After a little more than an hour, we arrived at Jeju.
Jeju doesn't have it's own metro/subway system, so we had to rely on buses everywhere we go. The stop we were supposed to get off at was "Tamra Welfare Center", and by some odd chance I heard the word "Tam-na" and we immediately scrambled off the bus before the driver goes Vin Diesel on us. This is the thing about Korean buses in general. It's more of a I-aim-to-transport-you than a I-aim-to-serve-you mentality. It is more efficient, but you definitely have to be alert and nimble if you don't want to miss your stop.
Jeju doesn't have it's own metro/subway system, so we had to rely on buses everywhere we go. The stop we were supposed to get off at was "Tamra Welfare Center", and by some odd chance I heard the word "Tam-na" and we immediately scrambled off the bus before the driver goes Vin Diesel on us. This is the thing about Korean buses in general. It's more of a I-aim-to-transport-you than a I-aim-to-serve-you mentality. It is more efficient, but you definitely have to be alert and nimble if you don't want to miss your stop.
Okay, so back on track. We arrived at our guesthouse and it was AWESOME. The bathroom was huge, the staff were super friendly and helpful plus we had a huge dresser with good natural lighting. Needless to say, we were thrilled.
Briefly unpacked, did some laundry, and got glued to the television because we found "Dad Where Are You Going" airing. Lol. We were supposed to go check out the Dragon's Head Rock and whatnot but the comfort of our room and the television got us to stay in instead.
Decided not to slack around any longer and went out for dinner. Visited a traditional market along our way but most of the stalls we already closed by evening time. Bummer.
Walked through a lovely park and reached the famous Black Pork Street. It's an entire street filled with restaurants that specializes in black pork dishes. Went in the one that seems the most promising (busy = promising) and ordered ourselves a really yummy black pork bbq set.
We polished off everything because it was freaking good. Also, Huihui exceeded her quota for vegetables intake for the entire year during this meal. Lolol.
Hui doesn't eat any kind of vegetables at all, not even onions. So whenever we would have a meal together, she'd usually pass them all to me or just leave them uneaten. Before we started eating, the very friendly lady serving decided to demonstrate the different ways that we could eat grilled pork. She took a large piece of lettuce, placed a sliced of grilled pork in the middle, added some sauces and a heap of spring onions, wrapped it up, and proceeded to shove it right into Huihui's mouth.
Hui doesn't eat any kind of vegetables at all, not even onions. So whenever we would have a meal together, she'd usually pass them all to me or just leave them uneaten. Before we started eating, the very friendly lady serving decided to demonstrate the different ways that we could eat grilled pork. She took a large piece of lettuce, placed a sliced of grilled pork in the middle, added some sauces and a heap of spring onions, wrapped it up, and proceeded to shove it right into Huihui's mouth.
HAHAHAHA. Everything happened so fast that when I registered the look on her face, I wanted to burst out laughing right there and then. Which I did, after the lady left our table. It was too funny.
We left the restaurant feeling extremely full and made our way to Jungang Underground Shopping Center...which turned out to be a huge tourist scam. The stores were the kind that you would find at Bugis Street, so we had a rough idea of how much things were going to cost there.
Me: *pointing at a very ordinary bag* Igeo eolmayeyo? (How much is this?)
Stall lady: 70,000 won. (~80 SGD)
Me: O.O Ahh...Gwaenchana.
Stall lady: Ah! Cash, 65,000 won!
Zzz. We decided to bounce after a repetition of the above scenario for the next few stalls.
The part of Jeju we were staying at is pretty local, so the night life isn't as bustling. Couple that with surroundings that get more difficult to navigate around in the dark and you have 2 lost girls.
We walked for over 30 minutes along empty streets before we saw a nice looking lady and asked for directions. This was us after finally arriving at the correct bus stop and preparing to head back.
Very tired.
Reached the guesthouse and promptly went to bed.
Day 4 aka day 2 in Jeju. Woke up super early and made our way to the ferry station to go to Udo Island. Psyched!
Went to rent bicycles to explore the island and it looks like I know how to ride a bicycle after all. Well, if you count restarting every 20 peddles and looking extremely pathetic whenever I tried to park as knowing how to ride one. But after a few down-slope screams and almost flinging myself into sea moments later, I got the hang of it! Also, nearly running myself into oncoming traffic really helps speed up the learning process.
Udo Island is absolutely breathtaking. I really wished that we could have spent a full day there just lounging by the beaches and exploring the island, but maybe next time. Also, I was humming Guns N' Roses' Paradise City throughout the bike ride.
Take me back to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, oh won't you please take me home. A very apt song.
Decided to pop by a restaurant beside one of the beaches half way through for lunch. Jeju's big on seafood, so we ordered ourselves some sea urchin bibimbap and abalone porridge.
I've never tasted sea urchin before this so I was pleasantly surprised! It was creamy and sweet and fresh...aaaand I am running out of ways to describe the flavours. It was very delicious.
Continued our journey promptly after because we only rented the bicycles for 3 hours and we needed to catch the afternoon ferry back to the port on Jeju island if we wanted to complete the day's itinerary.
Reached the port, returned the bicycles, and quickly ran to board the ferry because it was leaving.
Hailed a cab and took a 5 minute ride to Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Sunrise Peak). We reached there right smack in the afternoon, so it was less sunrise and more mercilessly scorching sun. I had climbed the peak the previous time I visited, but that was with the cool winter's breeze and even then I had half a mind to give up.
Which explains why I badly wanted to sit out the climb given the hot weather. You know those moments where you just know that you'll regret if you don't do it? Yeah, so I stopped being a little bitch about it, busted out my umbrella since I checked out vanity halfway through cycling around Udo island, and dragged myself up the peak.
So about 30 curses later, we reached finally the peak!
To be honest, not getting lost was the last thing on our minds because all we wanted was a long bus ride to pass out in, so I have little recollection as to how we actually made it there. I remember having to change buses in the middle, but that was with a 65% confirmation from the look the bus driver gave us that he could take us there. Hahaha, go figure.
Reached Jungmun Resort around evening and we were only left with time to visit one museum before they all close. We went with the Teddy Bear Museum in the end because it was the first museum we saw and also, we were too lazy to walk any further. Lol.
The museum was pretty boring, although I did appreciate the quietness and air-conditioning very much. The reflection from the glass made it difficult to get a clear shot so I only took pictures of the creepy looking ones instead.
Tell me that those photos of the teddy bears and their original owners don't look creepy. They remind me of The Haunting in Connecticut where they took photos with the dead because it was their way of commemorating. *shivers*
Finished browsing through the museum and headed to the burger joint nearby to settle our dinner. Complementary washroom mirror shot where you could see my neither here nor there sun burn around my shoulders and chest area which I will be nursing until...today. I am still trying to get the patchy tan to fade so I could get back my original skin tone.
Took the airport limousine back to the airport and made our way back to the guesthouse from there.
We were completely knocked out that night because it was such an exhausting day. One more night in Jeju would probably do us good since we wouldn't have to cram all the sightseeing locations into one full day, but either way, Jeju was the bomb. :)
It was Seoul for the next 6 days, and I shall leave that for another post because these posts really take up a lot of time and as you can see, my coherence and effort tends to decline as the post gets longer. Random ending now.
xx
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