JAG Journeys: Ferry to Jeju-do

Day 6 of Quiring-family visit

We woke up on Tuesday morning, July 3, ready to head south to Jeju-do (Jeju Island). First, my brother, Tyler, walked down the street to a barber shop he had seen the night before to get a quick haircut. Ten minutes later he was back, his hair nicely shorn and he highly impressed with his new hairstyle, as well as the quickness and low cost of the haircut. Meanwhile, Jonathan had called the ferry company we wanted to take over to Jeju. Unfortunately, they were already full for that day's sailing and they only sailed once a day. We had already asked a Korean-speaking fellow English teacher at Seoul Main institute to help us get hotel reservations in Jeju-si (pronounced 'shi' - Jeju City) for that evening. The hotel staff didn't speak English and we didn't know how we'd be able to let them know if we couldn't make it that day. If at all possible, we definitely wanted to get to Jeju-do by that evening. Jonathan checked out other ferry companies in our guidebooks and on the complimentary computer in my parents' room, and after a bit of calling, he found another ferry going to Jeju-do that afternoon that had room for the five of us. The only problem was that this ferry left the mainland from Wando and we were in Mokpo.

We quickly got our things together and took a couple taxis to the intercity bus station. We arrived in ample time before the next bus out to Wando, so Jonathan, Ty, and I went next door to a Paris Baguette shop to grab some breakfast/lunch pastries for our trip. The bus trip took about two hours from Mokpo to Wando and passed through some beautiful scenery. Our bus windows, though, were quite foggy, so it was hard to get pictures of the gorgeous scenes flying by. Once in Wando, we took two more taxis to the ferry terminal, which ended up not being too far away from the bus station. Jonathan and my dad got in line and got our tickets for the ferry and finally we could relax a little. We walked around the grounds beside the ferry terminal, and about an hour or so after we arrived, we were boarding the ferry. The ride over to Jeju-do was very pleasant. The ferry was clean and not full at all. Our seats were around a six-person table, but we could have sat anywhere on the ship almost, if we'd wanted to. We also spent some time outside on the deck enjoying the sea breezes. Once we arrived in Jeju-si it was a short taxi ride from the ferry terminal to our hotel. Despite the hotel staff's lack of English, we were able to check in with minimal problems, and soon were happily relaxing in our rooms ready for several days of exploration on Jeju-do!