JEJU (14 Dec- 15 Dec 2014)
Started the day early! Today was a day packed full of activities--
1. Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak
2. Jeju Folk Village
3. Chocolate Museum
4. Teddy Bear Museum
5. Alive Museum!
Sidenote- today we would discover how Jeju really has ALOT of rocks~
Headed out to Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak, but had a surprise along the way! Our tour guide had actually arranged for us to visit a specialty chocolate shop, which sold what we had sought-after- Hallabong Chocolates! :) Cos it makes good gifts for friends and family back home. And in additional, we could each pluck 2 mandarin oranges each, from their backyard!!!
My parents and aunt with our pretty tour leader Perrine~
My parents with their freshly-picked oranges, outside the shop :) Their chocolates are really nice and they aren't stingy on providing for samples to visitors!!
Then we continued our journey to the Peak!
What is the Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak you may ask?
According to KTO, Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago. At the top is a huge crater about 600m in diameter and 90m high. Besides that, it's basically surrounded by cliffs and grassy hills.
Original entry ticket pricing: 2,000won~ [Adult]
Just to share a few pictures out of the many I took~
Prior to climbing up, Jiejie also introduced us to Dol Hareubang, which is believed to be the god which offers protection and grants fertility. These stone statues were seen all over Jeju, outside houses, shops, and particularly at touristy spots.
Jiejie guiding Gina to rub the Hareubang's eyes to pray to it, and grant them children while Vincent watches on :D
Post half-hike, our turn for a picture with the Dol Hareubang! (After rubbing his tummy wishing for wealth~)
Ofcourse not forgetting a picture with pretty Perrine and our lovely Jiejie :)
Slotting in another 2 pictures ;)
One picture of my tour mates refilling their bottles at the taps. All typical SGreans uh! When Jiejie said that the water form the tap is believed to give one longevity, everyone promptly poured their water onto the grass patch infront, and proceeded to refill their bottle with the taps. WALAO EH HAHHHAHA!!!
And the other one of my parents and aunt at the rock before we started our hike!
Was a pity though, we did not manage to catch the women diver shows, as the show is at 1330, but we had to rush off to our next destination~ Shall aim to catch them on my next trip, to witness them catching freshness from the sea!
Next up, Jeju Folk Village, where we learnt of their olden days' customs, habits and ways of living. It's basically reconstructed such that we feel like we are entering an old village with houses from long ago...
One of the interesting things I found out about was how their houses typically did not have doors, as Jeju is known to have low number of or rather, NO thieves! So instead of doors, they had poles-
.jpg "Jeju-- Folk Village (Image from sharguage.wordpress.com)")
3 poles down would mean that you are welcomed to enter as the owner is home~
2 poles down and 1 pole up would mean that the owner is not in and would return in awhile~
1 pole down and 2 poles up would mean that the owner is not in and would only return at night~
Cool eh?
And we found the same species of what we would be having for lunch! Apparently, they were once reared for their ability to consume human waste, so the 'toilets' were built with a hole leading down to the pig's pen.
Sad life of yours piggy~ Super smelly but mad cute!
Both my parents and Vincent & Gina were looking rather fascinated by the black pig~
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Following that was the Chocolate Museum, where we made handmade chocolates (With ingredients I have bought before in SG hahha), and Teddy Bear Museum~
Original entry ticket pricing: 8,000won~ [Adult]
Teddy Bear Museum may sound unappealing, but trust me, even adults like it there. The teddies on display are as tall as I am, or even taller, with some modelling after real-life celebrities.
There are also teddies for sale there, which totally completes the experience. A must-go for teddy bear fanatics. Personally, I felt that it was worth a visit, but a 2nd trip would prove boring~
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And our last stop for the day, Alive Museum, where the theme revolves around optical illusions- pictures appearing to be 3D/ and trick-eye images.
Original entry ticket pricing: 9,000won~ [Adult]
Glad I ended up at Alive Museum, as there's another option, which is the Jeju Trick Art Museum at Seong-eup. Alive Museum, in comparison, is of a larger scale, and has more 'things' to see and enjoy. Reckoned we spent about 1.5 hours thereabouts, taking pictures and laughing at one another.
I've never visited the one in SG or Seoul, but according to online reviews, it seems Alive Museum is the preferred choice! :D Just to share a few pictures out of the many I took~
My super adorable tour leader whom asked us to take a picture for her and she ran inside the display to pose!!
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That night's supper? OFCOURSE FRIED CHICKEN!! ;)
This KyoChon Fried Chicken was recommended by Jiejie, and she went to order it for us while we went for dinner at a restaurant a few units away. *touched* So sweet of her, giving us recommendations and even ordering it for us. And of course, my super gao-jiak tour group had one box per family :'D
Apparently, the Honey one is the best tasting and highly recommended, but it was
And look, the portion is SUPER huge! One standard portion order was sufficient for the 4 of us :) Ofcourse, I got to eat most of it. If I do not remember wrongly, there were 14-16 pieces of chicken inside~
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TIP: Do order the fried chicken early as waiting time was approx. 30 mins for our group!
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Post-trip thoughts: Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak, Folk Village and Alive Museum are the particularly memorable destinations. The Folk Museum is really interesting and even though the whole of Jeju is less commercialized as compared to Seoul, this part of Jeju is really.... old-school! The mandatory presentation of their specialty produce honey was informative, but not a practical purchase for my family.
Nonetheless, the best was still probably Seongsan Ilchulbong- the air was really fresh, the winds were strong but cooling, and it was a great morning 'exercise' for us though we did not conquer it! PS. We still did sweat a lil! :/ And it's true that even though we did sweat, it got much windier and colder as we climbed higher up~
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