Day 3, as ussual we had an early wake up call from Vincent. We had a complimentary breakfast at the hotel and after that boarded the bus to our first destination.
Since yesterday we arrived here quite late in the evening, straight to Teddy Bear Museum then checked-in, it was only today that Vincent gave an introduction about Jeju Island while in the bus.
Jeju Island, also known as the "Island of the Gods," is a popular vacation spot for Koreans and many Japanese. It remains one of the top honeymoon destinations for Korean newlyweds. Jeju is a relatively small island, shaped like a rugby ball measuring 73km across and 31km from north to south. It is a volcanic island and a key landmark is Halla Mountain, commonly known as Halla-son. At 6,400 ft high, Halla-son is the tallest mountain in South Korea. The island's mixture of volcanic rock, frequent rains, and temperate climate, make it very similar to the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. With the volcanic Halla-son commanding the island from the center, a 224-kilometer semi-tropical forested national park, a wild coastline dotted with waterfalls and the longest lava tube in the world, it's no wonder that Jeju Island was voted one of the 2011 New 7 Wonders of Nature.
Jeju boasts "three plenties" - Wind, Rocks and Women.
- The first WIND as it's location as an island, obviously wind is strong here.
- The second one, ROCK is due to it's formation from an outpouring of lava. Ninety percent of Jeju surface is basalt, so rocks and stone are used quite a lot here. One of the common is dry-stone walls which protect fields from storms. Besides that, to scare off invaders, masons started carving rocks into forbidding black "Grandfather Stones" also locally known as Dol-harubang, a massive phallic statues that might be mistaken for distant cousins of Easter Island’s Moai. That is how the Grandfather Stones created around 1750 and become one of the Jeju's famous icon today.
-Third one WOMEN for me is the most interesting one. In years gone by, when Jeju's men disappeared for weeks in fishing boats, someone had to stick around to haul those rocks and put dinner on the table. As rice won't grow on this wild and windy island, women learned to dive for octopus, abalone, clams, squid and seaweed. Nowadays, the powerful sea-women mostly known as Haenyo, who dive 10-20 meters without any breathing apparatus, are renowned throughout the country. The Haenyo's average age is 65, with some diving into their 80s in darned wetsuits. You can see them at work in various locations across the island. Talking about girl power here. Amazing isn'it??
For balance of the abundance, there are three things missing from Jeju – Beggars, Thieves and Gates in front of homes!
So our 2nd day at Jeju started with Yongduam Rock, located at North of Jeju Island.
(i) Yongduam Rock (Dragon Head Rock)
We arrived at Yongduam Rock around 8am. As it was still early, not much people around. Just a few tourists like us hanging around a viewing terrace and took various pictures with the Yongduam Rock.
The view here was so breathtaking that we couldn't wait to take a photo!
And there, Vincent already stood alone as all of us were busy taking pictures. He called for us and we quickly went down to the beach.
From the entrance, there are a walking trail – a series of steps which brings us down to the beach where we could get closer to the Yongdaum head, and got the correct angle to view the dragon head. Mind you that you have to be in a right position/angle in order to see it, or else you will just see a normal rock only. The trail is quite short – only a downhill walk on a few flights of stairs.
Once all of us gathered, Vincent gave a brief explanation about Yongduam Rock.
Situated to the north of Jeju City, Yongduam was created by strong winds and waves over thousands of years. However, there are plenty of other stories of how it came to be. One legend has it that a dragon stealing precious jade from Mt. Halla was shot down by an arrow from the mountain deity. When he fell down on Yongduam, his body immediately sank into the ocean and his head rapidly froze looking at the sky. Another legend has it that a white horse, who dreamed of being a dragon and ascending to the sky, came to be caught by a soldier and froze into the rock.
The pictures below show the view of the Yongduam Dragon Head Rock looks like – see the dragon head with its mouth wide open?
For me the dragon looks very angry, either the mouth opened because it wants to eat something or to blast fireball.
Regardless of how it was created and how angry it looks (well as for me....), Yongduam Dragon Head Rock rewarded the viewers with a spectacular view especially when you know the correct angle to take a picture with it.
Do note that the coastline is a bit jagged so climbing around on the rocks to get a better view can be quite dangerous.
Enough taking photos, we went back uphill to the top platform view.
Near the rock are various cafes, bars, and restaurants. Along the way to the parking area where our bus was, we took picture of anythings that we found interesting.
The black dragon brings good luck and hope. So anyone who came here can make a wish and who knows if your wish will come true. Well at least, the ancient Korea believes it!
So where were we going next?
Still in the north part of Jeju Island, our next destination was also one of the tourist attraction in Jeju ------ The Mysterious Road.
(ii) Jeju Mysterious Road
This road is known as Jeju Mysterious Road or the locals call it Dokkaebi Road. It is mysterious because objects on this road seem to defy the laws of gravity!
From our normal eyes level, the road seems like an upwards sloping road ahead from the starting point.
When our bus off its engine at the starting point, logically it should roll backwards, however surprisingly the bus rolled uphill against the gravity at its neutral gear.
Lots of vehicle doing an experiment here to experience the mystery in Mysterious Road.
Not just that, we also went out from the bus and Vincent demonstrated the “magic” by pouring water on the road and we could see water flowing not downhill but uphill. We were amazed and wondered.
But is it really magic?
Well it has nothing to do with the gravity like most of the people think. The exact explanation is, this Mysterious Road actually has a downward slope of 3 degrees. But due to the surrounding terrain, it creates this optical illusion that made the road appeared like a uphill slope. So we all were fooled by our own eyes!!
The Mysterious Road only stretches for about 100 meters and is clearly marked by a signpost at the start.
When there's a start, definitely there's an end right? Another signpost indicates where this stretch of the Mysterious Road ends.
It also gets crowded as there are food and souvenir stalls around here. You can also buy can drinks and put on the road and see which way will it roll to.
We went to stroll along the park nearby the Mysterious Road. There were few stone sculptures that caught our attention.
We spent just about 1/2hr here! So as the mystery was no longer a mystery, case solved... we proceed to another destination. The next place would be more challenging where your imagination will be tested and challenged.
Can you guess..? Easy right? Ok I will reveal in next post.
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