So if you read a guidebook or anything of the sort, it will tell you that the province of Jeju is Korea's Hawaii. Upon landing at the airport in Jeju, I was sorely disappointed. Jeju-si, or the city of Jeju, one of the two major cities on the island, is nothing more than a sprawling metropolis similar and just as dirty as Seoul. I have talked to people that have been to Jeju, said they loved it, but did not leave the city. Idiots!!
After checking into our hotel, we went for a walk to try to find a beach so that we could see the sun set over the ocean, something that is impossible on the East Coast.
This was after we got off the bus that was supposed to take us to the beach. Only after it was too late to get back on the bus did we realize that we were no where near the beach we set out to visit. So, using our keen sense of direction (walk to where you can't see a big mountain) we headed for the ocean.
Many of the old houses on the island are constructed of volcanic rock, or cement made from volcanic rock. It's pretty interesting to see all of these little hobbit sized huts all over the place.
It turned out to be a pretty interesting detour, we got so see some cool buildings that have been there for ages as well as the interesting assimilation of the once rural outskirts of Jeju city into the creeping metropolis.
I liked this scene, with the ajuma tending her crops in a traditional fashion with the apartment buildings in the background.
They actually had horses here. Jeju is one of the only places in Korea that horse meat is widely available in local restaurants....yummm!
We got to look at this beautiful sunset for about 20 minutes before a wicked storm came in and ruined the view.
This beach has two kinds of sand, theoretically making it possibly to construct a two-tone sand castle, there is a dark brown kind of sand and a light yellow variety. I think it has something to do with the island being a volcano.
This is the wicked storm that rolled in, although I am pretty sure it never amounted to anything, at least while we were awake.
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