Jeju

Earlier this month, I went to Jeju for a few days with my sister, who also teaches ESL in Korea. We landed in Jeju city and went to a couple of museums there. We stayed in a hostel called "HK Korea", which I would recommend to anyone travelling on a budget. The next day we took the "Dong-il Ju" bus along the east side of the island and went to the lava tubes, which were pretty cool. Here are a couple photos:

This is a really cool waterfall in the theme of the lava pillar at the end of the cave. 

 These little guys are everywhere in Jeju. I think they are supposed to promote fertility.

 Going down...

 Inside the cave.

 No, it's not mud, it's lava rock!

 I know, this picture is a bit confusing. The camera is pointed at the ceiling.

No, it's not a choco pie, it's a lava raft!

After the lava tubes, we intended to go to a reconstruction of a folk village, but we ended up missing the stop. What we should have done was climb up the picaresque sunrise peak, a crater on the east coast. Sorry no photo! We eventually ended up in Sogwipo, on the south side of the island and stayed in another great hostel called "Backpacker's Home".  The next day we decided to hike the big mountain in the middle of the island: Hallasan. 

Here is a roe deer I caught nibbling some grass. 

 This is the last shelter before the top. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to hike to the top, because we arrived too late in the day (we got there at 1:30, and were half an hour late). So we had a snack and started back down. To make it to the top, you should arrive at the mountain no later than 10:00!

 We were able to check out this cool crater lake though...

 ...and this lookout point.

Even though we didn't make it to the top, we had been on the trail for over six hours by the time we got back to the bottom. The next day we decided to muck around Sogwipo for a bit and then check out Jungmun resort, where we went to a "Ripley's Believe it or Not" museum (not very Korean, but super fun), and a lame chocolate museum.

 This is from Odelgae in Sogwipo.

Kelsey. Somewhere at Jungmun resort. 

After that we pretty much just went back to Jeju City and took the ferry back in the morning. I think I could have spent another couple of days there. If I were to do it again, I would have rented a scooter, for the trip, which my friend Carl insists, you can do.