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| View of Jeju Island from Gapa Island. |
WOW!!! Time is just flying by. This past month has gone by so quickly. I have been busy hiking and exploring Jeju Island every spare day that I have. The more I explore this little island the more I appreciate it and love it. It is just such an incredible place to be able to live.
Olle 10-1: Gapa Island
We took a trip out to Gapa Island for the barley festival. The island is to tiny! It's not even 5km in circumference and it's all pretty much barley fields. We walked half of the island then some of us got tandem bike for the rest of the way! It was so much fun! I think it only took us about 10 mins to go around the whole island on bikes. It is just such a cute little island.Oh, and while we were waiting in line to get on the ferry to go out to the island we meet the lady who created all of the Olle Trails!
Olles 8 and 9: In the Land of Garlic and Butterflies
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| This is all garlic. Impressive. |
Little did I know, Jeju has an abundance of garlic fields. It just so happens to be harvest time for the little white vegetable as well. While hiking these two trails we really notice the smell of garlic in the air and the butterflies that danced above the fields. Therefore we have creatively named it "The Land of Garlic and Butterflies." Breathing in garlic-ey air is like a continual meal. You just feel like you are eating and eating and eating. These trails were quite nice. Olle 8 went by the largest temple in Asia, so that is pretty neat. Then it goes through the big tourist area, Jungmun and past the new navel base that is being built. It is a very diverse trail. Most if it is just beautiful nature then you get to the navel base and there is gaffiti everywhere and anti-naval base protesting signs everywhere. Jeju residents didn't want the naval base to be built here and so it is a continual protest. But once you get past all of that it is back to the beautiful nature of the island.
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| Can you see why I love this island?!?! |
Olle 12: Garlic Overload?
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| A very small glimpse of the never-ending fields of garlic. |
This trail was such a wonderful (once I found the trail) walk. Let me tell you a story about how a 17.5 km Olle turned into the 25km walking day. So yesterday, the church had planned an outing to do half of Olle 12 and I was just going to join them at the trail. Being the intense Olle hiker that I am, I decided that I wanted to do the whole Olle, so that I could check it off of my list. So I woke up at 5:00am and got on the bus to head out to the trail at 6:00am. It took an hour and a half to get out there. Then I get off the bus and I have to find the start of the trail. I follow my map and I am just walking into the middle of nowhere. All that I could see around was a sea of garlic fields. Their weren't even houses in my sight. I just kept on walking, and walking and eventually, after one hour of walking I finally found the start of the trail. The plan was to start the trail at 7:30am because I was meeting the group at 10:00am at the half way point of the trail. But with the hour delay I has only an hour and a half to walk have of the 17.5km trail (estimated time according to travel guide is about 3 hours). So, I used one of my God given talents and walked crazy fast!The first few km were really easy, it was just along the paths between the never-ending garlic fields. Then, I saw the one thing that could give me a heart attack! A snake!!! I was all alone with no one to calm me down. Turns out it was dead, but it is still the one of the most scary things in the world. So as I kept on walking I was trying to be my own psychiatrist to work through the mental trauma that I just endured. Anyways, I am being dramatic. Then I get to an oreum (small volcano) and I just ran up it, I had to make sure that I made it to the half way point by 10. It was just lovely and woodsy. I was making incredible time. I am walking along and I end-up walking past the half way point without even knowing it. The group was really late. I see a sign and I look at my map and that is when I realized that I walked 2km past where I was going to meet them. So I had to go back, and that is right when they showed up in the bus, ready to hike. So then we continue along the trail, but part of it wasn't really the Olle trail (so I have to go back and hike the trail properly). The coastline was just amazing. I didn't know there was such beauty on the west side of the island like this. Just look at the two little islands in the picture below, aren't they fascinating! It was a fun day, with so much walking. In the end, I calculated 25km and it was worth it!
There is no stopping my explorations of Jeju (except for weather I suppose) and I am so excited to continue with all kinds of hiking. I still have a lot more to get done on the list. So I am sure I will continue to be amazed by this little island in South Korea ;)
