Leaving Jeju

After almost 12h sleep, my body awoke at 08:00am complaining from the excessive workout from the day before. Fortunately I packed hot patches so I slapped those on my lower back, and calves. Then it was time to check out and catch the airport limo (who screeched to a stop to wait for me) to the airport to drop off my luggage and try to visit the Jeju City.

However my body condition was not very comfortable so by the time I got to the airpot at 11:30 I just shopped for local food (cactus flower tea) and got some lunch before chaning my plane ticket for Seoul's Gimpo airport. So instead of leaving Jeju in the late afternoon, I boarded another big empty plane at 12:30 and flew over many small islands surrounded by turquoise waters to eventually get to Seoul early afternoon.

Jeju was fun to visit but requires more time if using buses. If I had stayed a week I would have rented a bike to go around the various Olle trails. Maybe that would be another concept trip that could be a fun challenge to do on my next trip.

Hallasan in solitaire

In retrospective, the idea of hiking a mountain of almost 2000m above sea level, on a remote island in a foreign country, by myself, seems a bit crazy. Maybe I was, even though I went through some light preparations long beforehand during that summer (hiked twice). So on the D-Day of the hike I could no longer turn back and put all my expectations and excitement to waste.

I booked a cab the night before. packed my backpack (a 2L water bottled, 2 brownies, a Ghana chocolate bar, 3 bananas, flip flops, bandaids, dynamo headlamp, whistle), and set my alarm for 4:45am. I slept through the alarm on Wednesday morning at 5:15am, showered and dressed in 15min and waited for the taxi that never came for 5:30am. So I walked out in the early morning that was still the night, and hailed a taxi on the main road.

For 20000KRW he agreed to take me to the beginning of the Seongpanak trail on Hallasan. As the car drove through sleepy villages and started to go up into forest territory, it dawned on me that although I had 2 phones with me, I didn't know the emergency service phone number! Thoughts like "what if I disappear like this, abducted" or "what if something terrible were to happen?" haunted me during the 30min ride. I tried to keep my composure as someone confident who knew what i was doing and trying to keep busy with the phone pretending to send text messages to my imaginary freinds waiting for me at the trail.

When we arrived at the trail entrance, there were a few cars in the parking lot. There was a building with light inside, but the single person inside just waved at me to go ahead. I was left to myself in this vast wilderness and as the clock showed a few minutes after 6:00am and dawn was timidly showing its early lights on the horizon, I transferred the water into the camel bag, threw the bottle away, and wore my headlamp to start my foray in the dark and conquer Hallasan through the 9.7km trail.

The thick forest was very quiet and relatively dark. The trail was clearly marked with ropes on each side, and made of light gravel or planks of wood. On the side of the trail, emergency call booth with location number could be seen every 20m or so. This was very reassuring in knowing this was a well monitored trail. As I started to be at ease, I could hear the silence of the forest as there was no birds chirping yet or leaves rustling with the wind. In the stillness of the morning, the sound of a bumble bee or a fly would be deafening. It was comfortable as there was no wind, no sun, and the path was easy to walk on, with only the sound of my footsteps and breathing to break the silence.

Shortly before 7:00am, I was startled by a deer munching close to the trail, maybe 5m away. I stopped to breathe, tried to take a photo without flash, and waited for it to notice my presence and leave. It was  magical encounter after I had spent 1h on my own with the consciousness of being the sole creature in the reduced universe of the forest.A light fog completed the fairy tale setting.

The encounter put a smile on my face. But a few minutes later another thought quickened my pace and heartbeat :"what other (scarier) animals are there in this place?". It was interesting that my thoughts were so loud. And so my senses heightened as everything in the forest seemed to awake: minute sounds of rustled dead leaves, flights of the early birds, the scraping of my backpack against my back, etc...Eventually I had to consciously block my ears to ignore the sounds and not stop at every sound to check out what it was. After all I had a deadline to reach a destination and stopping to listen was only met with dead silence mot of the time.

I had to read the shelter before noon in order to have a chance to get to the summit, and so I walked on, waving away the occasional buzzing bug. I was aiming a minimum pace of 2km/h (about 10km to do in 5h max), having started early and not wanting to be out of breath yet. The Seongpanak trail was not very steep for the first 5km. As dawn finally broke information posters showed up on the side of the trail, indicating hiking progression and difficulty level. They were very encouraging and mentally prepared me for the steep sections ahead.

As the day progressed and I got used to the peace and calm outside and inside myself for 3h, rythmed by the regular breathing and footsteps, around 09:00am a disturbance came in the form of over hikers. I wasn't annoyed because they were a couple of middle aged hikers (50-55 year old maybe?) but because they overtook me so easily with nods and smiles, without loosing their breath.I was disturbed because I had someone ahead and there was a temptation to break my pace and catch up to them or follow their pace. So I needed extra focus on my breathing and pace. I needed to last the day, not to be first.

Some other hikers overtook me shortly afterward and even engaged conversation, asking "honja?" which I guessed meant "alone" or "by myself". I nodded and they smiled and I eventually came to my senses and explained I was left behind my friends who were ahead of me with a sudden fluency in Korean (+sign language), as my brain suddenly went overdrive and remembered all the vocabulary gathered passively while watching kdramas.

After the first 6km labelled as easy, the gravel and wooden plank disappeared to reveal a trail made of stacked boulder and narrow crevasses to climb through. The real exercises had started and frequent stops were needed to catch up breath, drink water, and admire the gradual change in landscape. More people overtook me and after more than 1h of struggling with almost boulder climbing, my thighs started to be sore. After a proper sit down to eat chocolate and replenish some energy after 4h hike, I resumed the hike step by step, meter by meter until I arrived at the gravel and wood planks trail again, and oh so above the tree tops and clouds.

As bushes and high grases replaced the tall trees, I was happy to wear a hat as the sun started to warm up. Out of nowhere a whole group of people started to arrive behind me and overtook me in a blitz. They were a group of teenagers (17-19 probably) on a school trip, and 80% male. Watching them run up the stairs with just a small bottle of water was astonishing. I sighted like an 80 year old woman nodding at the energy of youth displayed. Older folks wore gloves and full hiking equipment. I could not bring my walking stick but managed to keep my pace and not be disturbed by the crowd ahead or overtaking me. I briefly wondered how long it took them to hike so far as I was starting to reach my 5th hour.

As the summit got closer, and the air rarer, even the bushes became scarce and only rocks and grass could be seen on each side of the path. A helicopter was making trips to being the planks of wood and materials needed to repair the trail.At a certain part the trail had no path and one had to rock climb with chords nailed on the rocks.

On the other side of the island, a city (maybe Jeju city?) and the sea could be seen below cotton clouds.

Finally after 5h07min climb, I arrived at the summit short breathed, with my feet bloated and hurting, and starving. The feeling of victory, achievement, and relief could not be described and my mind shutdown to safeguard the memory of the previous struggle and to capture that exhilarating feeling of being on top or arrived at  destination.

The kids around me were eating their boxed lunch that looked hearty and yummy (rice and banchan/side dishes), while I sat down for a rest, took off my shoes, put on bandaids and wore my flip flops, and unpacked my brownies, bananas and chocolate bar. The view was from another world and I could not wish for more at that time.

After 30min resting and taking pictures with the help of other tourists (there were a few from overseas, like Australia), it was 11:30am and I had to face the climb down. I planned to take the Gwaneumsa trail and try to avoid the crowd.

 

 This trail allowed me to see the profile of the crater and to go through at least 3 valleys on the way down. It was a bit steeper in general than the Seongpanak trail, and there were several parts where it was necessary to climb out of the valleys as well. 

The trail down was prettier as well as the mountains and vegetation seemed very luxuriously green and rich. maybe it was the food in my stomach and the excitement that embellished everything I saw from that moment. I was hoping to finish the trail in 3h but it was more difficult and more painful than expected.

One oversight was the fact that it was warmer in the afternoon and there were little shades during the first half of the trail on the way down. Water was running low and the steep slope was taking a toll on the knees and ankles, especially on the part of the trail that had loose gravel or small rocks. Only the wooden plank trail was comfortable as I did not need to focus on where to step on and stabilize my ankles. I caught myself saying out loud "I hate rocks".

After a few hours coming down steps and rocks walking in the valleys on hanging bridges or river beds was a nice change of pace and rest the knees and thighs. Sometimes I had to sit down as my feet were shaking so much from the effort.Even climbing up from the valleys was welcome to use different muscles. I was still getting overtaken by the kids, rolling down the moutain at full speed, running with the music blasting from their backpacks.

The second half of the trail was under the shades of the tall trees, and had some geological, flora and fauna information posters near some viewpoints. After 3h going down from the summit I started to meet hikers on their way up, on their afternoon leisure hike. It gave me hope that the end of the trail would be close.

 As more teenagers overtook me, I heard them encourage each other saying that there was only 1-2km left until the end. I was glad I could count in Korean until 5 to be encouraged by that good news. Somehow going down the mountains did not lift my spirit as much as the hike up. It felt more like a desperate trip to get home by sunset. I did not take into account the fact that my body would be tired and exhausted after 5h hike, and had a difficult time to survive another 4h of physical effort. All my energy was focused on breathing, standing, staying focused on putting my foot on stable ground. Should a dangerous encounter had happened, I had no reflexes left to flee or react..

The trail finally ended on a huge parking lot, and there was a 711 across the stree. I took off my shoes and wore the flip flops again to air my smashed toes, and drank a bottle of chocolate milk and a fruit juice to get fluids and sugar in my system. There was a bus stop on each side of the road but they didn't seem to be any bus running that day, or maybe it was too late. The next bus stop was 40min walk away! There were 4-5 taxis near the 711 and they wanted 20000KRW for Jeju airport or 35000KRW for Seogwipo. I went to Jeju airport and took the counter clock limo for 5000KRW.

I arrived at the hotel for 18:00 and managed to get a sunset view of the Seogwipo bay, and pigged out from local food from the nearby restaurant : seafood, ramen, with no concern for what it was. Then I showered and crashed, somewhat planning for the next day. But my body was numb and only sleep could help.

Sunset at Jusangjeolli rocks (Jisatgae)

The path to the cliff area was in pretty sunset light and my photographs could not capture the fairy tale or magical light that surrounded me at that time.The small park that includes the sight was behind the Convention centre, accessible by a short Olle along the sea.

I was right on time and joined the other tens or maybe hundred of tourists (for 2000KRW) already on the platform setup to view the rocks. The big rectangular shaped rocks were impressively stacked to form the cliff, and the sea was splashing with white foam against the black rocks.

The sun was setting fast and I had to walk back to the main road to catch the bus to Seogwipo. I kept on walking hoping I was on the path of the bus/airport shuttle I took the day before. Taxi fare was 10000KRW and I had no idea how far I was and night was falling alarmingly fast.  Eventually as I was crossing a bridge a bus approached and I hailed it. It stopped and the driver let me in, but he grumbled something like " I'm not a cab". I pretended to understand nothing, paid my fare (2000KRW) and rode until Seogwipo safely.

The day finally ended beautifully, with 8600KRW spent on entrance tickets to the various attractions, and 10 000KRW spent on bus transportation. Food was relatively cheap since I barely ate all day. I spent some time picking up water, bananas and cookies, instant noodles and chocolate bar at the convenient store before sleeping in early, satisfied and anticipating the next day.

A quick visit at the Cheonjeyeon falls

Traveling from Jeju-si I was aiming to reach the Jungmun resort area and catch the sunset on the Jusangjeolli rocks. The bus drove across the island inside of taking a sea front route. We drove by many golf courses to finally get to a small town that indicated Jungmun. I wasn't sure where to alight for my destination and when asking the driver it seemed like I was close. So I alighted in the town of Jungmun, where I bought stamps for the postcards at the local post office, and walked in the estimated direction of the sea.

Eventually I ended up in a huge parking lot of Cheonjeyeon falls. The Olle I wanted to take, Jungmun Olle (part of route 9),  mentioned this attraction so I thought it proper to pay the entrance fee before following the path to the waterfalls. As I went down the big steps, I could hear the first waterfall and hurried down to see the wall of huge blocks of cubic rocks 

The legend mentions 7 nymphs coming down from heaven to bathe (because they must be filthy up there). In any case there was 2 other waterfalls downstream, and downhill. I was expected to hike the whole day the next day so decided to save myself from having to climb back up from the 3rd waterfall.

While exiting the waterfall area, I realized there was another path on the other side of the parking lot, leading to a nice walking path and a beautiful bridge overlooking the stream and the forest below. And it was leading me to where I needed to go, for free!

Along the way there was a great view of the forest and the gorge below, some well hidden villas, and the Jeju statues.

After much walking in quiet Olle, behind large hotels and passing by other walkers waiting for the bus, I eventually found the path leading to the sea by sunset, leaving behind the nymphs to bathe in their waterfall.

Wandering inside the lava tubes of Manjanggul

Because I left the sunrise peak around 10:30 with the counterclock bus, I was dropped off 1h later at an intersection 2.5km away from the lava tube complex. As I prepared myself to walk the distance, a taxi pulled up and offered to take me to the sight for 4000KRW. I was trying to save some time and hopped in. During the 5min ride he tried to sell me a tour of the island, packed with stuff that didn't really interest me. I refused it all. On the way he picked up 2 other passengers going the other directions!

I was however happy to get to the entrance of one impressive lava tube, since it made the UNESCO World Heritage list. The whole island was a giant natural world heritage site. I got to use my headlamp too! As much as it was pretty hot outside (around 25C), it was chilly and humid inside.There were not many people and bits of golden reflections could be seen in the rocks making up the walls. Walking through the various galleries dripping water was fun as everything echoed in the hollow tunnel. Taking pictures was a challenge in the dark.

I tried out different settings on the camera and got some seriously spooky effects.

I was seriously tempted to carve out a piece of that shiny gold. At the end of the gallery was a tall shootup of badly lit rock. The comment in English couldn't be started so I just took turn with the other 2 other ladies visiting to pose in front of it and snap some bad photos, while making chitchat in English.

Back outside shortly after 13:30 I was eager to warm up by walking back the 2.5km to the bus stop. Ironically, plenty of taxi offered the ride for 2000KRW or even for free! Along the way I passed by the giant maze promoted by the previous cab driver, plenty of rice paddies being dried out or full of flowers. There was also another closed lava tube (Gimnyeongsagul or snake cave).

The contrast of the green cultures, black lava rocks and blue sky was an inspiring countryside setting.

 There were a few farmers working their fields but all in all there seemed to be noone but 10 people in sight. I waited 5min for the bus with 2 other teenagers and was told to change at Jeju-si. Another hour later, I was a fish out of water in the bus terminal, watching people inside the terminal hall. It was tough trying to hear out the announcements for the destination or platform numbers but I eventually got into a bus from platform 9. I did ask the ticket counter several times which platform for Jungmun resort and the Jistgae rocks (I had to show the Korean name). The bus took us across the island this time, passing by some golf courses and farms.

A mini trek to Seongsan Ilchulbong, or Sunrise Peak

Although the recommended course is to trek the Sunrise Peak to check out the sunrise from high above, I was not in top form to wake up before dawn 2 days in a row. So on Tuesday morning, the alarm went off at 7:00am again and I had noone but myself to blame for wanting a full day. By 8:00am I was showered and dressed and trying to engage conversation with a different receptionist of the hotel to get some information on how to get to Seongsan Ilchulbong. It didn't help that he spoke very little English and that I could not pronounce the name witht eh right accent. Fortunately 2 other Malaysian young tourists were headed the same way and had a better pronunciation than myself. So the receptioninst managed to point out on the map where it was (with Korean characters) and where the bus terminal was so that we could catch a bus.

By 8:10am, the 3 of us walked uphill in the direction pointed out, passing by a convenient store where I topped up my T-Money finally and grabbed breakfast, orange juice, and a bottle of water. The 2 ladies were staying for 4 days in Jeju and were enjoying their 2nd day. They apparently went to the Jeju Loveland the day before and were kind of freaked up by the amount of couples wearing couple outfits there (no surprise there) as well as the displays as well. So they bought a couple tees...HAHAHA. They also walked through the Jungmun resort, the Teddy Bear museum, and the Ripley's Believe it or Not.

At the bus terminal I impressed the green couple tees Malaysian girls by speaking in Korean to buy the tickets (even understood the price!) and eventually revealed my secret weapon: the phrasebook. Another couple of ajhummas showed us the bus stop since it apparently didn't have a number and didn't depart from the bus terminal. Instead it had a bus stop along the road.  At 8:40am and right on time, the bus 600 showed up, debited my T-Money and drove around counterclockwise around the island. The same ajhummas walked us to the Seongsan Ilchulbong trail entrance an hour later.

The peak appeared against a backdrop of morning clouds, and flaked with a parking lot full of tourist coaches. For 9am I found the place a bit crowded.

I lost the 2 Malaysian girls while I was taking the entrance ticket.

There were hoards of tourists from China, Japan and children on school-trips.The procession of visitors appeared like an ant trail on the flank of the mountain. The path was paved and delimited with ropes, with beautiful green grass and the blue sea on the sides. I was dressed with long sleeves and walking shoes since I planned to hike anyway, but other visitors were in flip flops, breezy dresses flapping ridiculously in the wind, high heels, sandals. Some even carried their babies out of the strollers. As the path became steeper, the trail became a two way path: one side for going up and the other side to come down. It was really a head to butt procession. Stopping to turn around and take picture was an inconvenience and blocked the whole procession. The view was pretty though, with a pretty contrast of colour.

There were places where only one person could go through between rocks or at a sudden turn in the path. Even for experienced hikers, the climb took longer than 15min due to the crowd. At the top of the peak, the traill ends in a wooden terrace over the crater.

It was difficult to get the full circle 3/4 circle of the crater given the wide angle needed, but it was very pleasant to be dried by the strong wind and the whooshing of the long grass in the crater. There were more schoolchildren taking a rest and sitting on the stairs while a guide or a teacher were trying to lecture them on something lost in the wind.
After 15min trying to imprint the sight in memory and taking in the wind, sun and smell of the crater, it was time to trek back down, moved by the wave of people climbing down. It was impressive to see the landscape and the crowd below.

The path split to the right towards the black sand beach besides the peak. It was on that beach actually that they usually hold the show about the female divers that harvest abalone in apne. There was a little hut to rest and wash up and a great view of the sea and black rocks with their own weird wild fauna. While walking on the black sand, I found out there were all sorts of crawly things quickly moving everywhere so I was soon creeped out and climbed back to the wooden path.

Then it was time to continue on my tour of the island, after grabbing an onigiri and dried meat snack from the street vendors catering to tourists. I caught the same bus counterclockwise as soon as I arrived to the bus stop, and my volcanic rock day continued...

Sunset in Busan and landing on Jeju island

At Gimhae airport in Busan, I was early for my 19:00 flight so when I tried to check in, the check in clerk offered to put me on an earlier flight, which was mot welcome. I haven't taken a domestic flight since RDU-JFK in 2011 so was pleasantly surprised with the rapid check in a thorough security check I did not have time to explore the airport and boarded a huge Korean air plane which was very empty.

Outside, the ground staff was bidding farewell in unison as a sign of job well done and wishing us a good trip. It was the wave that really nailed it and made me appreciate their work and this symbol of team work.

The sunset was blindingly beautiful and I got to see a view of the end of the peninsula and the area of Busan in the sunset, with all the deltas and small islands nearby.

 After a short 1h flight, Jeju island appeared with a neat profile against the pink skies. I had my first look at my challenge: Hallasan, peaking at 1950m as the highest summit in South Korea.

It didn't look too impressive from the plane, but I was getting anxious about the logistics. For the time being, I was glad to be in less populous area (I thought so naively), and excited to explore the island. From the airport north of the island, I got the bus that got to Seogwipo, south of the island. The bus drove around from the west, dropping passengers at various resort, among which the Jungmun resort that had the Shilla hotel, the Hyatt, Lotte hotel, also the World Cup stadium, convention centre and finally Seogwipo by night fall. I looked for the hotel with the GPS as it was already dark and I was completely disoriented.

Eventually I passed by a chicken place and a convenient store and found the hotel in a quiet street. The reception was very efficient and didn't even ask me for ID but gave me my keys at the mention of my name. No welcome or sign of hospitality given. The room 205 was spacious and in serious need of A/C. There was an internet wifi router and a rather large bathroom with a separate shower. However there were only 4 hand towels. I was in no mood to speak to reception and argue, so took my shower and dried myself with the heat. Handwashed trekking pants and necessities dried out fast as well with the A/C. I needed a good rest before the next day and enjoyed a bit of local TV as well while studying a map of the island.