Jeju Island, South Korea: 27 - 29 September, 2009

One hours flight from Busan lies the ‘honeymoon’ island of Jeju (or Cjeju), a volcanic wonderland rich with stunning natural beauty. Unfortunately, as with Busan, the Island has succumbed to some seriously poor design and architectural choices as hotels seem to have been erected without care for the surroundings. As I arrived late in the afternoon I jumped in a (expensive) taxi and travelled from Seogwipo across the island to the famous lava caves, supposedly the largest network of volcanic tubes in the world. The taxi ride itself was an experience as the driver chewed on his gum as if he had a speakerphone in his mouth while overtaking around blind corners and frequently driving on the wrong side of the road at ridiculous speeds. I managed to get to the caves unharmed where only 1km is open to the public due to the frequency of collapses in the rest of the network. The cave itself varies in size from 23m high to 2m at its shortest and at the end of the walk stands the largest volcanic pillar in the world at a towering 24ft high. While the caves are dark, dingy and wet, they are stunning at the same time. The sheer force required to carve through the rock makes you truly appreciate the ferocity of the natural world, and to think that theses caves were created more than 300,000 years ago during a time when the human race was still in its very infancy.

While on Jeju I also visited the impressive waterfall complex, one of which is the only waterfall in Asia to fall directly into the sea. The waterfalls, although not large, are still mesmerising to watch as the water tumbles over the volcanic rock into a deep blue pool which washes straight into the sea. I had intended to climb up Mt. Halla but I didn’t have the time, nor the energy if I’m honest. Instead I decided to mosey on down to the harbour for some snap. As I embarked on my journey I was chased by the owner of the hostel I was staying in, Kevin, who said he had something to show me. He informed me that today was the opening of a new bridge which connected the main island to ‘bird’ island and there would be thousands of locals at the ceremony. We wandered down and sat on the seafront, chatting away about football and how much Koreans dislike Lee Chun Soo because of his ‘sneaky ways’ (good job Dave). There was a brief fireworks display and then I became the first Westerner to use the newly built bridge and step onto bird island! The walk itself is brief and too dark by night, but I imagine it is better in the day. The bridge itself is rather impressive, with light projected on the main segment in different colours giving it the image of a luminous sail standing tall in the middle of the sea.

Kevin then invited me for a ‘quick’ drink at a local Korean pub where we sat discussing a number of things including politics, religion, education, business and marketing while chewing on some kimchi (cabbage and chilli). One drink turned into 5 or 6 and by the end of the night I was more inebriated than I had ever been in my entire life. I proceeded to vomit as soon as I got back to my room, some of which was almost an exact recreation of Mat’s centurion effort which went all down the wall. Having to get up at 5:30 did not help the situation and I felt like I was about to die when my alarm went off. I hurriedly grabbed a shower and packed my things, leaving behind traces of dried kimchi and rice in the cracks of the floor. Nice.