Yay Photos!

Then again maybe not... I'm having issues with my uploader... WAAAA!!!

Back with a Bang! Jeju!

Yes yes yes... it's been forever. I apologize to those who think I've died because I haven't updated. Truth be known, I'm not only fickle but I'm also a procrastinator. Sigh, I know. The disappointment in not being perfect is even heavier on my shoulders than yours I assure you. Enough of this... On with this show!

So! Jeju! Please be assured that if you're reading this, it was the first official broadcast of what happened in Jeju. We only just arrived home an hour ago, unpacked, grabbed coffees and I uploaded my photos. All in all the trip was spectacular! We had one hitch that was easily solved. But I'll get to that later.

Let's just start with a small preface saying that the tickets were booked 3 months prior to departure and during the last month of work, I kept feeling like I needed a vacation. The week before we left I started feeling antsy. The day before, it was all I could talk about and I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. The night before, I didn't sleep I was so excited. I was a bit worried that not sleeping would definitely impact my energy level on the first day, but when we landed, I was ready to go.

Our first place to stay was a pension and they arranged to meet us at the airport to pick us up. We had the details of the car and besides waiting a bit, were greeted by a very friendly Korean man who was very glad to see us. He didn't speak a lot of English and so communication was kept simple and involved lots of actions on both parts. Curtis and I were both really happy that he was trying to communicate though and didn't just give up.

The nearest beach to our pension, Iho beach. It was nice but there were lots of little lava rocks scattered on the shore so not as comfy as we would have liked

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A fisherman on the rocks.

A mural of the women divers on Jeju, called Haenyo.

We couldn't check in right away so we went to the beach. We didn't stay long as we wanted to have a shower and check out other things in the area. I had read about a park with wooden and stone sculptures that sounded interesting. It turned out that they sculptures were mostly of driftwood that had been arranged in an artful way rather than carved. Some of the pieces had really funny names but others were really inspired and amazing. There was also a shrine to the founding fathers of Jeju-do. Apparently, the first inhabitants of Jeju were three demi-gods who crawled out of three holes in the ground. I guess we all come from caves somewhere down the line.

Speaking of caves, that was next on our tour. Since Jeju is a volcanic island, there are many interesting volcano related topographical features! Woo hoo!! I was in my glory and Curtis was very patiently listening to me babble on about how this cave was created and why it has this or that feature. I learned a bit too from the signs they had posted. Lava is so cool!! The cave it self was a 20 degree temperature drop from outside that day and boy was it welcome! 10 degrees has never felt so good.

After the caves we went to see a crater that's pretty unique. It's completely forested but the north facing slope has a completely different ecosystem than the south facing slope. One is sub-tropical while the other is temperate. It's really deep and wide, quite amazing to behold for sure. The forest within was really thick and jungly too.

We'd been trying to pace ourselves and so only saw a couple of things each day. The third day we planned to sleep early and wake up before sunrise, walk to the peak of an ocean crater and then watch the sunrise from up there (it was recommended in Lonely Planet). It's quite famous for the sunrise view over the ocean so we were dedicated and got to sleep early. The pension we stayed in this time had a bunch of single units rather than an apartment style. It was nice too. Haewabada is the name, I recommend it to anyone staying near Seongsan because taxi's actually know it, it's clean, and it's nice.

Ok, so we got the number for a taxi so we could call before dawn to get one to the foot of the crater. We woke up at 4:30 am, yes that's right mom and dad, it is possible when you've got something to do. We headed up the crater walk with about 100 other people. The sun was already starting to light up the horizon and I was getting worried we wouldn't make it. Curtis isn't as much of a morning person as I and was having trouble keeping his temperature at a comfortable, unqueasy level so we had to stop often. As much as I would not have wanted to see it without him, I was nervously counting our resting minutes hoping we wouldn't be late. We were some of the last to the top and as any good climb goes, the top was magnificent. We were about 20 minutes behind sunrise schedule though. We looked out to the horizon to see that the sun had not risen! It was patiently waiting for us behind some thick clouds and was casting some pretty glorious colours. We stayed to enjoy for about an hour listening to the cicadas and chatting with some fellow expats. A white rabbit appeared and he was too tame, so we decided that he'd been a pet set free by his generous if not naive owner.

After our decent, we went back to bed for a few hours and then went on to the next destination. With our back packs, it was much easier to arrive at our lodging, drop our bags and then go sightseeing. The last place we stayed was called Gold Beach Pension. This is the accommodation we had a bit of a snag with. On the day we arrived, I called around to the other pensions to communicate that we still intended on staying with them. I wasn't quite sure where this one was and when I looked it up online, it looked completely out of the way. I got nervous so I called Rachel and asked her to translate for me.

As it turned out, I had booked our stay for Saturday night and Sunday night... rather than Friday and Saturday. Also, since it looked out of the way, I thought we'd be better to cancel and see if we could get something closer. Rachel was able to find out that they could still accommodate us for the two nights we needed and that it was actually quite easy to get to. Since we already paid the deposit and couldn't get it back, we'd decided to stick with it, even if it was a bit of a taxi ride to and from. When we stepped off the bus,we flagged a taxi right away, not having a clue where this place was. The taxi wasn't sure either so we called up the pension and handed the phone to him. The taxi driver laughed, drove about two blocks on the same street and then pulled over and pointed to the sign. It was right there!!! We couldn't believe it! It was in the Jungmun tourist area which turned out to be quite handy as it's in the middle of most of the attractions. Phew!

We didn't intend for this to be the stair master day, but boy was it ever! We went to see a three tiered waterfall and there were steps up and down that sucker. It was quite amazing and beautiful and the pools were the best part. I have never seen water that colour before and might never again. It was completely unique. After we went to a part of the coast with really amazing topography. There are rocks that have spheroidal weathering on them where the salt in the water has eroded circular patterns into the rock. It was fabulous. We stayed there about an hour walked all over these rocks. At then end a group of people was having a picnic and they invited us to have some soju with them. Being polite we enjoyed a shot glass full. They were eating a type of raw shellfish that some women were preparing and selling. They offered us some and after explaining that Curtis was "allergic" I took a piece and crunched on it. It was really tasty but the texture was strange and cartilaginous... wouldn't eat a whole one by myself for sure, but I don't regret having tried it. Plus the people were really generous so I didn't want to offend them.

Having seen more of the coast we figured it was time to fit in a Buddha in a cave. Once again, neither of us suspected it, but more stairs were in order to reach said Buddha. We thought the stairs wouldn't end. Then we saw a rock face instead of brush cover and we though, geez, we must be close... nope, more stairs! Finally the cave and buddha. The buddha was a buddha, I mean, I haven't studied Buddhism enough to know what each buddha pose represents and I don't speak enough Korean in order to ask so mostly they all look similar to me. The cave however was fantastic. I got a picture but it's a bit dark... and like always, never does justice to the subject. We finished the day of the stairs, got a bite to eat and then slept like babies.

The next day we got up at 7:30 to get ready for our scuba dive. We were both just trying it out to see what it was like since we haven't taken any courses. Before I got in the water I was a bit nervous having read some of the safety precautions on the internet. Once I got suited up and got in the water it all seemed very fluid and calming. Ralph (Big Blue 33 dive shop operator), the dive master helped quite a bit with his calm professional manner. He also had a good sense of humor. The corals were spectacular in bright pinks and purples. There were many schools of fish swimming close and investigating. No uber-amazing appearances of unique species, but then, I really should study up a bit more on my fish species. I was just so happy to be swimming with the fish that at times I forgot to move ahead and keep going. :)

We only went down once on account of our being new divers and thus sat on the dive site most of the day. We both got pretty bad sunburns even though we liberally applied SPF 40 to ourselves. Dagnabbit!! Carrying backpacks the next day was a bit rough and I whined a lot. We didn't end up doing much on the last day, just going to the airport and relaxing. The last thing we wanted is to return home from our vacation being completely exhausted. We felt like we saw everything we wanted to and relaxed as well. It was perfect.

Once again, I'm having issues uploading photos... I'll do a whack later, but for now, the written will have to suffice.