This morning we woke up in the new hostel. We had some fried eggs on bread with orange juice for breakfast. Then we got in the bus for a tour around the beautiful places on the island.
The guide on our bus told us what we were going to see, together with some info about the island. Her English was not the easiest to understand with her Korean accent. She told us that there are “three many’s”, which means three things of which there are many on the island. These being stones, wind and women.
First, we went to the mountains in the center of the island. We had about one hour to climb to the top of one, which was about 210m higher than our starting point. There was a long staircase going through the trees all the way up to a viewing point. When we finally got up there, the view was really great. And there was an antenna on the top, so of course we had to stick a few Thor stickers on it.
After the mountain, we went to one of the many craters on the island, and views were nice again. The guide explained that it was a volcanic crater, but the volcano had not been active for a long time.
The next thing on the list was a huge cliff on the coast. When we arrived there we first had to eat. Some of us were craving for some western food so went to the MC Donald’s. I had never been in one with such a magnificent view before. After lunch we went to climb the rock. Climbing this thing was even harder than the first mountain, because the trees were not protecting us from the sun. When we got to the top though, the view was amazing and we were greeted by a nice breeze.
The last thing on the list was a volcanic cave. It was actually the longest lava tube in the world: around seven kilometers long, although we could only walk one kilometer into it. Inside it was cold and wet. It was fun, but all the other tourists and the artificial path and lighting might have taken a bit from the experience.
And arriving back at the hostel we had the rest of the evening to ourselves.
Greetings from Jeju!
– Ward de Groot