Jeju, South Korea Part I

I don't know that I have stressed enough how very blessed we are by our school. Each semester, the Korean Foundation that runs our school takes the new staff on an all expense paid cultural experience trip. Translate that to mean a swanky weekend of free fun with friends with more food than you could ever eat. Seriously, this was one of the best trips we've ever been on. The school had arranged for a tour bus and tour guide to pick us up at the airport. All we had to do was show up. It was so nice to just participate, no planning, no clue where we are going, what to eat, where to stay. It was so relaxing to have all those stressful parts of travel taken care of and to have a wonderful, native tour guide to explain what were actually experiencing!  We were in Jeju for 2 days and 1 night and saw so much. Jeju is described as the Hawaii of Korea and rightfully so.  This was Thanksgiving weekend and it was overcast and a little chilly, but the photos will speak for themselves: this place is stunning. We spent most of our time on the south of the island and learned a lot about the history. Jeju is known for 3 things: wind, rocks and women. We experienced all 3, the mighty winds on the sea, the beauty of the lava rocks (Jeju is a dormant volcano) and saw a demonstration from the women divers (more in the next post on them!). We also were treated to their delicious black pork and tangerines. All things you must experience if you go!The East China Sea TourWe went on a boat tour of the East China Sea and pretty much just floated around the incredibly choppy sea for an hour. This was not a trip for the faint of stomach...There was about 10 minutes of fishing, some raw fish tasting, a bit of 'site seeing' aka looking at the shore, but mostly it was just a really fun ride. The water is so turquoise, it blew my mind. Also, Terrell pretended to surf until he almost actually fell overboard. Entertainment for all...Anything for a feet shot. Anything. Doesn't this look like a J.Crew or Sperry's magazine ad?! The Alive MuseumWeird. Amazing. Interactive. Funny. Weird. All words that you would use to describe this experience. All the art pieces are interactive and there are directions and examples posted with each exhibit of how you are supposed to stand to photograph and interact with each piece. This was actually really fun, some exhibits were very strange and made me a little uncomfortable, but was a great time and you could spend hours here. Jusangjeolli Cliff This is the view of the cliff from our boat ride. And the view from the overlook. This view reminded me so much of Hawaii, the water, the cliffs, the volcanic rock. Perfect. This was a quick and easy stop. We were only here for 25 minutes, which was just the right amount of time. It was crowded, so we had to wait and fight for good shots without tons of strangers, but so worth it. These are frame worthy.     Cheonjeyeon Waterfall This is the view of the waterfall from the temple up top. The crazy cool bridge you cross. And then the waterfall up close and personal. It's actually pretty easy to access, though it initially looks really far. But! It is 220 steps down to the waterfall and.....220 UP from it. But really not bad. This was beautiful, but after seeing the cliffs, this was not my favorite stop, but it was quick and easy and had some decent overlooks of the sea and was a different type of stop from our primarily sea focused day. We arrived around 10am, had a sit down lunch and dinner, saw all these things and were at our hotel by 9pm. There is so much to see in Jeju, you either need a jam-packed schedule like ours or a lot of time because you don't want to miss all this beauty! Next up I'll share day 2 of our trip!