Thank you, Jeju

After 2 years living here, it just didn't feel right to leave without visiting possibly the most famous place (outside of Seoul) in South Korea- Jeju Island! Considered by many to be the Hawaii of the country, it boasts beautiful greenery, palm trees, beaches and mountains. I decided on just a 4 day trip to see what the island vibe of Korea was like, and I wish I had of booked for longer.

I arrived in at the airport around 8pm, and instantly hopped on the bus to head for the other side of the island to the second largest city, Seogwipo. I checked into by new bed at Backpacker's Home and grabbed a quick snack from the convenience store before turning in for the night.

I woke up fairly early to make my breakfast, and had a look on the old interwebs to find out that there were 2 really famous waterfalls within walking distance, so that quickly turned into the plan for the day. First was a tall one along the coastline named Jeongbang Falls which is, astoundingly, the only one in Asia which falls directly into the ocean and from 23 meters above.

There were tons of people there at the bottom admiring the big falls, and of course there were some girls there who had come in full makeup and dress in order to take their next Insta photo. I then walked back up the 132 stars and took a turn onto the Olle trail which is a network that leads hikers all the way around the island. From there I could see the East China Sea, and the little round island which was just off the coast, Seopseom.

I was temped by the coconuts to drink, and the famous Hallabong tangerines special to Jeju, but I carried on my way across the town to the second set of falls, Cheonjiyeon, which literally means "sky connected with land".

I was more impressed with the grounds surrounding this falls, as it was lush with a special red-leaf tree, Dampalsu, and filled with different stone statues. The wooded area also contains many rare plants such as brambles, Songyeopnan as well as Gusiljappam trees, Sanyuja trees (Chinese lemon trees), and camellias. Oh also they have eels in the water below that grow up to 2m long. Ew. It was definitely couple central though, and I was surrounded by cuties who were there to take pictures together kissing under the trees and holding hands in front of the falls.

I had been walking for more than 5 hours at this point and was feeling quite sleepy, so I decided to head back to the hostel to have a cheeky afternoon nap, because what is travel life if not taking afternoon naps?!

While I was walking around in the morning though I noticed a nice-ish restaurant on the 4th floor of a building with a view of the port and the sea, so I decided to head back there for my evening beer and watch the sun go down. I wrote some goodbye notes to students, and enjoyed a bottle of Cass while taking in the beauty of the sunset. After wrapping up there I was on my way through the market where I found just the most inviting little craft beer shop called Jeju Yaksuteo ( I put it into translate and it says that stands for spring water, so idk...). They had only about 10 seats inside, and only 12 beers on the menu, all of which were made in Jeju.

I enjoyed my pint slowly while reading the magazine about all the nicest places on the island for beer and coffee, and it was the perfect way to end the day!

Thanks for reading!

-Sasha