Jeju

This is going to be a long post... sooooo, the short version is that I went to Jeju, loved riding around and visiting the island and came back with a sunburn and without my lovely motorbike. Highlights included white sand beaches, lots of palm trees and a ride in the back of a police car. Read on:



I got up early on Saturday morning, packed and headed to the ferry terminal. I stopped at the bank and was a bit perturbed to note that I only had about $250 (You know how it is, right before payday....). I decided to go on to Jeju anyway, even if, after paying for my ticket and hotel, I wasn't allowing much in the way of spending money once there. The check-in system for the Jeju ferry is possibly the world's most bizarre and chaotic. I had a reservation, so I fought my way to the counter (line-up???) and bought my ticket, then had to fight my way to a different counter to get the ticket for my motorbike. Then, I had to drive my bike onto the ferry (which was so cool!) where it was tied up to keep it from falling over. Then I had to go back down the loading ramp, dodge a bunch of trucks in the parking lot and head back into the waiting room so that I could (literally) turn around and come out the "passenger" doors to get back on the ferry.



My third class ticket got me some carpeted floor space in a little room with about a dozen other people. I ditched my stuff and headed up to the main deck to watch the ship leave the dock and enjoy the ... crappy weather. It was cold, windy, cloudy and somewhat drizzly - and I could only hope that the weather in Jeju would be nicer. We passed island after island, some with rice fields and houses, and several kinds of boats - fishing boats, pleasure cruisers, commercial liners. At one point, looking overboard, I could see tons of jellyfish just under the surface of the water - it actually looked like a polka-dotted scarf or something. Back inside, I chatted with Kevin, a British guy married to a Korean woman who was headed, with their baby daughter, to a new job in Jeju. He suggested that, once on land, I head south to Jungmun and avoid spending too much time in Jeju City.

Heeding Kevin's (and Jessica's friend Dan's) advice, I did just that, crossing the island in less than an hour. I took a few random exits on my ride down, passing Sanbangsan, an artpark and the, ahem, Museum of Sex. The cloudy weather did not dampen my spirits, and I had a good time wandering around until I found a sweet little minbak (inn) near Jungmun, a well-known resort town. My room was amazing - only slightly smaller than my apartment - with A/C, TV, a kitchenette and two balconies for only about $40, one of which offered a view of the owner's garden and gazebo and a far-off view of the sea.

Jeju-do is a very unique bit of Korea, which wasn't really a bit of Korea until recently. Formed by a central volcano (Halla-san), it's well-known for its beaches, soil, horses, diving women, oranges, cactus, and general fertility. As the "Hawaii of Korea", it is also a very popular honeymoon destination. According to legend, the island is dominated by a female spirit presence (or something), so there are a lot of... well... phallic images around to counter-balance that.


I was struck by how lush and green everything was - and how the volcanic stones are just everywhere - in sculptures, steps, stone walls in fields, houses etc. Jeju-do reminds me of so many other places that I've visited - from Belize to Mexico to Florida to New Hampshire. But it really made me think of Niagara Falls, in the idea that there is a natural attraction that is surrounded by tourist traps - just that Jeju's weirder tourist offerings are more spread out than Niagara's. The idea being a sort of "Here we are now, entertain us" sort of tourism. Some of them are valid - botanical gardens (given Jeju's climate and soil, it makes sense), but some of them are ridiculous (Teddy Bear Museum, two different Miniature Worlds, Museum of Africa, three sex museums....). Given my budget, I was happy to avoid the less-authentic of the attractions.


Wanting to make the most of my Saturday, I headed east, and "chased brown signs" (brown sign = tourist destination) until I found Yakcheonsa, which is supposed to be Asia's largest temple. Having seen the Todaiji temple in Nara, Japan, which is HUGE, I would have to agree. And, there are plans to expand it too. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the size and splendour of Yakcheonsa, but since it is such an admittedly modern construction, it still just isn't as nice as Todaiji.



I continued riding, along cliffs and islands with names like Oedolgae, until I got to Seogwipo, admiring the views, the palm trees and the flowers, but cursing the overcast sky. Finally, I bought some food (yay the kitchenette!) and headed back to my hotel.

The next day was Sunday, and there was so much to do and see! I'd been in touch with my friend Garrett and knew that he would be at Hyeopjae Beach, having befriended some guys who run a banana-boat rental place. We hadn't managed to connect the day before, and I was looking forward to meeting up with him.


I started off riding around the resort town of Jungmun, which seemed very upscale, with its palm-tree lined streets and exclusive resort hotels. The sky was BLUE! The weather was gorgeous (but dressed in jeans and a leather jacket meant I was a sweaty girl for most of the day).


My first stop was Cheonjiyeon waterfalls and gorge. I walked along sweet little boardwalks through the forest, down into the gorge to various waterfalls (reminded me of Belize and New Hampshire), and over an ornately boobalicious bridge to a small pagoda and park. As I walked, I chatted with a few people (the old "Where are you from?" routine...) and noticed that almost all of the women were wearing those ridiculous stilettos and limping along - and it was still morning. Anyway, I loved loved loved the trees covered in moss and vines, and I felt like I was getting a taste of what I might see in Taiwan in September, what with all the tropical-ness.


From Jungmun, I headed west, towards Sanbang-san. At one point, I had Halla-san in the rearview, Sanbang-san on my right and the ocean and beach on my left. It was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I stopped at Sanbang-san to take a look around, but didn't see much of interest (I realize now that I missed an absolutely gorgeous temple complex located half-way up the mountain), except some souvenir kiosks and some horses all saddled up and standing under the hot hot sun for tourist photos (dress up like a cowboy and take a picture). Poor things! I decided to leave that unpleasantness behind me and ride up around the Yeongmori peninsula, which was one of the highlights of my trip....


It was really amazing, a narrow concrete "road" twisting up along the edge of a cliff (actually an inactive volcano). The water at the bottom of the volcanic cliffs was super clear, but I could see no way of actually getting down to the water.


As I was leaving to go off to the next spot, I saw an old lady come out of the water, dressed in a rubber diving suit. I couldn't believe that I'd simply stumbled upon one of the legendary divers of Jeju. These women, often older ladies, dive down to get... uhhh... shellfish??... but without any scuba equipment. It's a traditional job that is disappearing (they used to number in the thousands, now only a few women still do it), and I was lucky enough to even watch another lady out in the water, diving and surfacing, diving and surfacing.


And on the road again, this time to see a traditional dwelling, formerly the home of an artist known as "Chusa" who was exiled to Jeju. Apparently, he was quite famous and did a lot of "calligraphy art". The house was mud and volcanic stone and .... included a "sh*t-pig" enclosure. One of the delicacies of Jeju is pork made from pigs that are fed on human excrement. No, I am not kidding. Yes, I am glad that I don't eat pork. Anyway, the enclosure has a sort of rectangular toilet-y thing at one end and a little pig house at the other. So, yeah...


By this time, it was early afternoon, and time to meet up with Garrett at Hyeopjae Beach, on the west side of the island. After getting a bit lost (but not really minding), I found my way to a glorious beach of white sand and black volcanic rocks, absolutely full of people swimming with their clothes on, such is the Korean way. I mean, swimming with layers of clothes on - like even wearing hoodies and stuff. Since I hold the firm belief (no doubt inherited from my mother) that the only thing one should wear on a beach is a bikini, I changed and lolled around on the beach until I was positively pink (note to self: bring suntan lotion next time). After two hours, including talking to a banana-boat guy, I still hadn't found Garrett, and decided to head out to find something a bit less elusive (or so I thought): Halla-san.


Riding on various glorious highways, I explored some of the less-travelled paths (or so it would seem) of Jeju, but all without actually getting to Halla-san - I kind of circumnavigated it instead. I passed horse farms (including some that looked remarkably like the Kentucky cliche of white fences and rolling hills), went through a magical forest, and on and on until I reached the south-east seaside of Namwon. Feeling tired after an entire day of travel, with a sunburn on my cheeks and noting that the sun was probably going to start setting soon, I decided to head for home.


About ten kilometres from my hotel, I came to an intersection with a flashing orange light. I checked, and began turning left, when a car arrived... I braked, she braked, and we hit with what I can only describe as being an anti-climatic thud.... and I'm not just saying that for my mother's sanity. My bike wobbled and tilted over as her car rolled forward, and my rearview mirror scratched her door. My first reaction, after "OH MY GOD!!!!!" was "Hey, that wasn't so bad... Thank God there's nothing wrong.". The lady and her entire extended family got out of her car (sort of like a clown car - how many family members can you fit into a car???) and surrounded me, everyone talking at once.

And then I tried to move my bike.

I dragged it over to the sidewalk, looked at the front tire, sat on the sidewalk and just started crying. The entire front end of the bike was twisted, with the tire pointing one way and the handlebars another. Meanwhile, the lady was yelling at me for not having a license plate, demanding to see my passport (????) and calling 47 people at once on her cell phone. Her two little kids (who were of course not wearing seatbelts but standing on the back seat) kept wandering over to look at me, her husband arrived with a guy with a sparkly tie and there was another woman there too.

And then the police arrived.

Fortunately for me, the lady and her husband spoke English, and we were able to get everything sorted out regarding exchanging information. Her husband, Sparkly Tie and one of the police officers (who didn't really care about the lack of license plate....) looked at my bike, and started going over my options. And here's where it starts to suck.

I could get the bike fixed and take it home. One police officer went to a nearby motorbike mechanic shop and found that, surprise surprise, it was closed because it was Sunday evening. This would have meant leaving the bike where it was, taking it to the mechanics the next day and then going back to Mokpo. I would also have had to manipulate the spacetime continuum in order to be back home in time for my camp orientation - oh, and did I mention that I only had about $150 left? My mind was racing as I tried to find solutions - Garrett was still in Jeju, but I had no way to reach him; I could leave the bike to be fixed, then come back next week - which would have been ridiculously expensive; I could have, I suppose, called Jessica's friend Dan, and worked something out with him, but that I had never actually met him and it would still necessitate a return to Jeju to pick up the bike, which once again would have meant spending more than the bike was worth to get it back.

And so, I had to abandon my bike.

I don't even want to describe how I felt. Leaving the motorbike on the side of the road because of a small repair and poor timing .... if I had been on the mainland of Korea, if I could have made a deal with the (unfortunately closed) mechanic, if I hadn't had to get back home for the camp orientation, if I hadn't forgotten my credit card at home... there were so many conditions that made this the only logical option. And I hated that.

The police were super friendly and drove me back to my hotel (hence the ride in the police car), even calling a translation service to find out if I needed help, and giving me their contact numbers in case I needed to get in touch with them again. But what could they do?

Monday, I got up and started figuring out how to get home. And here comes the "This is why I love travelling in Korea" part of my post. My minbak lady got me a taxi to a nearby, very posh, resort hotel, which had a shuttle service to the Jeju airport from where I'd be able to take a taxi to the ferry. Because it was a Monday, I'd have to take a different, more expensive ferry back to Mokpo, which I'd known when I made my reservation and budgeted for.

But... Airport??? Hmmm....

Getting to the airport, I ran to the Departures desk. There was a plane leaving for Gwangju in 15 minutes (I kind of felt a bit Amazing Race-ish), for only about $10 more than the ferry I would have had to take. So, I flew back to Gwangju, caught the bus to Mokpo, and made it home in only a few hours....

Up until the events of Sunday evening, I had a great time in Jeju. It is a really amazing place, and a place that I'd love to visit again one day.


In losing my motorbike, I've also lost my amusement for the summer. I had grand plans of traveling around to different parts of Korea this summer, and seeing bits that I hadn't yet explored. I guess I can still do that, but it will have to be by bus.