Here are two stories: our first hike and our first trip into the big (sort-of) city! (Warning: this is a long one!)
The hike was much easier. We decided on Tuesday night to just take off and explore. We had seen some signs during our trip to Moseulpo over the weekend pointing toward Mt. Sangak-san, the closest major “failed volcano” around us (Jeju is a volcanic island with one central peak and hundreds of smaller peaks). We knew the mountain was supposed to have hiking trails, so we followed the signs and tried to find somewhere to explore.
The signs, it turned out, led not to the mountain itself, but to a trail with views of the mountain. Just as well, because it also turned out to be part of an Olle Trail. Jeju is crossed and circled by more than 200 km of Olle trails on 13 distinct routes. Each route is well marked and maintained, so they’re great places to walk, and can probably keep us busy all year.
This bit of Olle trail was right on the south-east coast of the island. The coast here had steep cliffs, with some blocked off as an exhibit – we could see dozens of caves dug in where Japanese soldiers camped out during WWII. Amazing. There was also plenty of buggy wildlife – Patrick assures me that none of the spiders on the island are poisonous. Whew. And check out those funky cockroach-type crawlers in the video. They were EVERYWHERE and not my favorite.
We hiked to the top of a small peak with a big lush crater. It was a bit surreal to feel like you were in the rainforest (humid) and see both palm trees and needled evergreens. There were plenty of Koreans out hiking with us, and even one family with a tent set up for a night out. Not sure I’d want to camp in the trees with those spiders around!
THE CITY
On Wednesday, we had arranged to go up to Jeju-si (Jeju City) about 45 minutes away, to meet a couple ladies who were selling things craigslist-style on a Jeju Facebook Group (I love technology!). Sadly, Google Maps doesn’t seem to have come to South Korea in much detail yet. So getting directions is a challenge. As was driving our new manual-transmission car in heavy city traffic in a city built on volcanic hills. Just gotta say, Patrick was a champ!
It’s a bit hard to describe what it was like. It’s nothing like Seoul, from what I’ve heard. It’s a big city, for sure. Lots of tiny shops selling anything and everything. People walking everywhere. Big buildings with neon signs flashing, a couple digital Times-Square-like screens (though not many). Fast-driving scooters, crazy merging and turning cars. The main streets were relatively predictable, but the side streets were generally packed with cars parked on sidewalks all up and down both sides, leaving hardly enough space for two cars to pass through – just hope you don’t meet a truck!
We had a pretty typical city experience after our dinner: we got back to our car to find that we had been parked in. I guess this happens all the time (we had been warned). All cars have a sticker with the owner’s cell phone number displayed, and if you need the car moved, you just call! We flagged down someone and mimed out our problem. We couldn’t call ourselves, because we don’t have local phones set up yet, and we don’t speak any Korean! This young man was very helpful, though, and the owner was out in a minute to move out of the way.
We only got lost, um, 5 or 6 times, but we found every place we wanted to go. We picked up some great house-y items for cheap, and got some yummy Indian food from a highly-recommended English-speaking restaurant. Success! We got lost again on the way back, but thankfully road signs are all in Korean and English (and some are also in Mandarin) and we just kept heading generally toward some cities we knew.
So we’ve survived our first hike with monster spiders and scurrying bugs, and our first trip to the city with crazy traffic and unplanned roads. Whew.