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!

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!

Huge unknown structure in Mokpo towering over the apartment buildings in the distance

It's the size of a hill!

Coming into the harbor at Wando

Nice catamaran

Our ferry, the Blue Narae

Heading to Jeju!

High-tech gangplank

Hey man

Ali

Tyler really enjoyed the leftover nori (roasted dried seaweed) we'd brought along.

Driving the boat

Looking down at the jet of water propelling the boat

Namsan and Mokpo

Day 5 of Quiring-family visit

Monday, July 2, was our last day in Seoul with my family. In the morning we hurriedly packed up the rest of our belongings in our apartment. Jonathan and my brother Tyler took a box of things to the post office to mail to Maine. Our friend Tete had told us we could leave our large suitcases - which my family would be taking back to BC with them when they flew home - in her apartment while we traveled to Jeju Island, so we took the rest of our suitcases down to her apartment below ours. Then Jonathan and I made a quick trip to the administration building to wrap up a few things, and said goodbye again to the people we met in the offices we went to. Finally we were back in our apartment, nearly ready to say goodbye to it. The last step before we left was to share the rest of our food with whoever could and would take it. Three of our friends who shared an apartment, Sandra, Rachel, and Leeza, were able to meet us at the apartment and between the three of them, they took the majority of the food we still had left over. After more hugs and some pictures together, they left to get back to work, and we finally headed out.

With all our backpacks and carry-on suitcases for our trip south, we caught two taxis to Namsan (South Mountain). Jonathan and I had been up Namsan two times already, but we really wanted my parent and Tyler to see Seoul from the top of the mountain, as well as go up N Seoul Tower and see the myriad love locks hanging all around the base of the tower. Since we hadn't been able to get there the day before, we decided to try to squeeze it in before we had to leave Seoul. Despite a lot of traffic, we finally got to the cable car station at the bottom of the mountain, bought our tickets, waited in a short line (during the wait we put all our bags in a storage room to pick up on the return trip), and soon were headed up the side of the mountain. Both my parents and Jonathan and I left love locks with the hundreds of thousands of others on the fences around N Seoul tower. Then we headed up the tower to see Seoul from the highest vantage point in the city.

Heading up the cable car

Cool mossy walls on the way up the stairs

Namsan is a popular destination for couples

Dad and Mum on a lovers bench (Photo from Glenda Quiring)

Christmas trees full of love locks (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

Our love locks - pink: parents and Ty & green: Jonathan and Ali (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

Seoul

Posing for a picture

N

Found Vancouver

All too soon, though, we had to head back down the cable car, and grab our luggage to get to the KTX (Korea Express Train) station. Our KTX train was leaving from a station in a different part of town than the one Jonathan and I had always used, so we weren't too sure how to get around. We hopped in two more taxis which drove wildly through heavy traffic in downtown Seoul, and got us to the station with about 15 minutes to spare before our train departed. We had already booked our tickets, but we ran into a slight snag when Jonathan went to the counter to pick up our tickets. The ticket information he had written down was not enough and he had to rush to a complimentary computer to sign in to the KTX website and find the information the ticket agent required. We were a little nervous about making our train, but Jonathan and my dad worked as a team to get the info and rush it back to the ticket agent. Seconds after handing the agent the info, they had our tickets and we all ran through the corridor and down the escalator. Our train was right in front of us as we got off the escalator and we didn't hesitate to jump onto the closest car. Once on the train, we walked through the cars to find the one we were assigned to, and a few minutes after finding our seats the train pulled out of the station, with us thankful to be on board.

The train ride to Mokpo was, as all KTX rides are, very pleasant and much too short. We got up to 305 km/h at a couple points earlier on in the trip, but during the latter half our speeds stayed down a ways as we were on curvier tracks and went through more tunnels and smaller villages. We arrived in Mokpo in about three hours and caught a taxi to a hotel we'd found in our guidebook. It was a good hotel with a nice view of the harbour a few streets away. After settling in and relaxing for a bit we headed out to explore that area of Mokpo. We wandered the streets, finding most stores already closed. That puzzled us since most Korean stores and restaurant we'd experienced stayed open later in the evening. After about 15 minutes of walking, though, we came upon a few pedestrian-only cobblestone streets with picturesque lights changing colour arching overhead. There we found plenty of stores and restaurants still open. Tyler was the one who got to pick our restaurant that evening and he picked a bustling Korean restaurant. We all ordered (rice for me as everything else on the menu indicated quite a bit of spice and heat), and our food came soon. Jonathan found a big dollop of pepper sauce sitting on top of his soup, which he mixed in with gusto. Within a few bites, though, he learned that had been a mistake. With each bite his mouth became hotter and hotter. A few minutes into his meal he wished he'd scooped half of the pepper sauce out and only mixed in half. My parents and Ty all tried Jonathan's soup and declared it the hottest meal at the table - and probably the hottest they'd ever tasted. After supper, we went next door to Baskin Robbins, which is very popular in Korea. Baskin Robbins stores are everywhere and are usually much cleaner and much more ritzy than in North America. Then after cooling our stomachs with ice cream, we wandered back to our hotel in the heavy mist/rain that had started falling while we were inside. Soon we were in bed ready to sleep before the next part of our journey in the morning.

Lights over the streets of Mokpo (Photo by Glenda Quiring)

Jonathan cutting his noodles before tasting his very spicy soup.
Noodle-cutting scissors are typical in Korean restaurants. (Photo by Glenda Quiring)