[Korea - Spring2016] Day 2 Jusangjeolli, CheonJeYeon, Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market & Jeonbang Falls

Not sure if I did mention, my family and I went round on our own without any tour. If you are interested in visiting the places I mentioned above purely by public transport, read on!

After breakfast in my guesthouse, we walked to the nearby Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal to catch an intercity bus to Seogwipo City in the south. Catching a bus in the terminal is really easy if you know the direction and the bus number. To get to Jusangjeolli or towards Seogwipo City, we took bus 782. Bus arrives quite frequently (about once every half hour) and there are seats in case your legs gives out easily ;)

Interior of the bus

We got off at JungMun Post Office station and crossed the road to catch a bus going to the opposite direction. There, we boarded the bus no. 110 to ICC Jeju (International Convention Center Jeju) and walked the rest of the way to Jusangjeolli.

ICC Jeju

At first, I was a bit confused which direction I should take as the bus dropped us in front of ICC but there’s a big roundabout in front of ICC. I then decided that it should be the road which all the tourist buses are heading to. 

Behind the ICC

It takes about 10-15 minutes by foot from ICC to Jusangjeolli. You may think you are lost when you see nothing but empty fields. 

Halfway down the route, I saw a very familiar building and almost screamed when I realised what building it was. It was the building feature in Playful Kiss!! Baek Seung Jo and Oh Hani visited this place during their honeymoon!! I’ve often wondered what building that was when I watched the show and vowed to look for it when I come to Jeju. But having a memory of a fish, I forgot all about it until now (and no, I didn’t go inside the building). Turns out it’s some kind of African Art & Animal Museum.

African Art & Animal Museum

Once you see this building, you should take a right turn. For more info on how to get there on foot, see this post by another blogger.

Anyway, we followed the ‘crowd’ to Jusangjeolli and bought the entrance tickets 

Jusangjeolli (주상절리(대포동지삿개)) Admission Price

2,000won for adults

1,000won for youths

There were lots of students who came with their teachers so it was quite crowded. I was wistfully thinking how nice it would be to come with my own classmates……

What everyone should see when they come here

Bought Jeju Tangerine ice cream at the shops before the entrance. It was really, really nice and sweet. My mom kept looking for tangerine ice creams every where we went after that but could find one as nice as this.

We strolled back towards ICC Jeju while eating our ice cream and flagged a taxi that happened to pass to get to our next destination, Cheon Je Yeon falls (Not to be confused with Cheon Ji Yeon Falls). Cheon Je Yeon is near to Jusangjeolli while Cheon Ji Yeon is near to Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market.

Travelled only a short distance so we only paid the base fare of (2,800 won). Alighted and bought entrance tickets. 

Cheon Je Yeon Falls (천제연 폭포) Admission Price

2,500 won for adults

1,350 won for youths

Clear directions given. Just follow the arrows!

We headed straight to the bridge and it was really HIGH! It was really steep at both ends too. Apparently, you can see all 3 falls from this bridge. I don’t know if I wasn’t observant enough or what, but I could only see 1 falls from here.

Seven Nymphs Bridge a.k.a Seon-im gyo

The one and only waterfall I saw =(

After leaving the bridge, we followed the signs to the 1^st fall and…. It was dry. =( The place still looked beautiful but I guess there wasn’t enough rainfall recently to really see the water flowing down. 

The 1st Fall

Walked further down to get a glimpse of the 2^nd fall ( the one I saw from the bridge). We only got till the top of the falls as my parents were a little too tired to walk further.

Left the falls from a different exit to catch a bus to Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market (서귀포 매일 올레 시장). Had a bit of difficulty trying to communicate our destination as somehow the nearest bus station name to the market have been changed. I got all my info from Daum maps but maybe it was a bus that didn't stop there or something. 

Told the bus driver our destination (Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market) instead and he told us to hop on. He later beckoned to me to say that he will let us know when to get off. He spoke a bit of English so it was really easy to understand him. He even had Pitch Perfect's Cups song on when we boarded.

Throughout the journey, he sang along to the songs he played through his phone and even greeted other bus drivers along the way. I guess he really loves his job! Haha!

Nearing our destination, he beckoned to me again and told me the directions to go to the market and nearby attractions. We got off and waved our goodbyes.

Found the market easily (it's labelled anyway) and ate lunch of Tteokbokki and Odeng. Went along the market to buy some local produce.

Walked to another bus stand after that to take a bus to Jeonbang Waterfalls and lo and behold, who to pass by but the friendly bus driver that took us to the market earlier! He recognised us so we waved back at him ^^ Alas! His bus doesn't stop at that particular stop we were in. How I wish I knew his name or even remembered the bus no. we took...

We caught a cab to Jeonball Falls since it's quite near and no bus goes directly there. Bought tickets 

Jeonbang Fall (정방폭포) Admission Price
2,000won for adults
1,000won for youths

You have to walk down a long flight of stairs to the falls and walk along big rocks to take photos. You can stand anywhere on the rocks to take photos but do be careful as they are not even. But the falls are really nice!! It's falls directly into the ocean too!

 Mandatory photo in front of the falls. ✌
But don't be fooled though! There are actually a lot of tourists there. Seeee 👇

Caught a cab to Dongmun Rotary to catch a bus back to Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal. I originally planned to go to Oedolgae and CheonJiYeon Falls as well but decided to forgo the two since we were quite tired already.

Went strolling behind the Intercity Bus Terminal till we reached a stadium. Next to the stadium were a street of cherry blossoms! Sat in a small park of shady trees before taking a lovely stroll through the cherry blossom trees. The map and location of the place can be found in my previous blog post.

Will update the rest of my trip soon! ^^ Toodles for now~

Do leave your comments below 👇

[Korea - Spring2016] Day 3 Yeha Tour east course

Today is our one-day tour with Yeha Tour! We are going for the East Course, meaning attractions in the east part of Jeju Island.

Had breakfast in the guesthouse and waited for the tour bus to pick us up. The tour guide came to pick us up at around 0830.

The bus looks something like this.

Our tour guide was Mr. Douglas. He explained Jeju's history through the ear-piece given to each of us on the way to each attractions.

First stop of the bus after picking everyone up. Horse-riding! Yee-haw!

When I booked the tour, it was supposed to be Trick Art Museum as the first attraction. Unfortunately, it is closed for renovation so they switched the programme to horse-riding. I’ve always wanted to try horse-riding so it suits me fine either way!

I got a light brown horse and it trotted away without anyone guiding (they seemed to be trained to follow a certain route). Halfway, a staff came alongside to tell the horse to gallop! I was all, ‘Ah!!!!!!~’

Then it slowed to a stop for staffs to take a photo of us on the horse. After that, the horse goes one round along the route back to the place we saddled up the horse. Got off and viewed my photos. Of course they will encourage you to buy and it come with a nice frame. You can always ignore them if you’re not interested. The cheapest costs around ₩30,000.

Got up the bus and got down not too far away at Seongeup Folk Village. There was this old man who was fluent in English and can even speak some phrases of Malay!

He explained to us a bit of Jeju’s custom and their houses. Even their gates have meanings when you look at the number of poles!

Then this old man (around his sixties maybe?) and his wife started promoting some local produce to sell. One of it is a juice which flavour changes according to your current health. It tasted sweet-sour to me and he said that sour means you lack sleep! Haha! I was tired indeed.

Left the place after taking some photos. The bus dropped us somewhere not very far from our lunch restaurant so we could walk to it and admire some houses and scenery on the way.

Black pork for lunch~ You can opt for bibimbab (mixed rice) if you can’t or don’t want to eat pork.

Next stop is Seongsan Ilchubong (Seongsan Sunrise Peak). Was given the choice to either go up to the peak or go and watch the women diver’s show. As I did my researched online before going there, I chose to go up to the peak. Some bloggers had said that going up the peak is more worthwhile. But of course, if you can’t DRAG yourself up to the peak (you’ll understand if you don’t exercise that much like me =P), just stay downhill and watch the show =D

Actually, if you’re fast enough, you could go up to the peak and then come down for the divers show.

So we trooped up the slope and stairs but boy! The climb was soooo STEEP!! I was panting like a dog and had to take many breaks. Thank God there were small benches along the way at certain parts.

Sweated despite the cool spring weather because of the vigorous climb and finally! The peak!! Actually it looks more like a green crater so the ‘peak’ is actually at the edge of this ‘bowl’...

*Ka-chak ka-chak*

None of my photo of the crater really shows the shape...

Ain't the view breathtaking?

Seriously can someone tell me what flowers are these? They look real pretty, dotting the green hillsides.

Went down from the peak and back to the bus…

After that the bus drove along the coast so we can enjoy the sea view that was just oh-so-amazing!!

Nodded off for awhile before reaching our last destination, Manjanggul Lava Tubes! Got off the bus and was directed to the entrance.

All you see is a flight of steps down into darkness. But at the bottom of the stairs, you’ll find that the cave is actually lit up.

Lava tubes…. Cold... Wet… it felt like it was drizzling the whole time, except it can’t be because we were underground.

The floor wasn’t even so it was quite tough to walk on. My mom almost gave up and wanted to turn back before reaching the highlight. We had to coax her and slowly make our way to the end of the 1km long tube that’s open to public. At the end, there was this… thing that reaches from the ceiling of the tube to the floor. (Okay, okay, it's actually made of lava and looks very unique)

A word of advice: Do not wear high heels here, even if it’s platforms. I can barely even keep my balance at times while wearing SPORT SHOES. The floor and environment is quite wet so be prepared to get your shoe soaked! I had to use the shoe dryer provided free by my guesthouse (Yeha Guesthouse) to get it dry again. It’s so cute and looks like a mini aircon LOL

Then walked all the way back to where we first started. We exceeded the meeting time but the bus was still there.

The bus then made its way back to Jeju City and dropped us off.

Had our dinner after that.

Overall, I enjoyed the tour very much and would definitely recommend it to those who want to explore the highlights of East Jeju in one day. Everything is planned out for you and all you need is just the eagerness to explore. If you want to stay longer at a certain attraction and miss the bus-meeting time, you can always take a cab to the next attraction on the list and re-join the group there.

Disclaimer: I'm not by any way sponsored by Yeha Tour. This review is purely on my experience as a satisfied customer. 😊

You can check out their website here: http://www.yehatour.com/

[Korea - Spring2016] Day 1 Cherry blossom viewing in Jeju City

Our first day obviously began in the airport but I decided to cut to the chase and share about the cherry blossoms in Jeju.

Upon arriving in Jeju, we hailed a cab to get to Yeha guesthouse. I chit-chatted with the taxi driver and asked him about cherry blossom viewing spots. Alas! It rained heavily the night before and he said that 90 percent of the blossoms had dropped off! I was like, what??!! When we travelled from Incheon Airport to Gimpo Airport earlier that day, cherry blossoms were in full bloom everywhere we looked!

Anyway, I got directions to the ‘cherry blossoms street’ and we went there after dinner. It was already dark by the time we got there but we could still see that many have already fallen off… T.T The streets still look nice though… because now the pavements are pink too!
P.S. Note the dates on the pictures, a clue to when you should visit Jeju to view cherry blossoms ;)

We also visited another street lined with cherry blossoms the next day. 

This is the directions to the first 'cherry blossoms street' in Jeju City. The street is highlighted in pink. ;)

(Google Maps)

Zoomed-in version. I don't know any other landmarks but once you see KAL hotel, the street is just opposite. From KAL hotel, you won't see any cherry blossoms as the trees are further in.

(Google Maps)

One of the nearest stop is Samseong Elementary School (삼성초등학교정류장). If you are coming from the airport, you can take bus no. 36 and 500.

This is the other street that I visited. It's just beside the Jeju Bus Terminal, within about 5 minutes of walking.

(Google Maps)

Hope you can find the cherry blossoms! Ah! I'm missing it...

If you want to know more, comment below~ 👇 Thank you!  😄