Amazing Jeju

Wow. Jeju Island was more than I ever could have expected. The night before flying to Jeju Island the weather reports couldn't have been worse...it was suppose to rain every single day while I was there. The day we arrived it was cloudy and raining...we thought it was going to be a disaster. However, the next morning we woke up in our hotel to a beautiful day out with not a single rain cloud in the sky! And the next 3 days it didn't rain once. We couldn't have been luckier.

The view from the Sun Beach Hotel was amazing. This is the first thing we saw every morning after walking outside of our hotel:

We started off the week exactly how I wanted...we went straight to the famous Jungmun Beach and relaxed in the volcanic rock sand and went swimming in the ocean...it reminded me of the everyday beach life I once lived when studying abroad in Australia...it was awesome. Jungmun Beach occasionally has surfing but unfortunately when I was there the waves were not too surf-able, as you can see below. 

After relaxing at the beach for a few hours we decided it was time for some extreme sports...so we did a little bit of research and figured out that we could go ATVing just 10 km away from the beach. ATVing ended up being way more extreme that I thought...the course had jumps, crazy terrain, and went through the awesome forest all over the southern area of the island. I almost flew off the ATV at one point as was  extremely happy that I had my helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads because these things were FAST.

After we conquered the intense ATV course we felt pretty cool and had to grab a picture with the amazing scenery in the background.

Anyways, from ATVing we decided we should go check out the famous waterfall near our hotel which was very cool. Lots of asians in matching shirts. They LOVE matching shirts here. See Exhibit A below:

And those are just a few of the matching shirts we saw in that 15 minute period. Anyways, after that we grabbed some tasty black pig bbq which is a speciality on Jeju Island and later met this guy named Jack who ended up being the best connection on the island. This guy Jack has been on Jeju for about 16 months and was telling us all about how amazing the spear fishing and rock climbing is on the island. After hearing about all his cool adventures we asked him if we could go spear fishing the next day...the following morning I called jack and he told us he set everything up for us. He said that he organized:

1. A boat to an island for us

2. Rental spears to go spear fishing

3. Rental Snorkeling gear

4. Rental wet suit

5. And lastly, free food preparation for the fish that we catch that night for dinner

I was expecting to pay like 100 dollars for this...but no, Jack hooked it up for $20 a person! Spear fishing ended up being amazing and I caught 7 fish!! I caught 5 angelfish, 1 box fish(very poisonous), and a tiger fish! They ended up being amazing when we cooked them for dinner later and after eating the main meat part we used the leftovers to make a delicious spicy Korean stew. As we left the island that went spear fishing at we snapped a quick picture with a beautiful Jeju Sunset in the background.

After an amazing day of hunting and eating tropical fish we decided to head in early so that we could rest up for a big hike the next day. We were planning on hiking Halla Mt. which is the tallest mountain in all of South Korea. The hike usually is about 5 hours to the top of the mountain along a 9km path...however, you need to get 6km in by 12:30 or else the korean patrol wont let you go any further because they dont want you to get trapped in the mountain once the sun sets...we didn't get our hike started till 10:30 so it seemed as if it would be impossible to make the 6 km mark climbing up steep vertical terrain in under 2 hours. But...as you can see below, we just barely made it!

Had we been 5 minutes slower, we never would have been able to make it all the way to the top! The hike was very rough, and extremely tiring. I don't think my calves and knees have ever been so sore in my entire life. Today they still kill as I try to walk up stairs and its almost 3 days after the hike. Once we got to the top I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who else was up there! 

After catching up with Joelle for a little while, Nate and I decided that we would head back down the mountain so that we could get into Jeju City around 8:00 pm. After a long nights rest we went on one of the most rocky boat rides of our life going from Jeju Port Harbor to Mokpo in mainland South Korea. From Mokpo we took a train back to our home in Suwon and finally were able to fall asleep in our own beds. It is very strange beginning to think of Suwon as my new home, but every day it feels more and more that way.  A very successful Chuseok holiday in Jeju Island, and another great week in South Korea. Until next time, stay classy U.S.A.