enjoyable especially on a cold snowy day. I heard it will relieve stress an it was deliberately included in the itinerary to promote a fun, healthy travel experience. Unfortunately, I could not take any photos because my camera was kept in the locker. =X Oh. A cool part about their so called "styling area" where guys can dry, gel and style their hair after a bath, is worth mentioning. This area had a full range of hair styling products, ranging from hair gel, wax and spray, complimentary for hot spa users. Moreover, comb, hair dryer, bottle of cologne were available too. Isn't that cool? Yup. Very much so. =D

Alright. Time for dinner. After the hot spa, I was starving! Luckily, it did not take too long for the bus to reach the restaurant where we had our dinner for that evening.

What was for dinner?





Yup. Yet another BBQ dinner. It seems like Koreans love BBQ alot. =P Eventhough most of our meals in Korea were BBQ, a different BBQ meal has a totally different taste to it. You could say that each BBQ meal was unique on its own. =D

Dinner was BBQ seafood. It was a thumb up! Yup. It was certainly the kind of meal which will indulge your senses for food. =D Of course, you can refill most of the food, just like a buffet. =D

Alright. Thats all for this part. Rather long though. =P Cheers