.jeju.a few weekends ago, jody and i took a much-needed vacation to an island called 'jeju'. it is part of korea and just south of the mainland peninsula. its weather is warmer than the mainland, and many call it the hawaii of korea. i would not call it quite that tropical, but it certainly had cleaner air and subtropical plants. many korean and japanese newlywed couples honeymoon there. also, it produces the most fabulous tangerines! i will really miss them when we return to the states.
jody and i spent a wonderful two days at the jungmun resort, playing on the beach,
basking in the hotel saunas, and eating the best breakfast buffets ever! the hotel was complements of my boss mrs. kim, as she had a free coupon and could not get away from work herself. during those days we visited two different waterfalls and a great botanical garden, where i saw my first fruit trees! we also enjoyed seeing so many other kinds of plants, trees, and 
flowers. the pure volume of greenery was such a treat.
basking in the hotel saunas, and eating the best breakfast buffets ever! the hotel was complements of my boss mrs. kim, as she had a free coupon and could not get away from work herself. during those days we visited two different waterfalls and a great botanical garden, where i saw my first fruit trees! we also enjoyed seeing so many other kinds of plants, trees, and 
flowers. the pure volume of greenery was such a treat.then we moved east a bit and spent time in seogwipo, a port city. we visited a museum of a korean artist and met up with friends chris and dana, who spent their vacation time there, as well! on a sad note, we had to downgrade our facilities (as jody put it, 'from cashmere to burlap') and stay at a $20/night hostel. phew! that was a rough transition. :)
for our last day, we traveled to the north, as our flight left too early the next morning to catch a bus from the south. we spent the day at iho beach near jeju city, catching crabs and clams and throwing a ball that jo found in the sand. it was such a fun, relaxing time in the sun! later that night, we met up with chris and dana again to watch 'iron man' in the city.
i have to say that i found jeju island very different from the korea i have come to live in the past 2.5 years. jeju island is far more matriarchial; the women are professional divers for a lot of seafood. also, i saw more women on scooters and in cars. the men, however, all seemed to be taxi drivers! the island is also a lot less commercialized (lest western) and seemed to carry more of a pure korean culture. in other words, they were fully korean; they just did not seem to cling to or boast of their culture as much as those around seoul apparently feel the need to. it was so refreshing to see korea in a purer form.
to see more of the photos from our trip, visit my facebook photo album:
2 comments:
looks like a beautiful place and a great place to rest and explore! so glad you were able to go there to get refreshed... love you friend!
ps. I am rocking you on blogs for the month.. ;)
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