So beautiful!

how many people do you see on this rock

 I arrived in Jeju on Friday evening, took a bus to the guest house, found my room.  It was a dormitory room with two bunk beds, small lockers for money and stuff, a little refrigerator, a bathroom to share and an a/c unit at the foot of my bed.  LOL

Anyway, the girl on the top bunk across from me spoke a little English and was really nice.  She was getting up early on Saturday to hike Mt. Halla, so we both turned in around 10 pm.  At 2 am, the ladies occupying the lower bunk beds came in.  The one girl must have had about 300 zippers on her bags...zip zip, zip zip, zip zip, then crinkle crinkle, crinkle crinkle...I think they had some clothes wrapped in cellophane.  Then they were opening and closing the doors.  Oy!  They made so much noise.  When they finally got into bed, I was relieved, until one of the girls started using her Blackberry...click click, click click, click click.  Then at 6 am, they both got up, turned on the lights (yikes...not only was the a/c at the foot of my bed, but the light was about a foot from my head).  So...I woke up...they proceeded to get dressed, making lots of noise, so I was trying to be nice and said good morning (in English).  I got a dirty look...and no response at all.  So I just turned on my computer to do e-mail.  I did mutter "you are very noisy" in English, again no response. 

Saturday after the noisy folks left, I went downstairs and got toast, made scrambled eggs, had some coffee.  Met two people who were going on the tour with me.  One guy, Kai, from Germany and one girl, Maz, from Orange County, CA.  Both were nice, although Maz was intense.

There were 7 of us on the tour...we went several really beautiful places.  Our tour inclued: Hallim Park (included botanical gardens and a folk village), O'Sulloc Tea Museum, Jusangjeoli Rocks (formed from the volcanoes), Yakcheonsa--the largest temple in Asia, OeDolGae (rocks that are suppose to look like a grandma), and  Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls.  We also stopped for lunch along the way...see the picture of the gi-normous hamburger.  Three of us shared it and couldn't finish it.  Our guide also took us to this little "Do It Yourself" Coffee Shop.  You make your own tea, coffee, hot chocolate or juice, wash your own dishes, and leave money in a box...all on the honor system.  Think that would work in the U.S.?

When I got back to the guest house, I met my roommate and we went to dinner.  I got some yummy gogi guksu (beef noodle soup).  Delicious.

Sunday, I visited Hongik Child Welfare Center, took them the towels, soap, socks, etc.  They were very grateful.  I was told there are about 150 children at this facility.  It broke my heart to see so many older children with no families.  From there I went too Wolji-ri, as I was told it was a beautiful beach, and indeed it was.  Smooth white sand dotted with black lava rocks.  Apparently, this area is the end of one of the lava tubes...it looks like it was left there recently, but I know the lava is very old.   There was also a little coffee shop at the end of the beach.  I was told it was run by two sisters...so I stopped there for a hot chocolate.  The ladies there were so nice, and I met an "artist" who spoke English.  We had a nice visit...and before I left, they gave me a "sweetie" (that's what they call candies, cookies, etc.) for the road.  How nice.

I took a cab over to the Haeyon Museum.  Haeyon means water woman...the women divers that Jeju is known for.  They dive for everything...fish, oysters, abalone, seaweed...everything.  I even read where a European woman who also dives started bringing up garbage from the ocean floor.  People laughed at her at first, but then it started catching on...and it helps the sea beds thrive. They mostly free dive and have been doing this for many years.  The museum is small, but I got some great pictures.

After that I took a cab to the airport and knew immediately something was up because it was packed...long lines of people everywhere.  I got into a line and learned that the flights had been canceled because of fog...check back in 90 minutes.  I checked back and no flights were going out.  I called around and found a guest house for 20,000 won (less than $20 a night) and they came and picked me up at the airport.  It's right on the water, at the end of a runway...but it's a little rough.  Only one night, I can do it.  There is a picture above from the little porch on my room.  Before it got dark I walked quite a ways to see the area.  Lots of waterfront parks, beautiful lava rocks and people fishing from them, families out for a walk, couples strolling, even though it was misty and foggy.  The one picture above is called "dragon's head rock."  If guess if you look at it long enough it will start to look like a dragon's head. 

Back to the guest house I chatted with some guests from France and England...lots from Korea.  Some spoke English, some did not.  All of the women, bar one, in my room were so noisy.  Arrrgh.  I'll be glad to be back to my homestay soon (hopefully).

Sunday morning I got up early and headed for the airport in hopes that I could get an early flight out.  No such luck.  So I cabbed it to a nearby place to get my nails done...the lady at the Information Desk told me that's where she goes.  Then back to the airport, checked in, flight was on time.  Got a bowl of udon noodles while I waited at a little snack bar...it was SUPER busy.  When I went to my gate, I didn't see my flight listed, so I checked with them and they said it had been moved to a different gate (glad I checked).  I also checked about a seat a little closer to the front...he was clicking away and then handed me a new boarding pass for seat 1A!  Wow...if this had only been for my flight back to San Fran!

Got back to my homestay after 4 pm...had dinner with them, watched the first half of the Portugal v. North Korea game...and fell asleep.  I was soooo tired.  Slept all night, didn't even wake up.

Today is Tuesday and I have my language exchange.  She is going to show me how to cook japchae (noodles with veggies).  It will be my last language exchange.