Jeju Stone Park
What do you do at a stone park, you might ask? Why, look at stones, of course!
The large mountain of rocks in the middle is a representation of the giant goddess, Seolmundae Halmang. She is the goddess credited for making the island of Jeju. The other rock mountains in this picture represent her 500 sons (she was a busy lady).
According to legend, Seolmundae Halmang was making a large pot of soup one day while her sons were out hunting. Seolmundae Halmang--that distracted woman--accidentally fell in the pot and drowned. When her sons returned, they hungrily ate the meal, including dear Mother. The last son discovered his mother's bones at the bottom of the pot. Overcome with grief, he and his bros turned to stone.
At the stone museum, we saw some rocks. As you can imagine, it was exhilarating.
Weird volcanic rock formations. (...wahoo...)
Dolharubang: Grandfather statues. Apparently they offer protection. And also fertility (which could explain the funny hats...)
The lone statue in this photo is one of the original dolharubang statues. There are only 45ish originals remaining today (all several hundred years old). Uh-huh, yeah, super cool, it's raining buckets if you didn't notice, let's move along...
Do you see the mother and her baby in this rock formation? (Look at the shadow...)
Wow! And that completed our rock field-trip. What an adventure.
Jeju April 3rd Peace Memorial Hall
I was cold and tired and distracted at this museum. And the back and forth between the Korean tour guide and my POE coordinator who translated for us was exhausting. So I mostly zoned out and focused on warming up and drying my soaked clothing. But, basically, this museum talked about a lot of death and devastation that occurred in Jeju after World War II. Like, a lot of death...
And torture:
So, yeah. History and stuff. If you were wondering, though, my shoes and socks were still soggy when we left the museum...
Pheasant for Dinner
Tasted like chicken.
Even though I ate a lot at dinner, it wasn't entirely satisfying. Luckily, there was a convenience store right outside our hotel, so I stocked up on chocolate milk, chocolate, and cookies. As I was making my giant purchase, the Korean POE guy came in the store and exclaimed, "You must have a really big stomach!" Yessir, yes I do. Thank you very much. Now get out of my way, I have a second dinner to consume. (PSH!)
Seongsan Ilchulbong
GOOD MORNING!
I am so ready for this hike.
Hehe...sometimes I accidentally take videos instead of pictures...oops. (But I'm totes adorbs.)
The hike was fairly short, just a lot of stairs (stairs in Korea: what a novelty). And the views were beautiful. It did snow/lightly hail on us on our way up, though...that was fun.
Aqua Planet: For When the Weather is Grumpy
Can I keep him?
Don't you just wanna be a penguin sometimes? Minus the mother regurgitating food to you?
I would call these "before the pool" turtles.
A nasty toad.
What a magnificent sea creature! Just kidding, it's just a Russian gymnast.
Some cool jelly fish. I could watch them for hours, I think...
My new bestie.
Isn't he just a sweetheart?! <3
Pork for Lunch
'twas delicious.
Traditional Jeju Village
If the three sticks are on the ground like this, it means you can enter the village.
This little contraption is for collecting rainwater. Jeju mothers used to put frogs in the bottom of the pots to keep the water clean from bugs and bacteria (...huh?). Plus, if the Jeju mother ever found any of the frogs floating, she would know the water wasn't safe to drink. Pretty smart, if you like Essence of Frog in your water.
Our cute tour guide showing us the pig pen. The stick is kept next to the pen for safety purposes, in case any of the pigs get too wild. (This tour guide was born in Jeju and raised in this village. He returned in later years and now lives in one of those little houses with his wife.)
A Jeju mother carrying a water jug in a basket on her back. Jeju women are tough Bs.
Water Biking: For When Your POE Coordinator Doesn't Care That You Are Freezing Cold
Steering the thing was a challenge. But really fun. Azusena and I mostly had it figured out.
Jeju is also known for it's tangerines:
It was so tempting to reach a hand over the fence and pluck one...but, alas, I have a conscience.
Happy Thanksgiving! I had pork (again):
Our beautiful accommodations for Thursday and Friday night:
I shared the room with two other girls. I slept on the floor. Yay...
Our backyard...this resort was so gorgeous.
Photo Scavenger Hunt Day
We split into groups of 6 or 7 to travel around Seogwipo completing various assigned tasks. My group won, actually, thanks to an awesome photographer and video editor in our group (Thank you, Nick and Joyce).
Do you see the rainbow?!
My first time seeing a clear ocean!! I was so excited. How I wish it wasn't November...
RAINBOW!
Wow, is this not majestic?!
I'm referring to my face, of course.
We stopped and talked to a couple of haenyeos (women divers). Unfortunately, they didn't want to have a hold-your-breath-contest.
Random Stuff Around Seogwipo
The house of the guy whom Seogwipo is named after. Uhh...there was an old woman just sitting inside...apparently it's both a residence and tourist attraction.
Kakao Talk dog!
Seogwipo Daily Olle Market
I bought some yummy-looking chocolates in this market. (Jeju is also known for its chocolates.) I will be saving them to bring home to you guys--er, my immediate family, that is... (I'm poor!)
Lunch:
Spicy pork soup.
Fish. It was quite good.
Oedolgae
The legend with this rock thing is this: A man went to sea, leaving his wife behind. She waited for his return, but he never came back. So, she turned into stone. (Cool story, bro...tell it again...)
Haha...we were taking a group picture across the street from this building, and this little old lady kept staring out the window at us, watching our every move. Foreigners draw attention. But foreigners in groups draw even more attention.
We walked along a little art trail and took pictures with some random art...
Another waterfall...
Photo-bombed.
Jeju provincial flower: rhododendron
I ATE HORSE. SERIOUSLY.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse..." Well, now I can really use that saying...
This was a super nice restaurant. And horse is a delicacy. I don't know how much this meal cost, but I think it was quite expensive...
First, they served us abalone porridge/soup and this dark brown drink on the left. They told me it was non-alcoholic, so I toasted with everyone else and took a sip. Only to realize I had just swallowed the most bitter, salty, disgusting thing ever. "What is this?" we asked. "Oh, it's horse bone marrow, no big deal." Oh my gosh, gross.
Next: horse sashimi--yep, raw horse meat. It actually wasn't too bad, once you mentally get over the fact that it's raw. Oh, and that it's horse.
Okay, this horse stew was super good! The meat was so tender and sweet, like an amazing roast.
Hamburger-like horse patty things. And soju and a photo-bomber.
Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm saying this, but this barbecued horse meet was to die for! It was so delicious. Horse meat has a really sweet mellow taste, almost like a cross between beef and mutton. Someone said it's like venison, too. I loved it. I, um, would have horse steak all the time, I think...if I lived in Jeju, that is--it doesn't seem to be socially acceptable to eat horse in a lot of other places...
This was a course I could have done without: soup made from horse bones. It had a really earthy taste. Like gravel, or something. Not my favorite.
After the meal, we went back to our resort and worked on our video presentations showing our group's scavenger hunt items. Unfortunately, the video file is too large to upload to my blog. But it was a really cute video! And we won, so we each got a box of Jeju honey/tea mix. That was nice.
At the Jeju airport, on our way home. My old and new friends, L-R: Ciara, Tammy, Anisha, Joyce.
I would love to go to Jeju during a warmer time of year. I doubt I'll ever make it back here, though, so I am grateful I had this opportunity with TaLK. It was a nice little vacation from my crazy children, too. That might have just been the best part...
Anyway, farewell beautiful Jeju!
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