JeJu Island

Early start today. We have a 10 day rail pass which we activated today. The system they use here for their transport is simple so we found our way to Mokpo at the southern tip of South Korea to catch a ferry over to the jewel of Korean travel. The train trip was free of hawkers, graffiti, animals of any description, as usually occurs in other Asian countries no yelling people. That was the most placid train journey we have taken. The country towns are still building huge apartment complexes 25 stories and more, rows and rows. While it is not the best solution it means that they leave valuable farming land alone to feed the millions. They are at the similar stage as far as sustainability I think. Today we went to our first supermarket..no bags for us to carry our goods. That’s great. Next, the ferry. Once we found the terminal we found that due to the typhoon the previous day there would be no ferry but to try the smaller fast ferry. .. aptly named the Pink Dolphin. It was all go, slightly more expensive but we were to cross in three hours to JeJu Island. The ferry was very small about third the size of KI ferry. It sure was a rock and rolling affair. We were amongst a handful of people not to throw up. I must admit it was good to see the island coming in to view after 4 hours.We saw our first English speaking tourists from Canada. Tourism mostly consists of Japanese and Chinese who come to South Korea to fish and golf and also to see the girls…or so it says in the guide books. The hotels are geared up for it though with condom vending machines..hotels named Love and Romance hire for one hour etc etc. It is a huge honeymoon spot so it is geared for that as well. It is great travelling off peak. The good hotels are the same price as hostels and have everything supplied and they are only W30,000 =$30. Seafood restaurants galore obviously because we were on an Island. It is very cheap. Raw fish dishes along with main meal and all the extras were W12,000=$12 for both of us. We are finding it about half of what we budgeted for… so kids a bit more of your inheritance is spared. We were shown around the island by friends of friends of Shon. How great are these people it certainly has made life easier here. Kim and Joe and their 4 year old dropped everything to take us around half the island to Seogwipo stopping at various special landmarks. It was one of those great days that you have unexpectedly. Seat belts are not a priority here. The lad would not sit in the back so she put him on her lap in the front.. no seatbelt hmm. They don’t have to use them in the back at all. Kim and Joe offered to take our luggage back to Je Ju city so we took the bare essentials to free us up to do some hiking. We caught a local bus to Mt Halla-san to see the autumn colours and sat people watching and enjoying the serenity. We had some food with us and had a picnic at the base of the mountain Korean style. No seagulls to join us only crows and pigeons. The crows were huge with huge beaks. No flies either just big beetles like lady bugs but bigger. They were flying around there and at The DMZ site. Never seen anything like it. The drive through to Je Ju city was wonderful the driver being very careful with his cargo of people..no CHICKEN BUSES here. Off to catch the ferry over night to Busan. Kim and Joe dropped off the backpacks before we went. We were grateful for that. It certainly freed us up. The ferry trip is 11 hours hopefully it is not as bumpy as we are sleeping in a room with 8 strangers. We will see. A huge thankyou to Kim and Joe for their generosity of time and their great English.