Never Get Too Bored on Jeju

Olle 11: Mysterious Forest Trail

Gotjawal Forest

I think that the three of us that went hiking on Olle 11 could easily say that this was one of the most unique trails that we have hiked so far. In this short (it's all about perspective) 17 km trail, we walked through cemeteries, through fields,  along roads (all of which are quite normal encounters on these trails), and then the most mysterious forest that I have ventured thus far on the island.  I don't really know how to describe this forest and its oddness, but it was an entertaining place. First of all, the forest is real unique because the forest floor is made completely of rocks. It was very interesting to see how much can grow through the rocks. Then, we are pretty sure that we discovered where all of the butterflies on the island come from. There were endless amounts of caterpillars. They were on every leaf of every branch. Emily got attacked by one, but the rest of us got out of the forest without any incidents. The caterpillars looked were being very healthy, eating leaves and doing an ab workout (or they were dancing, we couldn't decide for sure). 

The caterpillars.

At one point, Sara, found a berry and was about to eat it, but Emily came to the rescue and took the wild berry away. You never know what you can find in these woods. There weren't any Korean hikers around to tell us if it was okay to eat it or not, so Sara was just going to take her chances. I must be honest, I kinda wanted her to try it, but I knew it would be better if she didn't. If it was a poisonous berry, there is no way we could have gotten any help. We were deep in the woods and didn't know how much longer the trail was.
When we finally reached the end of the trail, which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere, we had to walk alother 2 km to the bus stop. Just as we were getting close to the bus stop, the bus drove away. We checked the bus schedule and it turns out that there are only two buses that go by this way everyday and we just missed the last one. I am so thankful that I had my Olle guide with me and it had the number for a taxi on it. We called the taxi, which is a pretty scary thing for me since I don't know enough Korean to know confirm if they were going to send a taxi or not. I can basically read the bus sign and just assume that someone will come a pick us up. Thankfully, Emily was there and she is much better at Korean than I am. We made it back to civilization not too much later. Thank goodness. But I really an trying to avoid that situation again.

Olle 18: The Deserted Island Trail

Emily and I headed out for a trail that was close to the city, since we had to be in the city by later afternoon for some appointments. We hadn't really heard much about this trail and I don't think it's a very popular one. Never the less, this trail did get our stamp of approval. It does involve some climbing up oreums, but the trail overall is really quite scenic. There were large portions of the trail that we seemed to be the only people around. It was a really nice, relaxing hike along the shoreline. There I also learned that there used to be a wall that was build around the whole island to keep off Japanese pirates. Only a small portion of the wall is still standing, but I just couldn't believe that I didn't know this until now. There is also a site where a whole village was destroyed during an attack of Jeju. It seems like Jeju has a very sad history the more and more I learn about the island. This trail is very nice along the sea and it also walks you through some little towns and Samyang Black Sand Beach. I can say we thoroughly enjoyed this it.

The Bing-soo Hunt

#3- Harris and I showing our reaction to the heat.

So after Olle Trail 18, I ran into some friends in the city. After a day of hiking and getting severely sun burnt, I was really wanting something to cool me down after dinner. I really wanted some bing-soo. It is a desert that consists of shaved ice, fruit, yogurt and often times red beans. There are many different kinds of bing-soo, but I wanted one that had a lot of fruit in it. What should be a fairly basic event turned into something much more dramatic than all three of us expected. First we went to this coffee shop that we really just wanted to hangout in. You get your own little room there and it's like you are sitting in a tree house. It's a splendid place, but we didn't know what kind of bing-soo they had. Before we even looked at the menu we asked the staff to clear a table for us. As they were clearing the table, I looked at the menu and said "they only have green tea bing-soo and black tea bing-soo. This is not going to work." This all of a sudden became a bit embarrassing since they had just cleared a place for us. We left (very timidly)  in search for better options. 

Success!

Second we went to a bing-soo place that is famous for their bing-soo. It happened to be so famous in fact that there was a waiting line to get into the place. We didn't want to wait of course. So off we went to the next shop, only this time the place didn't have the A/C on. We walked in and it was just boiling. They had good looking bing-soo but we couldn't handle the heat. So, we left. This was place number 3. 

We are starting to think that this is just a ridiculous search for bing-soo. It shouldn't be this difficult, it's everywhere here!

So good ol' Harris friend suggested going to a place. He obviously remember the place incorrectly because it ended up being a bar and not a place to get bing-soo. After the laughter stopped from teasing Harris about his mistake, we thought we had to still continue with the longest search for bing-soo ever recorded. 

Restaurant # 5: We walk into the cafe and the A/C was on. 1 point. There were tables available. 2 points. Not only did this place sell bing-soo (unlike the previous place), they also had a good selection! Even bing-soo without the red beans!!! 100 points!!! After the perseverance of the search for the perfect bing-soo we finally found it! It was worth the wait!

Doesn't this just seem just a bit similar to the beloved story of Goldilocks and the Three Bear? "This restaurant is too hot." "This restaurant is too crowded." "This restuant doesn't sell bing-soo." "This restaurant doesn't sell good bing-soo." "But this restaruant is just right!"

Olle 1-1: Spider Heart Attack

Before we begun...the spiders anticipating our arrival.

We headed out to U-do island (Cow Island) for a trail that was very different than we expected it to be. As far as where you walk (through fields and on roads) wasn't  much of a surprise. We expected to be going through some fields and things but what we didn't expect to come into contact with countless amounts of spiders and their webs. There was no way around these spiders. They build their webs across the paths that we had to walk on. Our choices were either walk backwards and give up on the trail OR face the spiders and let them know who the boss it. We chose option number two. We fought, and fought and fought. I can't say that we were the most brave of warriors, since we did have numerous scares and fits of screaming. But I can say that we did eventually conquer the trail and all of those spiders. There was even one incident where one spider almost went into my mouth. I can't say I was too calm about the whole situation. I didn't see his web across the trail and it clothes-lined me and when I jumped back, I saw the spider just inches away from my face! Talk about the heeby-jeebies. It was at the same height as my mouth. I almost decided to give up right there. If I weren't the leader trying to protect the rest of the group I would have.

The giant hot dog sandwich.

It was either myself or Emily at the front of the pack with a stick or an umbrella knocking down spider webs and clearing the path. These were not your average little house spider either. They were BIG, NASTY, COLORFUL spiders. Let's just say our time in the fields was a character building experience.

Other than that, the trail was great and U-do Island was as beautiful as ever. Plus, I think I have found the biggest hotdog sandwich in the world.

Eventful Sunday Afternoons

Samyang Black Sand Beach

You want to know what is so great about living on Jeju island? Well, the answer is really simple. The ocean and the mountain. Living on Jeju makes it so easy to plan your weekend. Sometimes the hardest decision is choosing between the beach or hiking trails around the island (it's a tough decision). And there are even options for both on most days. Some days, living on Jeju does truly feel like I am living in some kind of dream, fantasy world. For instance, last Sunday after church we went to a brunch restaurant and ate on comfy couches as we looked out at the ocean. Easily one of my new favorite places to go. Then after lunch, walked down to the beach. Really an ideal situation. Then we got hot, so we went to a foot-bath cafe. You can order drinks and soak your feet in water. Also an ideal situation. Then, we headed to the city to take sticker photos like true Korean residence. To top it all off, a friend from church invited us to her new restaurant. It's a pretty trendy place with fusion western and Asian foods.  It is days like these that life on Jeju really does seem like some kind of dream. But to be honest, most days are just regular days. They are good, just not magical;)

Olle 20: Sparkling Blue Waters

Some much needed time in the water!

So this past weekend I was joined by my friend, Madia and we hiked a trail on the North-East side of the island. Oh man, let me tell you....IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! The water is so many brilliant colors of blue and the trial mostly just stayed right along the ocean. The pictures really say it all. But it was just unbelievable hot and humid. You can't even open the apartment door without the heat and humidity taking over your body, causing unreal amounts of sweating. It's a pretty gross time of year around here as far as that goes, but other than that the days look just beautiful. We walked half of the trail and then we decided to take a swim so that we could recharge before doing the rest of the 16.5 km hike. I don't think I have ever drank so much water in my life as I did on Saturday. It was desperately, desperately needed. I don't know if I will be able to do too many more Olle trails if it's going to be this hot. It's rough. I do still plan on getting a couple more in before I head back to the US next month. This was Olle Trail 14 of 26 for me. I am glad that I can say that I have done over half of them!

Just a few handfuls of adventures to be had before I head on back to the homeland!