Jeju Island Adventures

This week I took two days off in order to explore the beautiful island of Jeju in South Korea. 

I had heard and seen much of this island on Korean dramas, and everyone from Korea told me I need to go there. It was worth it :)

The first place I went to was Yongduam Rock ( Or dragon head rock) when I arrived in the afternoon. It was a scenic walk along the coast, near a touristy part of the city of Jeju. 

The walk itself was beautiful, and many Cherry Blossom trees were stil in tact. There was a bridge on the way to Yongduam with a trail around it, so I decided to walk around there and take a lot of pictures. The water is so blue!

Yongduam Rock was not as crowded as I had expected, and there were little snack stands selling Jeju oranges and Hallabong. These fruits were delicious, and they were very cheap. 

The rocky coast was a sight to see, and many people were fishing, selling things and walking around. 

After Yongduam I still had time to sightsee, so I decided to go to one of the many museums they had. I had wanted to go to the Psyche Musuem, but it was closed. I found out about a Greek Mythology musuem near it, and decided to take the bus there. 

Jeju is a big island, bigger than you would expect. They have cross country buses that take you around the island for a metro ticket price. I took one of those buses to the Greek Mythology Museum, which was close to a horse park, and a golf course. 

The museum itself was deserted, but it was a very nice and detailed attraction. There were statues everywhere, and the information was in Korean and English. 

They had a cool room dedicated to the Zodiac. 

And some of the areas were Optical luusions, like this room with Medusa. 

My favorite part was the garden where they explained the Greek love stories, including my favorite story, and the orgin of Beauty ad the Beast, Eros and Psyche.

After the tour, they had a gift shop with some cool merchandise.

It was getting late, so I headed back to the hostel, and prepared for my first full day at Jeju. 

But, the next day did not go as planned. 

My goal was to go to the Teddy Bear Musuem, another famous area that is featured in Korean dramas. I did get there and I met three girls from China, who were just as excited as I was. 

We took so many pictures, and it was a really fun museum. 

They also had famous works of art recreated in bear form: 

You could take pictures with really big bears.

I also found the Goong display, which brought back so many memories :) This was my first Korean Drama, and it is still well known in South Korea. 

After the Teddy Bear Musuem, I headed out to see the waterfalls around the area. And I went to visit the Tourist Center for information. Everything was fine until I used the sliding glass door, and dislocated a joint. Naturally, I panicked, and they drove me to an urgent care, where a doctor popped by joint back in place, and the manager of the tour center insisted on paying for the bill. I felt bad, but he would not back down. In the end, he payed for the bill, and he even drove me to the water fall I wanted to see. 

The Cheonjeyeon falls were beautiful, and they carry a legend. According to the mythology of the island, this is where the gods would bathe, and the waters had special healing powers. Seven celestial maidens  came here and they granted the waterfall this power. 

The cloud bridge was built in honor of the celestial maidens, and people come here for well wishes and prayers for good health. (the perfect place to go after my finger broke!)

The hike was lovely. 

Afterword, I wasn't ready to go back just yet, so I decided to go to the Yeomiji Botanical Garden. It had many different types of gardens, and in the center was a glass building where you could buy snacks and souvenirs. it was the perfect way to end the day.  

 By that time, my finger needed ice, so I headed back to the hostel, and literally chilled for awhile. 

As the sun set, I decided to walk around the coast. 

 The next day, I was invited to go with my new friend Eun Yong as she spent her last day on the island. She had a car, so we drove around, to places you can't see by the tour bus. 

Our first stop was the flower road, where the Cherry Blossom trees and canola flowers were in full bloom. Along the way, you could see horses, the training center for Korean Air and giant windmills! 

We stopped at a bright pink coffee truck on the side of the road, and got some iced coffee, before we headed off to our next stop. 

Sunrise peak is a very famous site, and so many Korean Dramas have filmed here that I've lost count. The coast was beautiful, and we walked along the coast for a while, admiring the scenery. 

We also walked to a famous church, featured in Korean dramas, but it is now some weird gingerbread house looking building. The Koreans are not happy about this, and neither am I. 

It used to look like this. 

Now it looks like this :(

As we were walking, we saw a cute Chinese couple taking wedding photos among the flowers near the seaside. 

They were so cute :) 

Our last stop was Sunrise peak itself where you could see the Haenyo or Mermaids of Jeju diving for pearls. It was a nice walk, and such a beautiful day. 

After that, my friend and I had to head back to the airport so she wouldn't miss her flight. 

On the way back from the airport, I made another friend who showed me around the Arario musuem. It was a gloomy looking buliding, but the art inside was very interesting. 

It was still daylight, so I explored more around the hostel and walked along the coast one more time. I actually caught the sunset. 

Jeju was amazing, and I'm definitely going back to see more of it once I can ^_^

 

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Getaway

 

Last weekend I headed out on Friday night and started the long journey to Jinhae for the Cherry Blossom Festival. 

Cherry Blossoms are my favorite flower, and it was so exciting to see real Cherry trees, and watch the petals fall to the ground like snow. 

The bus ride there was fairly long (About 6 hours with 4 stops) but it was worth it. We watched the train go by at Jinhae station and ate some festival food. (I found a stand that made Nutella Crepes with strawberries, bananas, and Special K)

When the train came by, the police had to tell the people to get out of the way. I was surprised by how many people stood there with selfie sticks while the police men blew their whistles and tried to clear the way for the train. 

The walk down the track was a lovely trip down blossom lane. 

The best part was the petals falling softly as you walked through the area. 

 The weather was a little cloudy, but that made the blossoms stand out even more. 

After Jinhae Station, we headed to the bridge walk, which was a lovely sight, even in the rain. 

The entire bridge was covered in petals!

We found the perfect photo spot ^_^

We took a few more pictures in the rain, and found a cafe to wait in until the bus left again. 

We found a big Angel in us Coffee place and waited out the storm. 

 I hopped outside and took more pictures as night fell. 

Then the bus arrived, and we headed to our hotel in Busan. 

The next morning we had a beautiful view. 

Along the beach there were these cute rocks with different sea creatures on them. 

Busan had Cherry Blossoms too ^_^

We found an amazing Sushi place ^_^ It even had a tiger mascot. 

The food was so pretty :)

After Sushi, we headed back to the bus stop, and we grabed some Honey Ice Cream on the way. 

It was a great trip, and I'm determined to go back and see more of Busan ^_^

An accidental discovery

This weekend, I went exploring around Chuncheon with my friend Whitney. We did some hiking, and we found a really colorful school that looked like something straight out of Spirited Away. There were even windchimes, and the building was covered in detailed paintings. 

It was a Sunday, so the place was deserted, but we later found out it is a private Buddhist school with its own temple and Bell Tower. 

The temple faces the school, which has three stories. 

There were beautiful dragon carvings on the doors of the temple. 

The windows tell the story of Buddha. 

They are detailed works of art. 

The bell tower was a colorful landmark on the side of the hill. 

The ceiling was completely covered in detailed designs. 

This school was built around the hill, overlooking the city. 

The parking lot had a beautiful painting of lotus flowers. 

This was a beautiful place, and a definite story spark. As we walked around, I wondered what it would be like to go to school here, and what stories each building told. It was a neat discovery for a weekend trip. I'm glad we found it. 

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland is not too different from the original Disneyland. There's a Main Street U.S.A., Fantasyland, Tommorowland, Adventureland and it features Sleeping Beauty's castle. The only difference are new attractions, and some shows are in Mandarin and Cantonese.  

We arrived when the park opened, and Goofy was there, leading everyone past the castle toward Tommorowland.

Before the crowd arrived, I got a quick picture of the castle, which was under construction.   

Apparently a lot of tourists were complaining about this, but I didn't mind, and I kind of liked how cheesy the castle looked. Mickey and Minnie were standing at the big gazebo in the front of the park all day, dressed in New Years outfits. Chip and Dale, Duffy and Shellie May were also taking pictures. 

On a side note: They had Baymax balloons! ^_^

We headed to Tommorowland first, following the crowd, and we grabbed a fast pass for Space Mountain- my favorite ride. After that we got in line, which had maybe a 2-3 minute wait. Space Mountain in Hong Kong was decorated differently, but it was nostalgic for me. After the ride, we headed to Grizzly Gulch, the other big roller coaster. 

The attraction is similar to Big Thunder Mountain, being train ride through the Wild West, but your path is determined by grizzly bears. Because we arrived during the park opening, Adventureland was deserted, and we rode Grizzly Gulch three times in row. 

After that, we rode the new ride: Mystic Manor, which was a fun tour through the international gallery of treasures that magically came to life. The area had a Garden of Wonders that featured more pieces of the mansion's magical collection. We went back to Tomorrowland, and while my friends rode the Buzz Lightyear ride, I went to the big gazebo to get a picture with Mickey and Minnie.

 They had closed the line, but they told me to come back after the parade, and I could get in line to take a picture then. 

By this time, my friends and I were hungry, so we found a restaurant on Main Street that had special New Years food. 

We found Plaza Inn, and I ordered Peach chicken, which was delicious, and it reminded me of PF Changs back in the U.S. After lunch, we all chose a special dessert, and I got a strawberry smoothie. Then, it was time for the parade. 

It was fairly easy to grab a good spot for the parade, people didn't line up ridiculously early for them, so we found a spot close to the gazebo, and it was a nice view of the floats. The theme was flight, so they had floats that looked like hot air balloons, and a Chinese version of the Jonas Brothers song "Fly With Me" played in the background. 

After getting our picture with Mickey and Minnie, we decided that the Stitch Encounter would be the last stop before leaving for the new year's fireworks. We walked through Toy Story Land, which was really cool, before we stood in line for the show.

There was a huge Woody statue that talked when you walked by. 

Lots of big toys were lying around. 

They even had a box of Cootie bugs! I remember those! 

After exploring, it was time to talk to Stitch :) 

This show was the most fun interactive show I've seen. Stitch named a planet after my friend, and he asked if he could be her boyfriend ^_^ 

We couldn't stay for the night parade, Paint the Night, but I got a free booklet about it with our tickets. The floats looked really pretty, and they sold a paintbrush that would play along with the shows. 

All in all, it was a nice visit, and I enjoyed the Disney atmosphere

It was great to see Disney again, and I really liked the organization and overall communication that this park had from cast member to cast member. I hope to visit this park again, and see the updates they were working on while we visited.