Due to the disappointment of the day before, I was really eager for a happy and pleasant trip the next day. In order to make the most of the day, I got up at 5:30 a.m. and checked out the itinerary for that day. Even though I felt quite tired on account of lack of sleep from the day before, as the old adage goes, it's true that "The early bird catches the worm."
Because it was the early morning, there were not any open restaurants. Besides, to make matters worse, the lodging I stayed at didn't serve breakfast.
Thankfully, however, there was a gimbap restaurant nearby and I ordered two gimbaps for a simple breakfast(tuna gimbap, cheese gimbap). Those were good enough to stave off hunger and I didn't have any complaints due to the price.
COST
7,000 won (tuna, cheese)
RATING
3.8 / 5.0
PROS and CONS
Pros - reasonable prices, tasty enough, open in the early morning
Cons - nothing in particular
I headed for 송악산 (Mt. Song-ak-san). Song-ak-san Mountain is located in southern Jeju. It was quite far from the lodging, I had to drive long all the way there.
According to the weather forecast, it was not supposed to be raining. However, it was extremely foggy and cloudy while driving. It's a shame that I didn't take pictures of the sight. I couldn't see anything about 70 metres forwards from my car. I had to turn on the emergency lights and pull my all nerves together to focus on driving.
My heart was throbbing and my hands got a bit sweaty. I firmly grabbed the wheel.
After a tedious, thrilling drive, I safely ended up at Song-ak-san Mountain.
1. 송악산 (Song-ak-san Mountain)
Once I arrived, the vast ocean and grey sky greeted us. However, the combined view of the sea and the mountain was absolutely beautiful.
Song-ak-san Mountain has a sad history. It was used as a military fortress of Japan during the Japanese colonial era. Lots of Jeju's people were commandeered by the Japanese in order to construct the fortress. As a result, it has been preserved as a historic asset as a testament to the commandeered people's agony.
There was a tourist course, Dark Tourism, through which you can explore the remains of the Japanese military bases. Also, one of the Korean TV dramas, Dae-jang-geum(known as "Jewel in the Palace"), was filmed at the beach of Song-ak-san Mountain.
In the mist, I walked along the trekking path.
The trekking path along the edge of the cliff was very well-made. I could enjoy the beautiful scenery and vibes while walking.
One of its impressive things was the released ponies. Jeju is famous for its peculiar ponies and it was interesting to see the ponies released on the mountain. They only concentrated on eating and didn't react to my hailing.
Everything was really nice except the bloody gust.
Jeju is well-known for the three things; winds, rocks, women. Out of those three, the bloody gust harassed us. I had to hold my cap in order not to have it blown away.
COST
Free
RATING
4.7 / 5.0
PROS and CONS
Pros - Beautiful scenery, easy for trekking, historical.
Cons - bloody wind
2. 오설록 티 뮤지엄 (Osulloc Tea Museum)
What comes to your mind, when you think of Jeju?
Out of many things, Jeju's green tea always comes to my mind. Due to the Jeju's hot and humid climate, and sea breeze, Jeju has become one of the best regions for green tea production - Bosung and Hadong are other prime regions for green tea production in South Korea.
Among all of the Korean tea brands, Jeju's tea brand, Osulloc(오설록) has been very trendy and popular with people as I mentioned it on another blog post about Insadong(인사동).
The headquarters was located in Jeju so I wanted to visit it. It was a vital part of my itinerary because I like tea.
Although the name represents a 'tea museum', it's more like a big cafe with beautiful gardens, a tea shop, a cosmetic shop, and large tea fields.
Its specialty is green tea they reap on their own in Jeju. It offers free tasting service so you can try before ordering drinks. Besides that, there are various and interesting goods and teas in the cafe so you can buy some as souvenirs.
The brand, Osulloc, is one of the subsidiaries in the conglomerate, Amore Pacific, which has a well-known skincare brand, Innisfree. By the tea museum, Innisfree Jeju House sells Jeju's special goods to visitors and offers special discounts for some products. So if you are interested in K-cosmetic(skincare) products, you won't want to miss it.
ADMISSION
Free
PRICE
20,800 won
(Greentea iced late + Greentea roll cake + Samdayeon Jeju Tangerine tea)
RATING
4.5 / 5.0
PROS and CONS
Pros - Deep and great flavour of greentea, beautiful photo spots.
Cons - Not tranquil due to many visitors.
3. 춘미향 (Choon-mi-hyang Restaurant)
After having some time at Osulloc Tea Museum, I headed to Choon-mi-hyang Restaurant for lunch.
I was starving!
This restaurant serves a special lunch set, which includes some portk, fried fish and side dishes for 8,000 won per helping. The amount of the dish is limited so you should hurry a bit not to miss it. I recommend you visit it at about 11:50 a.m.
The served part of pork was not special but was still good. The only thing I felt a bit sad about was the small amount of pork. Except that, you get served fried fish with special sauce, various side dishes, so you will be satisfied.
It's located near Sanbangsan Mountain and Yongmeori Beach. It's only about a 3-min drive from the restaurant. After lunch, you can restart your tour from there.
PRICE
8,000 won / helping
(고기정식, Go-gi-jeong-sik)
RATING
4.0 / 5.0
PROS and CONS
Pros - Reasonable price for lunch, tasty, various side dishes.
Cons - Not enough food.
LOCATION
382, Sanbang-ro, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
To be continued in the next post...
WORDS BY
Minsu Kim - koreaonthescreen@gmail.com
PHOTOS BY
Minsu Kim - koreaonthescreen@gmail.com
PROOFREAD BY
Gabriela Enriquez
koreaonthescreen
SHUTTER STOCK
'Travel to Korea > Jeju 제주' 카테고리의 다른 글
| A summer holiday to the beautiful island - Day 3. (part 2/2) (0) | 2020.12.24 |
|---|---|
| A summer holiday to the beautiful island - Day 3. (part 1/2) (0) | 2020.12.14 |
| A summer holiday to the beautiful island - Day 2. (part 2/2) (0) | 2020.12.06 |
| A summer holiday to the beautiful island - Day 1. (part 2/2) (0) | 2020.08.08 |
| A summer holiday to the beautiful island - Day 1. (part 1/2) (0) | 2020.07.13 |
