제주도 (Jeju Island)

Just got back from Jeju-do with morning at 4am. That was a much needed vacation, but very very busy. I had hoped there would be a little more free down time. But we got to see a lot of things on the island. We took about a 4 hour bus ride to a southern port, I think Mokpo maybe and then got on about a 4 hour ferry to get to the island. It was a long time travelling, but it was good bonding time with the other people on the trip. My friend Lauren and I went with Seoul Hiking Group and there were about 40 other people on the trip. We got to see a bunch of museums, Love Land, International Peace Museum, some art gallery, a botanical garden, a small wax museum, and the Green Tea Museum.. We went to a few different beaches and went to see a movie too. We also did some hiking each day that let up to the main hike (which we did yesterday) up Halla Mountain or 한라산.  My legs are not happy today. Hallasan is I guess a shield volcano and is the biggest mountain in South Korea. There are different trails to hike, but we took Seongpanak Trail (성판악) which is 9.6 km. It took a little over 3 hours...we took little breaks, but it was kinda hard. I'm glad I made it to the top though, it was definately worth it. We were above the clouds :) On the way down we took Gwaneumsa Trail (관음사) which is 8.7 km. About 30 min into the trek down my legs were giving out. We eventually made it down after another 3 hours. So in total we hiked just over 11 miles in 6 hours. We left the island yesterday around 4pm and we arrived in Seoul around 3am... Plus I had to work today, well I'm at work on a break now, but I'm a little tired ha. Need more coffee!

Jeju-do was a lot of fun, got some sun and warm weather, met some cool people, and was able to experience more of Korea. I'm glad we went, but the next vacation I'm going somewhere to relax =) Peace out!

~Krista~