I totally forgot that I didn't post this blog/trip. It was one of my favorite places that we visited as it's all about being outside and walking the trails - called the olle trails. There are special maps which you can buy that have all the trails on the island. Koreans love to be outside and come for the weekend just to hike around.
Jeju Island, South Korea is a one hour flight from Shanghai. See the small pale pink dot above the "i" in Shanghai, that's Jeju Island! It is a special autonomous region or as stated on the website: Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government aims to establish 'A Free International City Where the Provincial Citizens Are Happy.‘ In addition Chinese Nationals are allowed to visit Jeju Island without a visa, they are however NOT allowed to go to the mainland of South Korea without a visa.
We were lucky enough to visit this charming volcanic island in October and enjoyed the favorable weather and wonderful walking trails.
There is only one hotel located on the beach, the Hyatt, and we were so fortunate to have stayed there.
The water and air were fresh and clear, a nice change from Shanghai. The air temperature was in the 70's and the water temperature in the 60's. Too cool for swimming for me but there were some tourists who thought the weather and water perfect for a swim!
I did take my shoes off to walk in the warm sand and sparkling surf but really the water was too cold for my toes to bear.
There are lots of these signs on Jeju and every-time I saw one my face lit up with a smile. What a nice way to welcome people!
As we were here in Jeju for Tony's work there was the requisite business dinner. Jeju is famous for it's seafood and abalone is the most popular dish. I find it to be tough and tasteless but most, dare I say all, Asians think it the best! I am not sure how abalone translates into Good Ear Shell but you can see for yourself......
Next up ....seafood hot pot. I just love hot pot and I do like most seafood so I was thrilled for this part of the dinner. Here is the lovely seafood broth that we will cook our food in.
I on the other hand was eager to begin throwing the seafood in with the veggies and start having dinner......that abalone appetizer did nothing to fill me up and I was hungry!
This crustacean was so pretty and quite interesting to look at, the center looked like it would be soft with tiny tentacles but no it was a hard shell cap that protects the animal. Like a hard hat!
We threw a bunch of the seafood in, you can see the octopus, abalone, and scallop shells.
I cooked up that interesting crustacean and it turned out to be a gross hot mess when I pulled it from it's shell.
.JPG)
I gave it to Tony to try and I looked away as he gave it a taste. He said it tasted like chicken,... huh? Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of my meal of shrimp, scallops and veggies all cooked in the delicious seafood broth.
The next day I was on my own to explore Jeju Island and the olle trails. These are hiking trails carved all over the island. Tourists and locals flock to Jeju for the outdoor hiking and wonderful seafood. I of course immediately found the Chocolate shop.
These statues are called Hareubang and are large mushroom like statues found all over Jeju Island. They are considered to be gods offering both protection and fertility and are placed outside of gates for protection against demons travelling between realities. Or in this case to protect the chocolate.
I began my walk following one of the many trails and as I looked up I saw Mt Hallasan , the summit 6,397 ft (1,950 m) of the mountain is the highest point in South Korea and is located in the center of Jeju Island. It is the volcano that formed the island.
In addition to the wonderful trails, fantastic greenery (so different then the concrete jungle of Shanghai) there are tons of waterfalls! As you can see the department of tourism is doing a bang up job as all the signs keep telling me that that just love having me here!
Seonimgyo Bridge is an arch bridge on Jeju Island over Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. It crosses from east to west over a stream between the second and third tiers of Cheonjeyeon waterfall. There are three tiers that make up the Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. The bridge is also called the Seven Nymphs Bridge. The nymphs symbolize the Korean legend of the descent of seven beautiful nymphs from heaven at night. The bridge was completed in 1984. On the bridge's steel columns, there are 14 nymphs, 7 on each side with each nymph about 65 ft /20 m in length. All the nymphs are playing their own musical instruments.
After all the outdoor sight seeing and walking on numerous olle trails, I needed my food market fix. I had heard the seafood markets on Jeju were heaving with local delicacies.
So I took a bus.....after asking of course which one would take me to the fish market side of town. I was so fascinated with the ride that I forgot to take pictures. I suppose this sign looks daunting but I made it to the market without any trouble.
And seriously one of my favorite things to eat - kimchee - What kind of Hungarian would I be if I didn't embrace other cultures cabbage?! And look at all the varieties!
Remember the crustacean from dinner? Well here is a vendor breaking them out of the shell for you to take home and cook.
Doesn't this look good! Well I think anything in crepe form has got to be good, I'll take the red spicy one please.
Ooooh these are also good, crisp waffle on the outside sweet red bean paste on the inside. There is a vendor in Shanghai who also fills them with banana cream!
I was already full but the line outside this shop caught my eye. I mean look, there is a rabbit on the roof! Koreans do a lovely sushi roll and all the ingredients are fully cooked.
Seongsan Ilchulbong, also called ‘Sunrise Peak’, is a tuff cone formed by hydro volcanic eruptions upon a shallow seabed about 5 thousand years ago. Situated on the eastern seaboard of Jeju Island and said to resemble a gigantic ancient castle, this tuff cone is 597 feet / 182 meters high, has a preserved bowl-like crater. (Wikipedia)
Here we all are deep inside the volcano and some how I managed to use the right shutter setting on the camera in the super dark and get a nicely lit shot. I am more impressed with my camera work then with the volcano it seems.
I just love all the banchan which is served with all Korean dinners, banchan mean side dishes. Many of my Korean friends tell me that you can have as much as you want as they keep refilling the dishes, it's free! Or perhaps it's just included in the cost of your meal? Either way it's delicious.
And here the pictures and adventure ends as I must now focus on eating this lovely black pig!
Jeju Island, South Korea is a one hour flight from Shanghai. See the small pale pink dot above the "i" in Shanghai, that's Jeju Island! It is a special autonomous region or as stated on the website: Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government aims to establish 'A Free International City Where the Provincial Citizens Are Happy.‘ In addition Chinese Nationals are allowed to visit Jeju Island without a visa, they are however NOT allowed to go to the mainland of South Korea without a visa.
We were lucky enough to visit this charming volcanic island in October and enjoyed the favorable weather and wonderful walking trails.
There is only one hotel located on the beach, the Hyatt, and we were so fortunate to have stayed there.
The water and air were fresh and clear, a nice change from Shanghai. The air temperature was in the 70's and the water temperature in the 60's. Too cool for swimming for me but there were some tourists who thought the weather and water perfect for a swim!
I did take my shoes off to walk in the warm sand and sparkling surf but really the water was too cold for my toes to bear.
There are lots of these signs on Jeju and every-time I saw one my face lit up with a smile. What a nice way to welcome people!
As we were here in Jeju for Tony's work there was the requisite business dinner. Jeju is famous for it's seafood and abalone is the most popular dish. I find it to be tough and tasteless but most, dare I say all, Asians think it the best! I am not sure how abalone translates into Good Ear Shell but you can see for yourself......
Here we have a platter of baked Abalone, chewy and bland for me.
Next up ....seafood hot pot. I just love hot pot and I do like most seafood so I was thrilled for this part of the dinner. Here is the lovely seafood broth that we will cook our food in.
A large plate of vegetables and seafood arrived and yes, most of the seafood was still alive and moving. It's hard to see but the octopus at the end of the plate was gasping for air, the shrimp did a last little jump and the abalone and clams were also sucking in air for dear life! For a few American ladies who were accompanying their husbands they thought it was totally disgusting and they opted for a chicken and rice dish. Which, I found out later, they also rejected as the chicken was chopped into small pieces with the bone and so(as it is in Asia) the dish was full of shards of bones and well as some bits of chicken. It's quite difficult to eat and also a bit dangerous, you never know if you are going to swallow a pointy sharp shard or perhaps break your tooth on a piece of bone.
I on the other hand was eager to begin throwing the seafood in with the veggies and start having dinner......that abalone appetizer did nothing to fill me up and I was hungry!
This crustacean was so pretty and quite interesting to look at, the center looked like it would be soft with tiny tentacles but no it was a hard shell cap that protects the animal. Like a hard hat!
We threw a bunch of the seafood in, you can see the octopus, abalone, and scallop shells.
.JPG)
I gave it to Tony to try and I looked away as he gave it a taste. He said it tasted like chicken,... huh? Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of my meal of shrimp, scallops and veggies all cooked in the delicious seafood broth.
The next day I was on my own to explore Jeju Island and the olle trails. These are hiking trails carved all over the island. Tourists and locals flock to Jeju for the outdoor hiking and wonderful seafood. I of course immediately found the Chocolate shop.
These statues are called Hareubang and are large mushroom like statues found all over Jeju Island. They are considered to be gods offering both protection and fertility and are placed outside of gates for protection against demons travelling between realities. Or in this case to protect the chocolate.
I began my walk following one of the many trails and as I looked up I saw Mt Hallasan , the summit 6,397 ft (1,950 m) of the mountain is the highest point in South Korea and is located in the center of Jeju Island. It is the volcano that formed the island.
In addition to the wonderful trails, fantastic greenery (so different then the concrete jungle of Shanghai) there are tons of waterfalls! As you can see the department of tourism is doing a bang up job as all the signs keep telling me that that just love having me here!
Seonimgyo Bridge is an arch bridge on Jeju Island over Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. It crosses from east to west over a stream between the second and third tiers of Cheonjeyeon waterfall. There are three tiers that make up the Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. The bridge is also called the Seven Nymphs Bridge. The nymphs symbolize the Korean legend of the descent of seven beautiful nymphs from heaven at night. The bridge was completed in 1984. On the bridge's steel columns, there are 14 nymphs, 7 on each side with each nymph about 65 ft /20 m in length. All the nymphs are playing their own musical instruments.
Part of the Cheonjeyeon Falls.
This is not the Nymphs Bridge, it's just pretty bridge.
Jeju is fantastic, it has everything, including sailing!
After crossing the bridge I picked up the trail again to see yet another waterfall.
I never get tired of these signs, except when they end in a warning!
So I took a bus.....after asking of course which one would take me to the fish market side of town. I was so fascinated with the ride that I forgot to take pictures. I suppose this sign looks daunting but I made it to the market without any trouble.
The lady with the red fly swatter is not kidding around!
Look at the size of those trumpet mushrooms!
Some nice fresh squid.
Beautiful shrimp.
And a wonderful lady cleaning some shrimp.
And seriously one of my favorite things to eat - kimchee - What kind of Hungarian would I be if I didn't embrace other cultures cabbage?! And look at all the varieties!
Remember the crustacean from dinner? Well here is a vendor breaking them out of the shell for you to take home and cook.
And some of her other offerings....
What the .............??
This little fellow seemed a bit miffed that this was a fish market, I think he was looking for a little beef or chicken.
Snack time!
Doesn't this look good! Well I think anything in crepe form has got to be good, I'll take the red spicy one please.
Rice flour, egg and some kimchee spices, delicious!
Ooooh these are also good, crisp waffle on the outside sweet red bean paste on the inside. There is a vendor in Shanghai who also fills them with banana cream!
I was already full but the line outside this shop caught my eye. I mean look, there is a rabbit on the roof! Koreans do a lovely sushi roll and all the ingredients are fully cooked.
What happened to the nice omelet shape? I think he is too distracted with his phone.
I thought this was a very clever decoration for a restaurant, I am assuming they also serve tea!
Oh no, come on, a Spam gift pack?
On Saturday we decided to climb one of the smaller (inactive) volcanos with a few friends.
Seongsan Ilchulbong, also called ‘Sunrise Peak’, is a tuff cone formed by hydro volcanic eruptions upon a shallow seabed about 5 thousand years ago. Situated on the eastern seaboard of Jeju Island and said to resemble a gigantic ancient castle, this tuff cone is 597 feet / 182 meters high, has a preserved bowl-like crater. (Wikipedia)
Up we go!
A very confusing sign as we paid to be on this path to go to the top....??
Great formation and view!
The crater bowl and the top!
Next we headed down to the inside of the crater!!
The ceiling of the interior of the volcano.
Here we all are deep inside the volcano and some how I managed to use the right shutter setting on the camera in the super dark and get a nicely lit shot. I am more impressed with my camera work then with the volcano it seems.
And back out we go.
Time for dinner. Besides seafood, black pig is quite popular and I was eager to taste this piggy treat!
Mr. See and his wife are patiently waiting for us.....sort of.
I just love all the banchan which is served with all Korean dinners, banchan mean side dishes. Many of my Korean friends tell me that you can have as much as you want as they keep refilling the dishes, it's free! Or perhaps it's just included in the cost of your meal? Either way it's delicious.
These leaves are used as a wrapper for your pork. You place the small morsel of cooked pork inside the leaf add condiments of chili or soy vinegar and pop it in your mouth followed by some banchan. If you really like it hot you can take a bite of the green chili pepper as well.
The pork.
Here you can see the little black hairs - to prove it's black pig! Fortunately the hair burns off while cooking.
Just about ready to eat!
The owner and chef quickly cuts it up into bite size pieces.
And here the pictures and adventure ends as I must now focus on eating this lovely black pig!
