Nov 17, 2012
Flight: Jeju, South Korea (CJU) to Seoul, South Korea (GMP), Asiana, econ
Flight: Seoul, South Korea (ICN) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK), Thai, businessf
Even though I was exhausted I still woke up at 7AM, trying to adjust for jetlag as I hadn't brought any melatonin this trip. I ate breakfast, bread and fried egg then asked about the taxi service. I should have arranged that the previous night as it took awhile to find an English-speaking taxi driver. He said he'd be there at 9AM which didn't leave too much time to get back to the airport to make my 5PM flight. Jeju is a good-sized island so it can take awhile to get from one end to another. The taxi driver showed up promptly at 9AM and we set off. I noticed he spoke Russian as well from his cab sign. I needed to go to the TM to get extra cash before we headed off towards the east towards the Manjanggul caves. The road was in good condition but there were many speed bumps and speed cameras which he pointed out.
I had been looking at a map of Jeju the previous night and I concluded that Jeju must have the most musems per capita... you name it there appears to be a museum dedicated to it. Jeju is a popular place for honeymooning Koreans. One of the attractions is called Loveland, which has several semi-pornographic statues and exhibits. That sounded fun to see and I hoped I'd have time to visit. Jeju is also the home of the 'stone grandfather' statues, phallic looking stone fertility statues.
I had made the mistake of not charging my new camera.. I assumed the battery was fully charged but already it was flashing! Oops.. no luck with cameras this trip. There was an interesting looking Buddhist temple along the way where we stopped for a few minutes. The weather this morning was looking grey and rainy as well but it was starting to clear as we drove eastwards. Finally arrived at the caves about 10:15. The cave is actually a 1km+ long lava tube and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Admission was pretty cheap at 2000won. I have visited lava tubes in Hawaii and a few other places so I am familiar with their formation and looks. This one though was the longest one I had visited. Steps lead down into the tunnel from a collapsed roof area, then dimly lit lighting leads you through the 2km roundtrip through the tube. Water constantly drips from overhead and there are stepping stones and walkways through the larger puddles. The caves were formed ~250000 years ago. The roundtrip took about 40 minutes. Afterwards I stopped at a drink shop where I found an outlet and was able to charge my battery for a few minutes.
Jeju phone booth
Lava tube
Lava pillar
From the caves we set off along the coastal road aound the northeastern part of the island. There is a smart grid electric generation station here with windmills and solar. There were also many fish farm tanks and seaweed drying along the road. Fields were bordered by fences made from piles of volcanic rock. There are several holiday hotels (closed for the season) and beaches along the coast here. The taxi driver kept pointing out nearly everything, seagull, walkers, windmills, etc. It got tiring after awhile and I just nodded. We were making our way around to Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak), an old volcanic tuff cone off the east coast. It is a very popular spot to climb to see the sunrise. Along the way we stopped at a pearl 'museum', the entire outside of the building was covered in abalone shells. Abalone are used to produce pearls and many of the divers traditionally are women.
Capsule hotel
We stopped for lunch in Seongsan village for seafood stew.. a huge pot of crab, clams, fish, etc in a spicy broth and cooked at the table. Too much food I was stuffed about 1/3 way through and it was expensive for two people. Still was pretty good. Meanwhile I was able to further charge my camera. About 1PM I finally started the long climb up to the peak. The parking lot was packed with tour buses and there was a Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks at the start of the trail. Along the fence was sunrise times for every day of the year and the sun's position in the sky. It was a good 20 minute slog uphill, there are several rest benches along the way. Most of the hikers were locals or from the mainland. At the top of the hill there are rows of seats for those lucky to make it to the top in time for sunrise. Downhill of course was much easier and we set off again about 1:45. Time was ticking away and only had 2hrs to make it back to the airport.
Seongsan Ilchulbong
View from Peak
The driver set off to the west, this time curving around the volcanic peak, Mt. Hallasan. The peak is a very popular trek in summer and there are several hiking trails taking 4 or more hours roundtrip. We passed through the agricultural region of Jeju. It is further south than most of Korea and can support two growing seasons. The fertile volcanic soil grows just about anything from tangerines, cabbage, radishes, carrots, etc. We took e more back roads and then finally turned north and started climbing up the west side of the mountain. The driver suddenly stopped at one point and hopped out of the car. He had spotted a pheasant alongside the road. I'd never seen a live one before. This one appeared to have an injured foot, so the driver took it and put it in the trunk. I assume he broke its neck and was planning on having it for dinner later as I never heard any noise from it later...
Jeju road
We turned up the Yeongsil road to the trail head.. by this point the clouds had started moving in and at 1280meters it was very chilly! There were signs along the road warning of snakes. During the summer the forest is very thick and several people get bitten by vipers. The mountain itself is 1790 meters and gets snow in the winter. It was already late in the day so the trail had a sign saying it was closed for the day. I had a few minutes here to snap a few photos and were then heading back north towards town. Along the way is a place called 'Mysterious road' where cars appear to roll uphill. It has become such a popular spot that the main road has now been diverted around it. It really is just a trick of topography and the road does indeed slope downhill at that point. Loveland is right next to this spot but we were really rushed for time by now as it was 3:50 and we had to make it to the airport by 4.
Mt. Hallasan Hikers
Mountain moorland
Mysterious road.. cars appear to roll uphill (towards camera)
We ended up being about 10 minutes late, but I was still able to checkin for my orignal flight and made it through security easily. I even had time to charge my camera some more and grab a mocha frappe at a cafe. Boarding the flight was via bus again. The flight was also full, mostly of Korean schoolgirls it seemed. The flight left pretty much on time for the 1hr flight back to Gimpo. The flight service was basic with only a small drink cup offered. Once I arrived at Gimpo it was the reverse of the previous evening... long walk to the train station, bought train ticket, waited for train and 0:33 to Incheon. At each train station there is a kiosk for getting the 500 deposit back if you insert the one-way ticket card. I refunded both trips here to get 1000 won back.
Train from Gimpo
I had redeemed an intra-Asia business class seat to get to Yangon so I was given an invitation to the Asiana lounge at the Thai checkin desk. I ate ate Burger King (horrors I know..) to get rid of some of my extra won, then went through security and got a Starbucks frappucino to spend the remaining won. I use that tactic frequently if I have remaining cash in a country... spend it all at the airport and use a credit card for any remaining balance. Unfortunately I forgot about the 1000 won in coins in my pocket!
The Thai flight left from the satellite terminal so I headed over there and up to the Asiana lounge on the 2nd floor. The lounge was OK with a few food items on offer. The plugs were in the floor but unfortunately wouldn't fit my adapter+laptop charger. I found the computer room and ended up using their computers and finding an available outlet to charge my laptop. A guy was in the room listening to Elmo videos with his kid. I'd heard the controversy surrounding the Elmo puppeteer on the news (he's since resigned from Sesame Street apparently).
Asiana lounge
The Thai flight to Bangkok was on a 777-200 with the lie-flat business class seats. It had been awhile since I'd flown business class so it was really nice to be able to lie down and stretch out. I slept most of the flight as I had a 6hr overnight connection in Bangkok and didn't plan on going out to a hotel. I have wide shoulders and don't usually fit even in business class seats when they are reclined so I have to sleep on my side. I started watching the new Total Recall during dinner but the contrast on the screen wasn't very good and it was hard to see.
Thai business class ICN-BKK
I arrived in BKK around 1:30 and made it to the Thai lounge by 1:45, just in time as they close at 2AM. I managed to stay in the lounge until 2:15 when they kicked me out.. saying I could return at 5:15.