Walking around windswept streets, we eventually found the local market which was vibrantly coloured with the local speciality - oranges. Everywhere you looked the volcanic nature of the island was evident - black paving slabs and rock walls bubbled with air from aeons ago. We walked along an empty seafront, planes going over our heads every five minutes. There was a ridiculous number of flights landing, possibly a result of the ferry disaster a few years ago. We arrived at Yongduam rock, which is shaped like a dragon. The sun was beginning to set so we caught that magical golden hour. Our long walk home took us through tree lined neighbourhoods with quaint little stores. We dined just round the corner from our hotel, eating fried squid with a ridiculous amount of garlic.
We had two nights on Jeju, and a better sleep made me feel more human again. We hopped on a bus to the east of the island to get on a boat to Udo, a tiny island just off the coast. We ended up walking around the entire thing, which felt like an achievement even if it was only around 5km. The island’s port offered hundreds of bikes, mopeds and electric buggies to hire. The locals must hate them, they were a menace. The walk was beautiful though, taking in a lighthouse, a black sand beach and some crystal blue waters. I ended up deceptively sunburnt.
Back on Jeju, we headed towards Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak. From a distance it loomed over you like something from prehistory. So with the Jurassic Park theme in my head, we moved closer to then find the inevitable car park with coach loads of screaming school children and selfie stick tourists. As far as peaks go, this was far easier to climb than the heights we had conquered recently, so we happily overtook wheezing locals and got a good view from the top, especially of little Udo that we had just circled. On the bus back I saw a monk with a smartphone, which was interesting. Dinner was near the hotel again, this time at a swish chain version of the BBQ-it-yourself restaurant. Not feeling too dead, we explored for a drink. The first place was a dive karaoke bar that was thankfully silent, and then we went to an Irish bar that was playing hip hop and basketball.
Up until the next day, the embedded calendar app on my phone had just listed the days containing Holiday, Holiday, Holiday. Then, for the first time, our flight home appeared on the horizon. This was the beginning of the end. It began with aching sunburn (when will I learn?) and a bus to the airport. I consumed some “crisps” that was more like eating a bag of honey nut cornflakes, not that I was complaining. It was was possibly the shortest flight I’ve been on - 30 minutes after takeoff we landed in Gwangju and went to the airport subway, which was completely devoid of life. Heading for the station, we took a KTX train (older than SRT but still better than anything in the UK) to Iksan, and local train to our destination of Jeonju. Like the roads, the railways seemed to be mostly bridges and tunnels.
Jeonju is an UNESCO city of gastronomy - basically it’s right good at food, like. Unfortunately it was also starting to rain. We saw several prominent and touching tributes to the 2015 ferry disaster, not realising that it was the second anniversary the previous week. Rain persisting, we walked around another recreated Hanok village. It was very nice, but perhaps it was the persistent drizzle adding to my fatigue and making me feel that we’d seen this kind of thing already. Giving up, it was back to the hotel to dry out.
An hour or so later, we more or less retraced our steps in the dry, making our way to Hankookjib which has a Michelin recommendation for its bibimbap (a bowl full of rice, meat and vegetables). Ordering the heated bowl version, I was informed by one of the staff that scraping the dried rice off the bottom of the bowl at the end is a delicacy and also “the best bit”. It was washed down with a local take on makgeolli which is brewed with cinnamon and other spices and was delicious beyond description. Wandering around the Hanok village at night, we found a dessert cafe and finally got to order Sulbing, another speciality - ice cream, shaved ice, biscuit and cocoa. We had eaten well that day, incredibly satisfying. We finished the night by visiting the beautiful light displays at the traditional arts centre. What started as an average, tired and grumpy day turned into something spectacular.
The volcanic under floor heating and some fucking noisy neighbours meant not much sleep. To add to the first world frustrations, this hotel tapped into a public wifi network as opposed to having its own dedicated service. We all know that slow wifi is somehow worse than no wifi. It was good to leave that behind, we attempted an early start again to make the most of our day ahead. I somehow managed to have a currywurst at the train station. Our first destination was Suwon, a city further north almost swallowed up by Seoul. It had its own ancient walls and temples, but the fatigued “seen this already” feeling was continuing to drag me down. So a visit to Mr Toilet House was in order - literally a house shaped like a toilet, founded by a man acclaimed for promoting sanitation in public conveniences. It was definitely something different.
We were then back on the familiar Seoul metro, heading for the same hotel we stayed in at the start of the trip. They remembered us! But they can’t get that many Swedish guys with their ginger giraffe companions through the doors. A rammed rush hour metro took us back out to Incheon, this time visiting the place rather than the airport. We walked through Chinatown and found a restaurant recommended in one of the guides. We stood silently and politely in the foyer while no one came to seat us. Eventually we just went ahead and sat down. Finally we were experiencing the shoes off low table thing. The room was surrounded by a fish tank and fountains, occasionally the fish gathered in gangs to stare at you. After translating the menu with a phone app, we ordered the “soy sauce set menu” that gave us at least a dozen dishes to get through. A short walk through a park lit up cherry blossoms put us back on the metro into the city, as we had an early start tomorrow.
Korea Blogs: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
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