Jejudo

This has been a long time coming, I know, and I'll add more about my more recent happenings soon!

One of the many wonderful things about the EAPSI program (my fellowship program) is that they actually expected the students to be traveling around and enjoying the region they (we) were in. As a graduate student of five years and student of many more, it was a liberating and rare feeling to go explore without that nagging thought that there was research or studying I should be doing instead. This program actually wanted us to go out and have fun (!). So we did just that. A few of us traveled to Jeju Island, at the south of Korea, for a weekend of hiking and outdooring. The island is known as the "Korean Hawaii" because of its volcanic geology (there are basalt rocks on the coasts, volcanoes and craters everywhere, and cinder cones dotting the skyline in the east where we spend some time). 

It's also extremely green because of the hot, humid climate during the summer, and clementine oranges are grown on the inner part of the island. Here's Dave checking out a map of the island --it's about two hours by bus to get from the top to the bottom of the island, between the two major cities. Note: none of the pictures in this post are mine --they were all taken by Josh or Colleen from my EAPSI group.

There were lots of options for activities, but we all wanted to get some hiking in and see the eastern port of the island, where there's a large crater called Seongsan and a sub-island (Udo, which means cow island since the island is shaped like a cow's head from the top). We decided to take the ferry to Udo, and rented some bicycles there to pedal around the small road that goes along the coastline. Almost the entire island is flat, with the exception of a crater at one end. From the ferry, it looked like a peninsula on the U.S. west coast that stuck out into the ocean, but then just abruptly ended where the forests should have started.

The whole island was built on basalt, and there were lava fields in many places right on the water. 

And, of course, there were lots of little critters (mostly cockroaches) running around between the rocks.

The bikes we rented weren't exactly race-winners... Dave (on the left here) picked out a mountain bike, which was probably a good decision. The rest were heavy cruisers with cute little pink or green paint jobs and very empty tires. Nevertheless, it felt great to be on a bike! I was hoping that I'd be able to ride a bike around while I was in Korea, but there really weren't many bike commuters, and lots of big hills in the places I ended up studying. Can't wait to get home and go for a ride!

There were also ATVs you could rent to ride around the island, which you can see in back of Dave here. ATVs were a common mode of transport in rural Korea, and I really regret never getting a picture of the middle-aged Korean women with their nicely styled hair riding them through the streets of Jinchon on Baengnyeongdo.

Here's the group of us at Udo (groupie with Josh's go-pro): Colleen, Josh, me, and Dave. 

Udo was also a farming and ranching area (tiny, exposed to the ocean elements, and full of rocks though it was) --we saw horses grazing all over.

The roads were small and windy, as on Baengnyeongdo and in the rural areas of Korea, through farms of small orange plants and other fields.

In the distance, you could see the bigger island (Jeju), dotted with cindercones. The weather was Oregon Coast weather most of our trip --lots of low clouds and mist, and it rained a bit in the afternoons. We didn't get very wet on Udo until the last five minutes or so of our ride, when there was a downpour. It's so warm, even in this weather, though, that it felt nice!

Here's us on the ferry ride back from Udo.

 ..And another groupie on Udo:

Next stop: Manjanggul Cave. There is a large area of lava tubes along the northern part of Jejudo, leading into the sea. This one has been opened to tourists, so we took the 400 m jaunt through it to the largest lava pillar in the world. The tubes were created by the flow of lava underneath an already hardened layer of lava. In Eastern Oregon, you can walk through a longer, but narrower lava tube. The temperature dropped about ten degrees (we estimated this with our expert science senses) from the surface, and there were roots hanging down into the entrance of the cave --very cool and jungly!

The pillar was really spectacular, at the end of the open part of the cave. The lava actually spilled through at this point through a broken section of already hardened rock, leaving this statue of rock, with little roots at the base and a lumpy texture as it oozed and hardened. The cave actually continued and was on several levels vertically, and there were photos of larger drip features (stalactites and stalagmites) that were in the other sections we couldn't go to.

 

This cave (check out the wiki page --third picture down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_tube) was flat on the base, and had several features that were described along the walk where chunks of hardened rock had floated and been stuck in the floor of the cave. There were also small stalactites hanging from the ceiling in places and forming along the walls. 

We went for a dinner and maekchu (beer) on the beach after our walk through the cold lava tube, and ended up finding this little festival seating area where they served haemul pajeon (seafood pancake) and some other small dishes. A Korean couple came over to us while we ate and asked to take our pictures so they could draw cartoons of us --a very strange but fun experience! They posed us and told us what he'd focus on in the drawings, which was embarrassing and funny...

And one of Dave and Josh eating dinner on the beach ---"fighting!" (it's what the Koreans tell you when it looks like you're about to die on the way up a big hill).

The beach was really beautiful and the water was nice and warm!

The following day, we got up early and hiked up the tallest mountain in South Korea, Hallasan (san means mountain). The hike progressively got tougher, with oddly shaped rocks steps up the last third of the climb, but very nicely kept bridges and trails at the beginning. 

 There were some gorgeous wild blue hydrangeas along the trail:

About half way up, there was a spring from the mountain water ---this is a common thing to see at mountain sites like temples and along trails. We all filled up our water bottles and I haven't gotten sick at all yet! Don't know whether giardia is ever a problem in this part of the world...

In true Korean fashion, since the population is quite dense here and there are many, many people who climb this trail every day, there's a small restaurant more than half way up. You can purchase a cup-of-noodles style bowl of ramen, red bean paste, choco-pies (a Little Debbie sort of snack), and a few disposable hiking items like ponchos. Here's Colleen enjoying her ramen.

As we got close to the top of the mountain, it started to rain on us and the fog came downhill at us with tremendous speed ---true mountain weather! We were sort of expecting this to happen, and had some rain gear with us, but not enough. We were all soaked, but the view from the top and the exercise on the way up made it worth it!

...Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the gorgeous crater at the top --but here's one from a postcard that I bought in Jeju. I do have a great picture of us at the end of the trail, though! It's of me, Josh, and Dave (Colleen's taking the photo).

After our adventure up the mountain, we were all really tired and hungry ---so walked around some more! ( ; We went to find a highly rated Mexican food restaurant in a different part of Jeju-Si, but didn't have much luck... I do recommend getting a Lonely Planet guide to Korea and also using Google Maps while here, but there are definitely some problems with both. Colleen was bummed since it was close to her birthday, but we ended up eating a Chinese feast with lots of shrimp and veggie dishes for me. Afterward, we went to Baskin Robbins (everywhere in Korea!) and got Colleen an ice cream cake. They were closing, so they just gave us the whole setup with candles and matches, in a polystyrene cooler, and we ate it on the street. It made me pretty upset to just put the cooler on the side of the road with the other trash afterward, but it was a delicious cake!

It was a great trip, and mostly because of my travel partners! Thanks for a great trip, guys. ( :