Korean Adventure: 8

Jeju Island: Last rendezvous

Jeju Island or Jeju-do as it is called by Koreans was going to be my last rendezvous with Korean Adventure. Situated in South- West seas of Korea, it’s a very big island, almost two and half times bigger than Singapore. In fact if it decides it can be an island state separate from Korea.

What Lonavala-Khandala is to Pune-Mumbaikars Jeju is to residents of Seoul-Busan or Korea in general. It’s a playground, watering hole [like what Alibag is to Mumbaikars], recreation center, vacation resort in short ‘Time-Pass’ for the normal Korean. I was surprised to see the number of Golf kits being collected from the conveyor belt after landing down on Jeju air port.

My first jolt of Jeju was the distance to the hotel, Ocean Palace my abode in Jeju from the airport. It was whooping around 32 km. It’s like you alight at CS-MT and you have to go to Borivali by Taxi because any other mode of transport is not available. She was polite moderately English speaking taxi driver driving her ‘Kia’ with elegance. No over speeding, no lane cutting, no abrupt brakes, no rash driving. May be fines are very stiff!

It took practically 1.45 to 2 hours to reach Ocean Palace hotel in Seogwipo. The taxi meter was running as if it had to complete 100 meters sprint in shortest time. I ended up paying more than K won 55000/- almost the fare I paid for Busan-Jeju flight, Rs 3000/- or more!

I then realized that in fact Jeju has many in-habitations scattered all over Jeju Island and Seogwipo was one of them, on the southern coast while the Jeju-si the capital of Jeju is on the northern coast where all the tourist activity is. Conducted tours start from the air port parking lot at around 9.30 AM. So catch them I would have to start at 5 AM at the most 5.30 AM. It would have been difficult to reach before 9.30 AM as buses don't ply at those unearthly hours.So taxi was must. If one way was going to cost K won 55000 ,for three days to and fro it would have been well over 3 lacs. Absolutely loathsome proposition.

That's how it was a mistake to book Ocean Palace. Any hotel nearer airport would have been a better choice.

I dare not call them villages because every locality had/has high rises, posh bungalows, shops of franchises, huge golf courses and all the amenities that normally are seen in developed communities, like up market salons along with Nail parlors! Nail parlor is extremely happening thing for Korean women. When I stayed in Incheon on the last leg of my Korean adventure I saw a complete section of underground super-market devoted to Nail Art!

Ocean Palace was so so hotel and did not have ‘Japanese Toilet’, my loss!

I had bought Soju before but did not dare to open it so far, as I was apprehensive about the level of  its ‘High’ effect, so I bought Kimbap and Korean rice wine [its mild], Makgeolli from 7-11 on the first floor[Korean]. Kimbap is a rice roll with some meat, mostly pork or fish with Kim-chi or some vegetables and some sauces rolled in Nori, a paper made from sea weed. It tastes very good till the time it’s warm but as it gets colder the typical ocean water smell may make one not to go further. Rice wine was really good, sweetish in taste with that typical flavor of rice fermentation one gets while making south Indian/Konkani recipes. I may tell in advance that I did not know that it has to be shaken before consumption[Instructions must be there on bottle, but of course in Korean] so on first two evenings I drank clear rice wine while on the last day the sediments tasted like thick sweet Rice porridge [Kheer!].

Next day morning I had decided to explore south Jeju as it was nearby.

Jeongbang Pokpo, was the first one. Pokpo means waterfall in Korean. I went on walking along the sea coast and early morning crisp fresh air literally hit me. By this time I had developed a big sore on the Tendo Achilles by shoe bite even after applying two band-aids and Elastoplast! Before buying the shoes,

I had checked the pressure points, i.e., toes and heels, it was very comfortable there. But continuous walk resulted in giving me a shoe bite at unforeseen site. Luckily Shubha had forced me to take sandals and they came handy. After wearing those with socks chill factor became zero! Sandals made my walk pleasurable. Really!

Fall’s claim to the fame is that, it’s the only waterfall in Asia that falls directly into the ocean. It’s hidden behind rocky cliffs and becomes apparent only when you go nearer. A school trip, mainly boys, was there and I realized Korean boys too get pimples in their adolescence. The clear skin thereafter might be work of Dermatologist and Plastic Surgeon together! Out of the lot many bowed to me, I was told it’s Korean tradition to show respect to the elders. I was though not overwhelmed [as I was partly aware of it] but was moved because such respect from strangers, absolute strangers was adorable though not unexpected!

The next stop, again a fall was on the other end of south. Cheonjiyeon Pokpo. Bus ride was must. I got down on the stop but no fall in the vicinity. Not even stream, rivulet or water flow in any kind. Some dense woods on Left but no sign of water fall or river.  There was Orange juice stall on the corner. The farmer/owner had the orchard of oranges just next to his stall. So orange juice was going to be really farm fresh. Had a glass and really felt revived.

Unfortunately the directions given by the farmer though were correct I landed up on the top of fall, from where I could very well see the fall but not the base. Nobody knew exactly how to climb down to reach the base. Met a Phirang who too was in the same boat. He said, ‘This road might lead to, but I am not sure’. Again back to square one.

Going up and down on the trails, asking shop attendants on the way I must have walked about 4-5 km around the top but no way to base. Ultimately I decided to depend on my logic for directions and viola within next 10 minutes I was on the right path. I could see the lagoon, tour buses parked around, shops vending to tourists. And I felt like shouting ‘Eureka!’

Human civilization is incomplete without tribals and at the entrance of the fall we see many tribal figures, some of them worshiped with flowers and incense sticks. It looked like a scene directly taken from South America, Machu Pichhu to be precise.

Cheonjiyeon Pokpo, fall is in three levels. Every fall ending in a beautiful pool below which is abode to many ducks, herons and other birds. Garden-scaping has given beautiful look to the falls and it would be nice to spend your time in absolute tranquility, except it’s always thronged by the tourists! Here I met two Indian youths from Bangalore for the first time in my entire South Korean Sojourn!

At the food stall where I bought my tit-bit lunch, I saw something peculiar being cooked in the wok. On closer look it turned out to be some insects with their eggs and pupa. I just turned around to hide ‘Yuk’ look on my face!

The assistant at the information Kiosk was not only efficient in English but helped me to chart out my next day’s agenda to the last T. I thanked her profusely and returned to my hotel.

I realized next day why it is difficult to cover entire Jeju in one go. My first stop on the day next was one and half hours far away. Bus ride was like cross country marathon, from one establishment to other, I lost the count when I reached the eastern tip of Jeju to visit Seong-San Ilchulbong volcanic crater. Seong-San a locality while Ilchulbong the crater!

It is UNESCO heritage site. Unfortunately hike up to the rim of crater was not allowed when I visited. Ringed by the rugged, jagged rocks, it’s said there is no water inside as the rock is porous. The peak is archetypal tuff cone formed by hydro volcanic eruptions and other blah blah from the pamphlet. For me it was scenic picturesque view absolutely capturing the mind by its rustic beauty. The crater on its other side directly descends into a lagoon where the rocks did show the layers of multiple volcanic eruptions.

I always like/liked to paint meadows with fences and here it was entire treasure opened for me by Mother Nature!

Climbed down to the base of crater where Haenyeo, traditional Female divers had displayed their catch for the sale. The kitchen was just behind to have you served the dishes after cooked accordingly. I had heard of ‘Abalone’ porridge so was eager to try it. But when I saw live Abalone making absolutely repulsive motions in its shell I dropped the idea the very moment! It also had other ‘Sea Food’ like Sea Cucumbers, red in color, oysters in different shapes and colors, conch shells and other sea creatures. To call them ‘Food’ was beyond my Puneri Brahmnical upbringing!

The weather was so good that I could not help to be in my favorite Mumbai attire, sleeveless T, the next moment!

And if you don’t make most of it how can you be called Korean couple in love? They were such lovey dovey I could not help but to ask them to pose for me and they willingly did!

Next stop, Manjanggul Caves was on the same bus route in continuation. While appreciating the rustic beauty of Jeju sans any human habitation I missed my bus stop. Walked back to ‘T’ point to Manjanggul caves. By that time I was so used to walking, so 300-400 meters of walk seemed like nothing. But worse was waiting for me at the bifurcation ‘T’ point. I missed the connecting bus to Manjanggul caves only by few minutes. So another walk of 3 and 4 kms! On the entire stretch of 4 kms I did not see anything moving, in human form! I made the thumb sign of hitch hiking for 3 or 4 cars those passed by but the country that has accepted everything American as their own lifestyle, Hitch Hiking seemed to be outrageous, and no one stopped. Huffing and puffing but not excessively tired I reached the caves because weather was really pleasant!

These are the caves formed when Lava flew down leaving the open space behind. All the entrances are not open for public but the one that’s open gives you enough idea about the other ones. I had already visited two or three such caves before, one in Malaysia and one in Nepal so it was not much of novelty for me. I think one in Meghalaya [Mawsmai] was much better. But this one was quite spacious like subway/metro tunnel and the tale-tell signs of it being created by volcanic eruptions and lava can be seen on the walls, ceiling and floor. The temp was very low and after walking down for half a kilometer or so feet said, enough so I returned back to have yummy fried dumplings in the Korean restaurant on the premises. The side dishes were yummier than the main dish, really! I could not make out what it was made of but the soup was out of this world!

As I said earlier the distances in Jeju are deadly, it took me three and half hours to reach my hotel in Seogwipo from Manjanggul Caves. By that time it was almost mid evening! May be I could have reached Pune from my home in Ghatkopar in that time!

Last day in Jeju too was memorable. This time I visited a Buddhist temple on Western Coast, Sanbanggul Temple. The location of the temple was amazing. It was/is built on the slopes of Steep Mountain, Sangban -San which with a narrow strip of land in between ,directly ends in the sea and you can see the entire play of topography in one eye-sight. The rains played hide and seek for some time but within minutes ‘All was Clear’! It’s a mixture of two cultures or so it seems because along with Buddha statues you also can see the statues of tribal deities side by side. For the photographer in me there were various spots those really were worth the visit. Lot of spots with ‘Beauty in Symmetry!’

The not far away sea with an island too was worth thousand photos.

While coming back I was doubtful about the balance on my T money card, so went on searching for convenience store and ATM. None was to be found in the vicinity. On the contrary a lady shopper under the pretext of checking whether I can withdraw cash on my HSBC card swiped it and I was charged Kwon 1000 for nothing! I lodged the complaint with HSBC but it went on deaf ears. Unlike in India vendor abroad does not ask for your PIN but as soon as the card is swiped it gets automatically read! So bank said the transaction was with Reading of PIN so we cannot do anything!

Luckily my card had enough balance to reach Seogwipo but not more. So for fear of exhausting the existing balance I had to drop the idea to visit ‘Sex Museum’ which was on the way.

 I soon as got down from the bus I tried to withdraw cash from the Korean bank’s ATMs. All my cards were rejected and I was again a rich pauper! I don’t know how but the driver of the connecting bus understood my predicament and allowed me to travel for free. May be because it was two stops only!

In the evening I visited local market and it was experience beyond words! Absolutely incomprehensible! A simple market like Mandai in Pune or Crawford market in Mumbai. Only glaring difference was cleanliness!  It has shops, shops and shops. Selling everything from ‘Pin to Piano’ but food stalls superseded every other one. Jeju Oranges are famous in Korea like Nagpur oranges in India, so there was ‘N’ number of stalls selling them. Plus it’s a good market for all kinds of fish, raw as well as prepared. Many families were enjoining their evening grub with delight.It looked as if entire Seogwipo was out to dine at Seogwipo Maeil Olle market.

My flight back to Seoul was in the early morning so I was apprehensive about getting the taxi at those unearthly hours. As a precaution I had booked the taxi with hotel in advance which came dot on time and even in the thundering heavy rains I reached the airport 32 km away in time to catch the flight to Gimpo Seoul!