Seongsan Ilchulbong

Day 7 of Quiring-family visit

On the morning of Wednesday July 4, after a good sleep and some breakfast, our little group had to decide which attraction to see first on Jeju Island. Jonathan and I asked the hotel receptionist for directions to the nearest tourist information center, and easily found it a few intersections just down the street. There we were given maps and brochures of famous Jeju-do attractions. "Is it far to this place?" I asked, pointing in our guide book to the words Seongan Ilchulbong. "If you don't have a car," one of the helpers answered, "you have to get there by bus." We got directions to the intercity bus station and went back to the hotel to share what we'd learned. After talking over a few options, we decided to head to Seongsan Ilchulbong, a famous extinct volcano on the very eastern tip of the island. Off we walked down the street to the nearest city bus stop. Since we all had T-money cards, paying for our bus fare was as simple as scanning the small plastic tab as we entered the bus. We asked the driver to let us know when we reached the intercity bus station, and about five or ten minutes later we arrived, hopped off the bus, and went inside to buy tickets. Luckily for us, we were able to use our T-money cards to pay for the intercity bus tickets, too, which Jonathan and I hadn't ever been able to do on the mainland. That was surprising, but nice. After waiting for about 20 minutes, we boarded our bus and were off on our adventure.

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Posing with a Jeju 'grandfather' (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

Figuring out our bus route and buying tickets (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

Getting off the bus (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

The route was scenic and we all enjoyed watching the tropical landscape roll past. About an hour later we arrived at a stop our driver told us was our final destination. We got out, seeing the large green mountain a ways in front of us, and started to walk towards it. Later we realized that we could have stayed on the bus for another stop or two, but we were naive and had jumped off early. After a fair walk, we arrived at a little gazebo overlooking the ocean and near the entrance to get to the mountain. After a bite of oranges and some other food we had brought with us to refresh ourselves, we walked the rest of the short distance to the mountain. After paying admission, we asked another tourist to snap a couple pictures of the five of us. Then we started hiking up the paved sidewalk up the gradually sloping side of the mountain. Mum was still having some knee issues, so after going a good ways up the sidewalk - until stairs started to break up the pathway - she stopped at a bench overlooking the landscape and waited for the rest of us to continue our hike. Dad, Ty, Jonathan and I  kept hiking up, stopping often for rests, a drink of water, or to snap a picture of the scenic view below (our guidebook said the hike would take us about 20 minutes, but we stopped so often to take pictures that it took us probably about 40 instead). When we reached the top, we looked out over the ocean on one side of the dormant volcano and over the eastern side of Jeju Island on the other. It was very green and quite beautiful.

Seongsan Ilchulbong

Our group at Seongsan Ilchulbong (Photo from Glenda Quiring)

Another group photo

Tourists lining the pathway to the top of the mountain

The view from partway up

Interesting formations

Ty with his trusty film camera

Ali nearing the top

Almost there!

The green-filled crater at the top of the mountain

View from the top

Black sand beaches

Ali at the top

Jonathan at the top

We made it!

Can you spot Mum sitting on that bench?

We didn't plan to match - really!

Ty takes a shot

A small cave we found on the way back down

Ali in the cave

Dad at the end of the hike up the mountain (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

After the hike back down, we walked around the area below the mountain and then Jonathan and I continued walking out to an overlook with a good view of the mountain. We could also see a little fishing area and restaurant. In this fishing area, "haenyeo, older female free divers, go out to sea almost every day in all kinds of weather and use "low tech gear - polystyrene floats, flippers, nets, knives, and spears - to gather seaweed, shellfish, sea cucumbers, spiky black sea urchins, octopus, and anything else edible they can catch. ... They use no oxygen tanks, but are able to hold their breath underwater for up to two minutes and reach a depth of 20m. ... Haenyeo have been free diving for generations in the waters of Jeju-do and off the coast of Japan and China. Sadly, these will be the last generation of divers because their daughters have not followed in their mothers' flippers. ... At their peak in the 1950s there were almost 30,000 haenyeo on Jeju-do, but now they number fewer than 3,000" (Lonely Planet Korea guidebook). We had watched these ladies bringing in a catch earlier in the day while we were eating our lunch before we climbed the mountain, and it was interesting to see this fascinating livelihood in action. While we were out on the overlook, Jonathan and I spotted a mother cat with two kittens. They captured our attention for about 10 minutes while we watched the kittens frolic and play as the unconcerned mother placidly looked on.

Small fishing area and restaurant where the haenyeo bring their catch

Mother cat watching her kittens play

When we rejoined the rest of our group, we headed to a small Buddhist temple near the mountain for a look around the grounds and buildings. My parents and Tyler enjoyed their first look at a Buddhist temple, and although Jonathan and I had seen and taken pictures of quite a few Buddhist temples during our eight months in Korea, I think I enjoyed this small one possibly the most of all of them. It was just so still and serene compared to the bustle and jabbering of the tourists on the mountain just a few hundred yards away. Next we made a quick stop at the gift shop, and then headed back to the bus stop for the nice ride back to Jeju-si, all of us looking forward to relaxing in our hotel after our day filled with walking.

Not a clue what this statue is all about...

Back at the hotel relaxing...and maybe resting, too