Jeju Island

Jeju Island is a volcanic island off the south coast of South Korea, dominated by Halla-san (Halla Mountain): a volcano 1,950 metres high and the highest mountain in South Korea. Because of the relative isolation of the island, the people of Jeju have developed a culture and language that are distinct from those of mainland Korea. Jeju is home to thousands of local legends and many local crafts.

Jeju is very popular as a honeymoon resort for the South Korean people. It grows tangerines, in several different sizes. The large ones are called Hallabong. 0.5M people live on the island with 300,000 living in the City. Women divers are symbols of Jeju Island but they are dramatically decreasing. The woman who dive to catch marine products hold their breath for about 2 minutes at the depth of over 10m below sea level. Most of the woman divers have done the job since the age of 12 to 14 years old. Previously, about 100,000, now, there are are only about 5600 remaining.The local fish is Okdom which is only found in the waters around Jeju.

Jeongbang Waterfall is one of the 3 most famous waterfalls on Jeju Island. The 23-metre falls drop into a small, sheltered cove with the cliffs, the sea, and several small islands offshore being very picturesque.

 

Seongeup-ri, Pyoson-myon, still remains as a typical mountain village, and is home to a number of cultural treasures. This area was Jeju's provincial capital during the Koryo period, and has been maintained by the local government, The village contains about 3,000 thatched roof houses with stone and clay walls where villagers still live, although some have added modern amenities. The people have their own dialect, folk songs, crafts and traditional foods. There is a good neighbourhood watch system using the 3 bar gate – one bar says I’m home, two bars says I’m out for a short while, 3 bars says I’m away for the day.

Jeju is known for it’s ‘black pork’. In this village we saw the pig pen, with the outside open toilet on the side. Apparently, the pigs eat human excrement.

 

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago. Located on the eastern end of Jeju Island, there is a huge crater about 600m in diameter and 90m high. With the 99 sharp rocks surrounding the crater, it looks like a gigantic crown. While the southeast and north sides are cliffs, the northwest side is a grassy hill, connected to Seongsan Village. Walkers can reach the ridge in about 35 minutes. Apparently, the sunrises are spectacular and many come here to see the sunrise on the first day of the year. Unfortunately we had low cloud and couldn’t see much of the crater.

 

Seongsan Pleasure Boat – again this was marred by the low cloud so we didn’t see much of the cliffs. Even had the weather been clear, we were not impressed by the trip. However, it was interesting to see the toasted dried fish.

 

Manjanggul Lava Cave is one of the finest lava tunnels in the world, and is a designated a natural monument. It has a variety of interesting structures inside including 70cm lava stalagmites and the lava tube tunnels. Only 1km of the 13,422m Manjanggul Cave is open to tourists. The inside of the tunnel sustains at a temperature of 11~21 degrees. There are some rare animals such as bats living in the tunnel, which makes this tunnel valuable for researchers as well. The Stone Turtle is shaped like Jeju-do Island.

The O’Sulloc Tea Museum is an historical tea site where Kim, Cheong-hi (pen name: Ch'usa) grew tea and had a tea life with many other tea lovers. The island has an idealistic climate and excellent geographical conditions for producing premium tea.

The museum building is modelled after a green tea cup and has a grass square and walkway with a pavilion and bridge. The road through the tea field is a famous for a place for couples to go for a walk while on a date. Inside the museum, a cup gallery displays tea items and tea sets, a tea culture room allows visitors to view many types of tea, and a gift shop where visitors can purchase various types of tea, tea-related food, green tea ice cream, and gifts. Visitors can also view the endless green tea field, Halla-san, Sanbang-san, and the ocean scenery from the third floor observatory (reached by elevator).

The Jeju Folklore & Natural History Museum currently has folklore remains and natural historical materials that were excavated in Jeju and displayed in 1984. The museum is divided into 4 exhibition halls: the Natural History Hall, the Folklore Exhibition Hall, the Folklore Exhibition Hall, and the Outdoor Exhibition.

Mysterious Road (Dokkaebi Road) - a parked car on a slight hill road rolls uphill instead of going down hill. This is a result of an optical illusion in which the lower part looks higher because of its surrounding environment.

The Jusangjeolli cliffs are stone pillars piled up along the coast. 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.

See Hallim Park