I am splitting up my Chuseok (T-giving break) into two posts. I spent two days on the island of Jejudo, and two days in the city of Busan (pronounced Pusan). The Chuseok celebration for Koreans is definitely a big deal. The customs mostly revolve around a big feast, and it isn't always on the same day every year, a la Thanksgiving. However, it differs in that it is mostly focused on paying respect to one's ancestors. The highlight of Chuseok is the eating, but also the preparation of many foods - most notably songpyeon (rice cake). They are about the size of a dumpling, and vary in colors between white, pink and a dark green. Personally, I think they are just OK. Koreans go nuts over them though, and I heard they are fantastic when fried.
But, on actual Chuseok day, I ended up eating a burrito!! .. So let's get on to the vacation part!! In all seriousness, I just wanted to give you guys a brief intro to the holiday so you were aware of why I had time off and what it means to Koreans.
I left for Jeju on a ferry around 7 PM on Wednesday, September 30th. This means that I had about an hour and a half after school to get to this ferry, with the necessary stops of picking up a duffel bag, getting home and quickly packing clothes I had already set out, making a stop along the way at Juan Station, to pay for and pick up my repaired camera (hooray!), and pay off a cell phone bill. I was able to get the bag, pack, and pick up the camera - if you couldn't tell by the photos I uploaded. However, the cell phone bill fell by the wayside. Luckily, I was able to pay it off one day late without any charge. Anyhoo, made it to the ferry with enough time to get some necessary supplies for a 13 and a half hour ferry ride, you can use your imaginations as to figuring out my list!! I was travelling with my friends Patrick from NYC, Ryan from Oklahoma, and Sophia from Austin, TX. The boat deck was freeeeeezing, and our cabin, which had a maximum occupancy of 55 in a room built for 20, was about 88 degrees. Pick your poison! I am glad to report that I had no issues with sea sickness or anything like that; outside of the temperature, it was all smooth sailing. I got about 8 hours of sleep or so and woke up to us being pretty close to the island of Jeju. Picked up McDonald's for breakfast, of course, and hopped on an hour long bus to Seogwipo, the southern area of Jeju-do (as opposed to Jeju-si, the northern side of the island where the ferry brought us).
wikipedia page for Jeju-do:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju-do
They refer to Jeju as the "Korean Hawaii," and while I am fairly certain that Jeju is not in fact as nice as Hawaii, I have never been to Hawaii so I am rather easily impressed!! It is honestly beautiful. In terms of vacation spots in Korea, I can't see it getting much better than Jeju. Living there, as amazing as it is, might be tough in an area that small. Plus, being from Brownsville, I have already gone through the small town routine - granted, comparing Brownsville to Jeju is like comparing fire to ice ... I suppose I'd be the lukewarm water .. these go to 11!
One of the first things we wanted to see were the famous waterfalls. We told the cab driver to take us to the Cheonjiyeon watefall, in fact, we even pointed at the sign. However, he decided to take us somewhere else. It was about 100 yards from the waterfall entrance, but we entered where he took us and ended up taking a 2 hour tour or so around this mini island. It was beautiful, and that's where all my photos came from of the rocks and spiders on my facebook album. It really did rain ALL day long. We ended up finding the Cheonjiyeon waterfalls (pronounced Chon-che-yon with a Hispanic "o" sound). It was worth both the effort and walk. We saw a Mandarin duck, and found that huge bridge in this area too, where we got that coconut rolling from the photos. We also ate fresh, emphasis on FRESH, raw fish and breaded shrimp.
Later that night, we met up with some EPIK people stationed in Jeju. I knew none of them, but they were very friendly. They do a weekly potluck, where we were able to eat PB&J sandwiches, so good, and a few other treats from home. I was under the impression that night that it was around 2 or 3 AM when they decided to go to the karaoke bar. I ducked out and hit the sack early, and got close to 10 hours of sleep. The next day they informed me that I went to bed sometime around 11:30 PM, and it was not in fact 2 AM. Evidently, I can be a real party animal sometimes. Truthfully, the sleep on the ferry wasn't the most relaxing, and we went about 36 hours without a shower at one point, so I would have taken the sleep 10 times out of 10 even if I knew I was checking out a little earlier than the others.
The next day we hit the beach - this involves the photos where we buried Ryan in the sand and had that marvelous view of the Hyatt hotel. Being the noob I am, I went to one of the most outdoor specific areas in all of Korea and managed to omit taking a bathing suit or hiking boots. For the first time in my life, Evan the swim coach had to wear basketball shorts - I felt stripped of my armor with out a good jammer!! I did a little swimming, but for the most part the water was freezing and no one was interested in paying me for private lessons. We left the beach and did a bit more traveling .... wait a minute.. no no, THIS was the day I went to the aforementioned bridge. Anyway, I am too tired to go back and switch around the order of events, so just know that all these things happened and we can be a little relaxed with the specific order of events!!
Had a relatively quiet night the second go around. We made it out to a famous Western bar, which was a nice flashback to the good ol' US of A with the amount of English speakers. Our night was cut short because we jumped on a shuttle home, yes, this bar runs a free shuttle to take you where you live. The only downside is the driver enjoys speeds bordering on 90-95 MPH. You know those rides you sometimes take your baby on to help it fall asleep? This was NOT one of those rides. We compared it to the VR roller coaster back in Incheon, but coined it the AR coaster (Actual-Reality). The next morning we woke up, caught a bagel breakfast, and headed for the airport to Busan. The flight was great and only cost 52 dollars. I ended up meeting two people from Texas during my time in Jeju by the way, both older men who I managed to have relatively lengthy conversations with considering I was a young buck on the go.
Part 2 to follow!!
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