In the past 30 days I have begun pre-packing to make sure I have enough boxes with which to bring home all my junk. I have also begun to sell the things I know I'm not taking to America. I have planned my final trip to Peacetown, planned a comedy night, spent my last "real" vacation days on an island south of Korea, and have spent hours and hours in the music studio recording songs.
I have been busy.
As I type this, I have 14 days left in Korea. Nine of those are work days. That means a total of 14 shows left. I can't believe I've made it this far.
If you've been following this past year of blogs, you know of the many things I've been fortunate to see and learn. The first 6 months of my time in Korea seemed to last a lifetime--truly.
However, the last 6 months have gone by in the blink of an eye. I can't believe how fast the time has gone.
I traveled alone to Jeju Island, off the south coast of Korea, from October 10-14. You are about to view MANY pictures from that vacation. It was exactly what I needed and wanted. I basically stayed on a beach with white sand and the bluest water I've ever seen for 3 days. It was amazing. The pictures should tell the story.
On the walkway to the airplane, Gimpo Airport in Seoul--
A map of Jeju Island with the main places I visited typed out--
As soon as I got out of the airport, I took a bus to Seongsan Ilchulbong (I named it incorrectly on the map above), and this was my first real view of the mountain. Seongsan Ilchulbong means "Sunrise Peak"--as it's famous for its view of the sunset, as this mountain is at the easternmost part of Jeju Island. The hike to see the sunrise, and the view of it were highly recommended to me, so I stayed one night at a "minbak" (a local motel).
This picture was taken from my patio/sunroom. This room cost only 20,000Won, which was incredible, as it had a TV, a small fridge, and a gas stove in the sunroom. Plus, it had this view. Unbelievable.
After checking into the motel, I walked to the entrance of the main hike area that leads to the top of the mountain...which I would do starting at 5:30 a.m. the next morning.
You can see what this sign says about the landscape of the area--
I took a helicopter ride and took this photo--
Just kidding. I didn't take any helicopter ride. This was just a big picture of the area--
At the base of the mountain, by the big picture, are several rocks with the sunrise carved at different positions--
Under the sunrise carvings is a chart of the entire year and the corresponding sunrise times. Remember, "Seongsan Ilchulbong" means Sunrise Peak--that's what this place is known for. It's most popular on January 1, and you can imagine thousands of people travel to see the first sunrise of the new year. I saw the sunrise on October 11--6:34 a.m.--
After reaching the top of the mountain, I took this photo. Obviously pre-sunrise, you can see the lights of boats in the distance. Beautiful colors already--
This is a view of where I came from. That's looking westward behind me--
A panorama of the horizon--
People waiting and watching--
Almost time (what you see at the bottom is the eastern edge of the cone of the mountain itself, then the ocean)--
First shot of the sun coming up--
Still rising--
That's not Darth Maul, that's me--
Well worth getting up at 5:30 a.m. to see--
Panorama of what's directly in front of me, the "crown" of this mountain--
Panorama of the sunset--
The Northeast view--
Me--
Panorama of the sunset and the mountain--
Panorama of the view behind me--
This is my first view of Mt. Halla--the tallest mountain in South Korea--which is basically in the dead center of Jeju Island. I didn't see it the previous day because it was too hazy--
Hiking back down--
Panorama of the west view of Jeju Island--you can see Mt. Halla on the left side of the picture--
Interesting path--
The north side of the mountain--
Beautiful--
I couldn't believe this, but as I was hiking down the mountain after seeing the sunrise, I heard music coming out of various rocks in the grass. It wasn't the musical rocks that surprised me, Disneyland has those hidden everywhere. It was the song coming out of the rocks that blew my mind. The video is below. So strange, right?The pan I used to cook eggs for breakfast after returning from the hike--I'm surprised I'm still alive--
This is a piece of a GIANT pork burger, that's an APPLE slice on there, as well as olives and pickles and a weird sauce. But it was actually pretty good...considering that my other options included raw fish and pickled cabbage.
This is a piece of a GIANT pork burger, that's an APPLE slice on there, as well as olives and pickles and a weird sauce. But it was actually pretty good...considering that my other options included raw fish and pickled cabbage.
At Hamdeok Beach, just east of Jeju-Si (where the airport is); those statues are everywhere on the island, it's their "thing"--
View of Mt. Halla from the beach (check out the black lava rocks and the white sand as well!)--
Panorama of Hamdeok Beach--
My feet in the clearest water ever--
Peace--
Look at that blue water!--
This is what happens when you're on vacation by yourself--
Panorama of the other side of Hamdeok Beach (where I parked for 3 straight days)--
Hamdeok Beach--
A panorama from a pier at Hamdeok Beach, Mt. Halla in the distance--
I found this horribly rusty exacto knife on the pier, then I cut myself--
These are those fishing boats--check out all the lights! So strange--
Purple shells--
Do you see the creature in there?--
These little creatures are EVERYWHERE; I mean everywhere. There are little crab things inside, and they just drag themselves around. It was so interesting to watch...and see their trail--
The beach--
Very small shell--
See the crab guy?--
See this little guy?--
This thing was nearly as big as my torso...I can't say for certain what it was. I'm guessing jellyfish--but it was solid...very, very strange--
SMALL but perfectly formed--
Various shells I gathered--
That's my pinky, and a still connected tiny shell--
When the tide would go away--these balls of sand would form ALL over the beach. I can't be sure of what they are, but I'm going to guess crab poop--
Okay--I truly have NO idea what this is. As you'll see, the shell was pretty large. I don't know how to describe to you what the animal inside could do. What you see directly below is the "protection" mode. The swirl-like thing you see is how the animal protects itself. For instance, when I picked it up, it would switch to this mode. But as it relaxed, that would swivel around and a strange, orange, tongue-like thing with antennas would come out. SO insane. I took SO many pictures of it--here are the best--
Swiveling around--
One antenna came up and poked the top of the water--
Anyone else think this shell looks like the saucer section of the USS Enterprise NC1701-D?--
I have no idea--
After hanging out on the beach, I walked a bit around the area. This is first time since coming to Korea that I saw a Chicago style pizza place--
How many chilis do you think are there?--
A random beautiful temple entrance I passed--
I traveled one afternoon to Manjang Cave (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The bus drops you off 2km from the actual attraction, so I walked 2 km down a road--
As I walked down the road, I saw fields of this stuff--I'm not sure what it was--but I think it was cabbage--
FINALLY, I arrived at the cave--
You can read about what this place is about--
That is a lava column--lava had flowed from an upper level and came down and then cooled--
Water was constantly dripping all over the place inside this lava tube--
I was in the tube/cave for about an hour, and when I came out--the sun was setting, and it was beautiful--
The cave closes at 6:00 p.m., and so there were no longer any cabs out front. So I had to walk the 2 km back out to the main road. By the time I got back to the main road, it was pitch black out. I knew I could catch a bus--but I didn't know exactly where to get it, nor when it would come. So I started walking back to Hamdeok Beach (at least 6 km away). I knew exactly where I was and wasn't worried at all...but I still didn't want to walk ALL the way back. I walked for over an hour before I reached my "end" point. I wasn't going to walk anymore. Again, I knew exactly where I was, I just didn't know exactly where to get the bus. But I stopped at a bus stop, and just sat down to wait for a bus. It came within 10 minutes or so, and it took me back. Thank goodness.
Water was constantly dripping all over the place inside this lava tube--
I was in the tube/cave for about an hour, and when I came out--the sun was setting, and it was beautiful--
The cave closes at 6:00 p.m., and so there were no longer any cabs out front. So I had to walk the 2 km back out to the main road. By the time I got back to the main road, it was pitch black out. I knew I could catch a bus--but I didn't know exactly where to get it, nor when it would come. So I started walking back to Hamdeok Beach (at least 6 km away). I knew exactly where I was and wasn't worried at all...but I still didn't want to walk ALL the way back. I walked for over an hour before I reached my "end" point. I wasn't going to walk anymore. Again, I knew exactly where I was, I just didn't know exactly where to get the bus. But I stopped at a bus stop, and just sat down to wait for a bus. It came within 10 minutes or so, and it took me back. Thank goodness.I got off the bus and decided to take some nighttime pictures. For my three days at Hamdeok Beach, I stayed at a dinky little motel, not even as nice as the one I'd stayed at while in Seongsan. But not far from my dinky motel was this very large and beautiful resort. It would have been lovely to have stayed there...but I'm guessing it would have been considerably more expensive than 30,000Won per night. Anyway, here it is by moonlight, palm trees and all (taken with flash)--
Taken without flash--
Taken from farther away, obviously--
Across the street from my motel was what I can only describe as a traveling amusement park...very small and a little scary actually...I didn't go on any rides or eat any food; here you see the "Viking" ride in action--
On my last day in Jeju, I traveled to the main city, Jeju-Si. I walked through Dongmun Market Place. Though not terribly different from any other market I'd ever been through, it had more Jeju-specific items.
Lettuce, sweet potatoes...and some GIANT green/white "thing"...what is that? An onion? I have no idea--
Believe me, I've seen a lot of weird fish displays...but this is simply wrong--
Fruit. Jeju is famous for tangerines/oranges--
Near the market was a small palace. I didn't go inside, but took some photos from outside--
I left the market place and palace area and headed to the airport to fly back to Seoul. My 5 day vacation was over. Here you can see Mt. Halla in the distance and the Jeju airport sign (like the Gimpo sign earlier)--
I did actually take this picture from the plane--that's Mt. Halla--
Taken without flash--
Taken from farther away, obviously--
Across the street from my motel was what I can only describe as a traveling amusement park...very small and a little scary actually...I didn't go on any rides or eat any food; here you see the "Viking" ride in action--
On my last day in Jeju, I traveled to the main city, Jeju-Si. I walked through Dongmun Market Place. Though not terribly different from any other market I'd ever been through, it had more Jeju-specific items.
Lettuce, sweet potatoes...and some GIANT green/white "thing"...what is that? An onion? I have no idea--
Believe me, I've seen a lot of weird fish displays...but this is simply wrong--
Fruit. Jeju is famous for tangerines/oranges--
Near the market was a small palace. I didn't go inside, but took some photos from outside--
I left the market place and palace area and headed to the airport to fly back to Seoul. My 5 day vacation was over. Here you can see Mt. Halla in the distance and the Jeju airport sign (like the Gimpo sign earlier)--
I did actually take this picture from the plane--that's Mt. Halla--
So that was my last vacation while in Korea.
