Water Fun Weekend!

Olle 21: The Fabulous Hado Beach

We decided to do Olle 21 this past weekend since it is one of the shortest. It is too hot to be hiking the long trails, plus we wanted to be able to go kayaking. What a good decision! We had a bit of trouble finding the end of the trail (where we wanted to start because we hiked the trail backwards), but we found it after getting a kilometer in. It was a nice start along the ocean, and then...our worst nightmare. A giant oreum (big hill) to climb. It was rough for all of us. Even for us experienced Ollers and mountain climber. The heat makes everything more difficult. I don't regret having to climb the oreum because the view on the top was really amazing! You could see so far, including all of U-do island. It was lovely. The rest of the trail was flat, for which we were thankful.

Part of the view from the top of the oreum.

About the middle of the trail we found the beach. My oh my, was is fantastic! The water was just the most perfect colors or blues and greens that you could ever see. The beach wasn't very busy either. It is definitely a place tourist don't know about. Very cool. To make matters even better for us, we got to go kayaking! It was a windy day and

Another view from the top. It's a bit foggy, but you can see all of U-do island.

they boat rental guy didn't want us to go too far out as it might be hard to paddle back in. Well, we dominated that wind and during the middle of out kayaking he told us that since we were really good at paddling against the wind we could go out further. I only mention this because once we were done, a group of middle aged guys went kayaking and they barely went anywhere. It must have been from fear of the water or something, because there is no way that they wouldn't be capable to steering their kayak in the wind. I just had to laugh, as us foreign girls were boating with such freedom.  From my time kayaking I did take away a nice sunburn leaving my legs with a very strange tan line.
After the wonderful time in the ocean, we still had to finish half of the trail. So off we went to finish out quest. Again, we conquered it. Then off to the city for my new favorite summer dessert, bing soo, and going to my friend Harris' concert.

Donneako: The Hidden Swimming Hole

Cold, real cold.

The Sunday afternoon was another good one. This time we went to Donnaeko, which is a waterfall/swimming hole on Mount Halla. I have never heard of this before until last week, which is just crazy talk. With all of the research on do on Jeju and island exploration I have never come across this. Plus, it is so close to Seogwipo and now, I must say, it is one of my new favorite places. Looking at the pictures is the best way to describe it. The one thing the pictures can't tell you is that the water is cold...like really cold.

The New Season

This weekend marked the first week of people starting to leave the island. August is one of the main times when teaching contracts end and people head back home. I think that every week for the next month I will be saying "Adios" to my island friends. It is such a strange feeling and thought that I have already been hear for 11 months and only have 5 weeks to go. Pretty exciting stuff:)