Leaving Jeju-do & traveling back north

Day 12 of Quiring-family visit (last day) ;(

Monday, July 9, was our last day on Jeju-do, and, sadly, my parents' and brother's last day in South Korea. We got up in the morning, made sure their bags were all packed, and then took taxis to the airport about 10 minutes from our hotel. We were there quite a bit ahead of time and so once they had checked in, got their boarding passes, and gotten rid of their luggage, we wandered around the airport and finally found a food court. Deciding which place to eat at took a little work, but we finally settled on some kind of a burger/fries place and got a few things on the breakfast menu. After our leisurely breakfast, we found the line for security and said our final goodbyes (well, final until two weeks later when Jonathan and I would be flying to British Columbia). It was sad to see them go because we knew our time with them in Korea was over and it meant the first part of our vacation time was over, but it was also a little exciting to know we were soon going to be off on a new adventure: Vietnam!

After saying goodbye, Jonathan and I got a taxi back to our hotel where we finished packing our own bags, and then checked out, and set off for the ferry terminal. We took a little diversion on the way to walk out on a large jetty near our hotel that I'd wanted to explore since we arrived in Jeju-si. Then it was a not-too-long, but very hot walk to the ferry terminal. Once there, we looked at all the sign boards about the various ferries going back to the mainland of South Korea to see which would be the best. After talking to a lady at the counter, we decided to take the same one we'd taken on the way over to Jeju, which would bring us to the small town of Wando. That ferry only took about two hours to make the crossing, but was leaving later in the afternoon, so we asked if we could stow our backpacking backpack behind the counter while we went back into Jeju-si for some final exploring and a bit of shopping.

The extent of our luggage during our Jeju-do vacation and for our upcoming Vietnam trip.

No fourth floor in our hotel. (The number four in Korean sounds like the Korean word for death,
so therefore four has become a superstitious number, much the same as the number thirteen for us Westerners.)

See, no fourth-floor button in the elevator.

View of the harbour from the jetty

And view of Jeju-si behind us

After popping in a few sport-clothing stores to find some lighter/cooler shirts and shorts to wear in Vietnam, we started walking back to the ferry terminal, and to our delight, found a beautiful little paved walking trail near the river. We walked back on that trail as far as it took us before having to turn onto the street sidewalk for the rest of our walk.

Interesting boat-museum by the river

Ali took pictures of many manhole covers in the Korean cities we visited during our stay. This Jeju (Cheju is the old
Korean pronunciation) one features Hallasan (Halla Mt.) in the center, the tallest mountain in Korea, which is on Jeju Island.

Pretty river with a paved walking trail on either side

Back at the ferry terminal again, we picked up our backpack, and spent the rest of our time browsing in the gift shops and finding some snacks to make up our supper. Jeju chocolates somehow found their way into our bags...

So much yummy Jeju chocolate!

Jonathan ready to board the ferry

The Blue Narae, we meet again

Goodbye ferry terminal and Jeju-do

Consoling ourselves with a cactus-flavoured, haenyeo-shaped chocolate

When we arrived in Wando, we consulted our guidebook to see how far the bus station was from the ferry terminal (on our way to Jeju the week before we'd been short on time, so had just used taxis). It didn't look too far on the map, so we set out. A fifteen-minute walk brought us to the bus station, where we'd planned to buy tickets for the two-hour bus ride to Mokpo. Unfortunately for us, our timing was wrong and the last Mokpo bus had left about an hour earlier. We looked at the other destinations to see if we could catch the train back north from another city, but in the end going to Mokpo looked like our best (and cheapest) bet, so we would have to stay in Wando overnight and wait until morning to catch the bus to Mokpo and then the train back north. That decided, we went next door to a pizza shop for a proper supper before again consulting our guidebook to find a hotel for the night. The map told us that most were in the same area and not too far away, so we headed out on foot in the dark of the evening. A few minutes later we found one that looked acceptable (all, except for the really ritzy ones and the really, really dumpy-looking ones, are pretty similar) and got a room.

The next morning - Tuesday, July 10 - we were up early and hurried back over to the bus station. This time we were right on time and didn't even have to wait too long before the bus pulled out. On the return trip to Mokpo our windows were much cleaner than the bus we'd taken to Wando, so I was able to catch some pictures of the sights we'd seen the week before, but couldn't take pictures of. They still weren't great, but better than nothing. In Mokpo we took a taxi to the train station and asked the lady at the ticket counter the best way to Suwon, a city about an hour south of Seoul. We still had an extra couple days before our flight to Vietnam and we wanted to see Suwon before we left. She handed us our tickets for the next train heading to Suwon, and since it wasn't for a few hours, we decided to head to the shops in the town square across the street to look around. Although it started raining soon after, we had a nice time seeing more of Mokpo in the daytime. Soon we were back in the station and boarding our train north. It was then that we realized we had tickets on one of the slower trains, not on the KTX (Korean Express Train) like we'd assumed. Apparently the KTX doesn't go to Suwon from Mokpo, so our trip took a couple hours more than we'd expected. Luckily we weren't on the slowest train, though, that stops at every station along the way. We stopped at more stations than the KTX does, and didn't go at nearly as high speeds, but it definitely could have been worse. The train was comfortable, though, and the grayish, rainy skies along with the brilliant green fields flashing by our windows made for gorgeous scenery.

Statue of Admiral Yi from the bus window

Footed bench in Mokpo

Fountain in downtown Mokpo

Green fields and mountains from the train

Rural scene from the train

Impressive village church from the train

Five hours later we got off the train in Suwon and headed above ground to figure out the transportation in the city. We were initially thinking of taking the subway to the hostel we'd found in our guidebook, but we managed to find an information center just outside the train station and the man at the counter told us that the best way to get to the hostel was by taking the city bus. Well, our experience with Korean city buses was iffy at best, but we got good directions and instructions from the man, and decided to try it out and save a bit of money rather than get a taxi. Just finding the nearby bus stop was a bit difficult, but once there, we looked for the correct bus number and finally saw it pull up. We watched carefully as it wound through the streets and anxiously waited for the stop where we were supposed to get out. Fifteen minutes later we saw it and quickly pushed the "get-off" button, hurrying off with a group of passengers. From there our hostel was just around a corner and up a street. We stopped at a bakery on the way to get some supper, and then headed to the hostel to get a room. After a long day of traveling from almost the most southerly point of mainland South Korea to near the north, we were tired and relaxed for a couple hours. We thought then that we were done for the day, but little did we know we had another city exploration adventure waiting that evening!

Spool palm tree in a Suwon clothing shop window

Interesting carvings by the Suwon train station info center

Next up: exploring Suwon's fortress!

U-do

Day 11 of Quiring-family visit

Our last posts, from Day 9, took place on Friday, July 6. And we're sorry to tell you that there is no Day 10 post simply because...well, the truth is, we did nothing post-worthy that day. We had contacted the only SDA church on Jeju Island earlier in the week to find out where it was and when they held their church service, but unfortunately found out that it would be closed that Sabbath because of a conference being held on the mainland that the majority of the church would be attending. So, instead of spending Sabbath experiencing a new church in this new part of the country, we had our own church service in our hotel room and mostly just laid low for the rest of the day, relaxing and resting our feet a little bit. Although we were disappointed that we didn't get to go to church on Jeju-do, we did enjoy the peaceful and quiet day together. (And some of us might have even taken an afternoon nap...!)

After our days rest on Saturday, we were ready for adventure on Sunday, July 8! One place I really wanted to make sure to get to was U-do (U Island), a small island just off the east coast of Jeju-do. Sunday, our last full day on Jeju, was the day we'd planned to go there, and so we set off early to catch the bus to Seongsan Ilchulbong (yeah, the place we'd gone to the Wednesday before - if we'd planned better we would have done both Seongsan Ilchulbong and U-do on the same trip...). Once there, we hopped off the bus and hurried in to the ferry terminal building to buy tickets across to U-do. We were in luck and a ferry was about to leave, so we rushed down the gangplank and onto the small ferry. To our surprise the inside space in the middle of the ferry was just a wood laminate flooring. (Jonathan and I should have guessed it would be like that, but we hadn't really given the inside of the ferry much thought before we stepped on.) Several Korean families were already making the floor into a nice traveling area with blankets and baskets of food. After realizing there were no seats to be found on the ferry, we opted to stand outside on the deck and watch the scenery go by. We were very much rewarded when, pretty early in our 20-minute ride, we spotted playful dolphins jumping and playing alongside the ferry! They were the first marine life we'd seen in Korea and they were so fun to watch!

Looking back at Seongsan Ilchulbong from about halfway between Jeju-do and U-do

U-do ahead!

Once we arrived at U-do, we walked off the ferry before the cars started unloading and quickly stopped to take some pictures by a large cow statue near the ferry dock. U-do means Cow Island and is named so because it looks like a cow lying down. After that short stop, we walked up the road a little ways to a scooter and ATV rental shop where we rented two scooters and an ATV to explore U-do. It was such a great decision as we got to see pretty much the whole island in the two hours that we had the rental vehicles!

Ali helping to protect the cow's eyes from the sun

Mum in the ATV's rearview mirror as we were getting ready to head out

As we set out we spotted these little foals following their mothers who were giving rides to a Korean couple. So cute!

Of course a lighthouse would be our first stop as we drove around the island

Ty snapping a picture on his awesome film Canon

Ali enjoying the ride (and the chance to be the official photographer for a change)

A shaky video of one section of ocean-side road we drove on

Our caravan

A pretty little bay we wished we could stop and swim at. We wanted to see more of the island, though, before our time ran out.

Another haenyeo spotting, this time a stone statue in the bay

Another picture of one of our favourite countryside vehicles

Looked like an interesting shop, but we didn't stop

Field and harvest

The fields on Jeju-do and U-do were separated into small sections by these volcanic rock walls

We stopped for a few minutes at this busy lookout over a picturesque bay

Another haenyeo statue

Ali, in not much danger of falling off...

This boat ride in the bay looked like fun, but we just enjoyed watching them before continuing our exploration

Our scooters and ATV parked at the lookout

This restaurant at the lookout had pretty cool decor

View as we headed back to the rental shop

After exploring the majority of U-do within two hours, we returned to the rental shop and turned in our vehicles. Next we walked back a little ways down the road to a beautiful white sandy (and also pebbly) beach. Not too many Koreans were in the water taking a dip, but we jumped in anyway and were rewarded with refreshing cool water and clear underwater views. A great way to cool down after driving around in the hot sun!

The beach

Yay for an underwater camera!

Super clear water

Jonathan trying to throw Ali in (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

Tiny pink shell

A little saltwater river

Trilobites (?) in the rocks

Pretty B&B on the way from the beach to the ferry dock

Hotel with resident cow on our walk

Keeping the sun off during the walk from the beach back to the ferry dock

Finally we got back out of the water, toweled dry, and started the trek back to the ferry dock. We had heard the last ferry left the island at 6:00 p.m. and we didn't want to be late to catch it. We got there with a bit of time to spare, and then enjoyed the ride back to Jeju-do. Although we watched for more dolphins on the ride back, they didn't show up again, making us doubly grateful for seeing them that morning! Once we arrived back on Jeju, we found the bus that would take us back to Jeju-si and wearily climbed aboard, happy to just sit and relax on the ride to town.

The ferry arriving at the dock

Loading time

A truck backing onto the ferry

The vehicles had to back on for the return ferry ride

View of the boat dock from the ferry

Leaving U-do

The last ferry of the evening going to collect the stragglers on U-do

One last look back

Ali watching Seongsan Ilchulbong grow larger as we returned to Jeju-do

Korean tugboat in the harbour

A large ferry heading back to the mainland of South Korea

On our way back to our hotel from the bus terminal, we took a detour and walked back along the Jeju-si oceanfront. The sunset was rosy and beautiful and we enjoyed watching a few planes land at the nearby airport. Then, after a short rest at our hotel, we ventured back out into Jeju-si for one last taste of island cuisine. Well, actually, we opted for Indian food at a restaurant that was highly praised in online reviews. We liked it a lot, too, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is vacationing on Jeju-do!

Ali checking out the settings on the waterproof camera

And our third haenyeo statue of the day...

*These restaurant pictures are a bit blurry, but we still wanted to include them in our memories of our last day on Jeju-do

Our last meal out on Jeju-do