Annyeonghaseyo Korea : Day 3 - Jeju Island (Seopjikoji - All in House)

Following our informative visit to Jeju Folks Village, we went to a place where one can have a best view of Jeju Island.


vi) Seopjikoji

Seopjikoji is located at the end of the eastern shore of Jeju Island. The name came of the place was derived from the dialect of the Jeju, "Seopji" meaning a narrow piece of land, and "koji" for cape or peninsula.

We reached here around 3.00pm. The weather was just great for us to stroll along the walk away and enjoy the sea breeze with magnificent view. This place is booming with romantic atmosphere and it would be great to visit here with someone you could hands with amidst the strong wind especially during the cold weather of Korea ;=D

Hike up to the cape.

Information about Mount Seopjikoji.

Quite a lot of visitors this time.

What a view.


The shoreline is covered with volcanic red rocks and pebbles, and many of the rocks are of strange, spectacular shapes and even had an observation deck.

We didn't want to miss a chance to take photos of this spectacular view.

Horses are available for those who wish to ride on it.

One of the attraction here is a large rock known as Seondolbawi which looks like a candlestick. The folk tale that surround this place was that a fairy would usually descend from heaven to bath around Seopjikoji. The son of the Dragon King has fallen in love with her and wanted to marry her the first time he saw her. He was told by his father to stay put and do nothing for 100 days so that he could give his permission. However, on the last day, the waves rose high and a typhoon came, so the fairy was not able to come down from the heavens to attend their wedding. The son grieved and has eventually died, turning into a stone which is now called Seondolbawi.

Seondolbawi


This place is also famous for being another shooting location for a drama called "All In", starring Song Hye Kyo and her ex-husband Lee Byung Hun. There is a separate admission fee to visit the house. The drama was filmed here last 2003 and this chapel was said to have been destroyed by a typhoon and was reconstructed afterwards.

Lovely place, pleasant weather.. what a perfect day!!

The wind blew so strong, abis terangkat2 baju!

Romantic isn't it?

Owh I just love this place. I could just stay here and enjoy the sunrise and sunset forever.

Merchandise booth.


Moving forward, you may be able to see a lighthouse that can give you a good birds eye view of the entire shoreline of Seopjikoji. It is closed for entry though.

The road to the lighthouse.


The skies were bright, beautifully blue colour. It's always captivating to have a view of the sea from the coast. And there's this feeling of serenity as I heard the waves hitting the rocky coast. The walk from the car park all the way to the main pathway leading to the lighthouse provided tourists with fantastic views not only of the lighthouse ahead but of the hills, the coast and the horizon. What a relaxing walk it was.

Spending around 30mins here, we turned back to the parking area. Seopjikoji is absolutely one of Jeju's not-to-be-missed tourist spots! Be sure to drop by here if you'll visit the island.


Our next destination located nearby Seopjikoji. As ussual, read my next post ok!

Annyeonghaseyo Korea : Day 3 - Jeju Island (Jeju Folk Museum Village)

v) Korean Traditional Food Centre - Luncheon & Jeju Chocolate

Having experienced the fun optical illusions in the Jeju Trick Art Museum, next we had a lunch at the Korean Traditional Food Centre. This time we had cabbage kimchi, rolled eggs, potatoes and salted fish. Probably because we all were exhausted doing multi poses at the Trick Art Museum before plus the cold and windy environment, it made us felt very hungry and made the foods tasted fabulous!!

Finished our meal, we prayed (Jamak Zohor & Asar) at one small room provided next to the restaurant. The room was completed with attached bathroom, got some pillows and mattress, probably a rest room for the restaurant staff. Well I'm just guessing. Nevertheless, it was very convenience!

One of the Jeju's famous souvenir is CHOCOLATE. There are various unique flavour of chocolate but among the most sought out are Tangerine and Cactus! There are also Chocolate Museum in Jeju however it was not in our itinerary so here, Vincent brought us to the souvenir shop next to the restaurant for us to buy the chocolate. The price was quite cheap where you can get 4 boxes of chocolate (each box = 15 pieces) at 10,000 Won!!

Other souvenirs like keychain, fridge magnet also available. But we were advised not to shop it here as not much choices and a bit pricey.

So after chocolate shopping session and freshen up, we back to our itinerary and proceed to next destination.


iv) Jeju Folk Village Museum

With a total of 117 houses and facilities, Jeju Folk Village Museum has restored the scenes of the village to that of the 1890’s. Among them are Mountain Village, Hill-Country Village, Fishing Village and Shamanism Village. On land of more than 40 acres it has been reconstructed following long-term research and analysis of experts. Some of the extensive range of folk items on display are 1,627 wooden ware, 1,046 bamboo ware, 1,699 earthenware, 1,544 porcelain ware, 765 wax candles, 921 ironware and 579 other items. The Jeju Folk Village Museum is the island’s main tourist attraction where customs of the old days can be explored.

We arrived here around 1.15pm. A beautiful sunny but windy day allowed us time to stroll and take in the grounds while Vincent gave information about the ancient Korean life.

Since March 2006, Dae Jang Geum Mini Theme Park located at the Jeju Folk Village, offers various things for visitors to see. Dae Jang Geum is Korean's drama which shooting had been done in this Folk Village to suit with the historical theme. Many of the scenes from episodes 27 to 32 in which Jang Geum learns medicine as a maid were filmed at Jeju Folk Village. Visitors can appreciate the amazing scenic beauty of Jeju as well as experience the traditional culture of Jeju at this theme park.

My mom will definitely enjoy the visit here as she is the fan of Dae Jang Geum drama.

Address
631-34, Minsokhaean-ro, Pyoseon-myeon, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do

Operating Hours
October – February 08:30 – 17:00
March 08:30 - 17:30
April – July 15th 08:30 – 18:00
July 16th – August 08:30 – 18:30
September 08:30 – 18:00

Admission / Participation Fees
Individuals - Adults 10,000 won / Seniors 8,000 won / Teenagers 7,000 won / Children 6,000 won
Groups - Adults 8,000 won / Seniors 6,000 won / Teenagers 4,500 won / Children 4,000 won

The ticket booth.

At the entrance, the ancient fishing equipment called "Taewoo" is exhibited..

Lovely garden along the way from the entrance..

As I mentioned in previous post, there are lots of woman in Jeju. And they are strong, hardworking and tough!! Working women are everywhere. Hats off to you Ahjuma!!


From this...........

Into these blooming flowers.

Here we can have a look at how Koreans lived in the past before all the tall buildings were built. It's quite an interesting journey. We had a very good time discovering the different houses that corresponded to different areas of the island and different social statuses even they actually look about the same ;=)

The traditional houses in Jeju featured a type of outer log fence known as Jeongnang instead of a gate. This Jeongnang was used as a tool to denote whether the owner of a house was in or out and also served as an implement to keep cows and horses in. The story behind the number of wooden logs that were put across the front gates was quite interesting to me.
Well, The Jeongnang consisted of three logs. The state of the Jeongnang was used to ascertain the scope of the homeowner’s social life. The presence of all three logs in their original location meant that nobody was home and the owner had gone out to a distant place. Conversely, the owner was at home when all three logs were down. If two logs were in use, then the owner was going to be out for a long time; however, the owner was expected back shortly when only one log was used. As such, these three logs became a means for the owner of the house and potential guests to exchange information. As the presence of all three logs meant that the owner of the house would be away for many days, other villagers would stop by and take care of his cows and pigs. This Jeongnang was in fact a symbol of the peaceful atmosphere characterized by trust, honesty and purity that prevailed within villages.

Local cow. The fur is quite long compared to Malaysian's cow but it looked sick and a bit thin.

Demo on Korean living style during ancient time

One of the korean traditional house.

Mill stone probably for grinding grain , shoes made from root and dried corn among the traditional items displayed in the village.


It was such a big area. There are houses for pharmacy, farmer house, diver house, hunter house and many more. But honestly most of it looks just like the same. But no harm to just enjoy the view, read the info and increase our history knowledge level right?

We took just 40mins to complete our tour. And here we were back to the entrance to exit this village.

As ussual, Dol Haruebang is everywhere.

Nice sculpture of Korean Women.

Overall I enjoyed my visit here. This folk village is truly a great place to learn about traditional villages and a lovely insight into Korean life. It's always good to know traditional knowledge from around the world. Don't forget to take pictures! :)

Next post for my next destination.