The last time I visited South Korea was with my family on a Chan Brothers tour.
So Zg and I decided to go to South Korea this year on our own and we eventually decided on Jeju and Seoul as the two places in Korea that we will visit! We thought long and hard whether to do Busan too but eventually decided not to because we didn't want to rush and we really wanted to take our own time for the 10 days we were there.
Our first stop was Jeju. We flew into Incheon on a red eye SQ flight and landed in the morning. We took the all stop AREX to Gimpo where we caught the domestic flight on T'way to Jeju. The weather was great, bright and sunny, and we picked up our rental car in high spirits. We rented from Hertz (Lotte Rent a Car) which always delivered. Since our horrifying experience with other car rental companies in USA many years ago, we have only gone with Hertz and never looked back.
Navigation in our rental car was a breeze. We just keyed in the telephone number of the place and it will route us there. Saves us the trouble of trying to type the English name of Korean places.
First stop, Samseonghyeol Haemultang. This seafood stew restaurant was quite near to the airport (and Hertz) so we drove over after picking up the car. I read elsewhere that queues can be quite long but it was empty when we reached at 3 pm. I guess having lunch at odd hours worked to our advantage!
They serve the seafood alive! Yes the octopus was squirming away in that pot.
Truly seafood overload but woah the seafood was really very fresh and sweet!
Took the one hour drive from Jeju-si to Seogwipo where we were staying. We chose to stay in Seogwipo because it was near all the sights and the trails that we wanted to hike and explore. Checked into Hotel Yeon which provided free parking. The view from our room was perfect. We had the best view of the Seogwipo Port and I really love the place. There was a convenience store nearby and we were within walking distance to the Lee Jung Seop street. Highly recommend!
Day 2 saw us waking up bright and early to go to Oedolgae. There is nothing really impressive about seeing a rock in the middle of the sea, but I really enjoyed walking along this part of the Olle Trail. I guess I just really like walking around, enjoying the cool breeze against my cheeks, and the warm sun on my back.
So Zg and I are really big Starbucks fans and we collect the You Are Here mugs from different countries that we visit. Yes their coffee suck but I love how Starbucks serves different drinks in different countries and it is always fascinating to see what they serve. In Jeju, Starbucks serves this interesting Mugwort Tea Latte which Zg ordered and Yuzu Tea which I ordered.
Jeongbang Falls next (2000 won entrance fee). This waterfall goes right into the sea and everyone was crowding around the rocks near the base of the waterfall enjoying the splash.
If you fancy some freshly caught seafood, you can purchase them from this little make shift store set up near the foot of the Jeongbang Falls. Otherwise, there is nothing much at Jeongbang Falls.
Cheonjiyeon Falls (2000 won entrance fees). This was more like a park, unlike the Jeongbang Falls which felt more like a fenced up area for the waterfall. After strolling through the park, we reached the Cheonjiyeon Falls and took a moment to enjoy the scenery.
Lunch was at a really affordable soup restaurant along Lee Jung Seop Street. I had the beansprout hangover soup and Zg had the pork rib soup. Both were great and so affordable!
Jusungjeollidae which was a bunch of lava column cliffs along the coast. It was really nice but I didn't fancy jostling with a bunch of other PRC tourists who were shouting in my ears so that kind of marred my experience here. It would probably be nice to visit earlier in the day when there were less tourists.
Osulloc Tea Museum. So this was my favourite cafe in Jeju definitely. I am a huge tea lover and being at Osulloc just made me so so happy. You can buy tea from the gift shop or order their tea and desserts at the cafe. Of course I did both.
I ordered the Halla Tea which came in a large bowl. I poured my tea into the little cup and sipped happily for the whole time we were there. I also ordered the green tea cake with chocolate and it was so nice. The taste of green tea was fragrant and there were bits of crunchy chocolate in the base. Zg had the set which we shared. The green tea ice cream was great. The sponge cake didn't really taste very much like green tea though.
Exploring the tea plantation.
Innisfree was right beside the Osulloc Tea Museum so we dropped by too. The cafe was definitely less crowded than Osulloc.
Walked down to Seogwipo Port for dinner and we saw this pretty pink sky and a rainbow!
It started to rain so we ducked into Seom Sarang. We had no clue what they served and the place was empty. In fact we were the only customers the whole time we were there. We asked for the English menu and ordered the seafood stew. Once again, the seafood was super fresh and sweet. Jeju really does super good seafood.
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