Chuja Island

It's a week before we leave for our 1 yr anniversary trip to Sri Lanka and we are busy busy busy!! We are starting to pack up and clean our apartment for the big move. Tomorrow evening we will be moving things into the KIS storage unit. We also just bought a car! It's a 1999 automatic black Musso SUV! However, we don't have a driver's license yet so on Friday before our flight to Sri Lanka, we have to stop at the embassy and get our US license approved. Then we have to go take a test in jeju at the DMV and get our Korean driver's license. We are also doing last minute things to prepare for the KIS orientation. When we get back from our 9 day trip, we will officially move out of our current apartment, then will be moving into a hotel in Shin Jeju for a few weeks during our orientation, and then finally the first or second week of September we will be moving on campus at the new school. So many exciting changes!!!


So since we are so busy, we wanted to have one relaxing weekend to ourselves. This past weekend, instead of doing the beer pong competition that we were tempted to be apart of, we decided to explore Chuja Island. It's an hour boat ride from Jeju and is 2 islands connected together with many little surrounding islands (with no people). We went just the two of us and packed our camping stuff, fishing poles, snorkels and masks, frisbee and other games to play. We were both surprised at how beautiful and unique this little area is. There is a small population on the island and there is only one foreign teacher out there. The ferry getting out there was nice and quick but made me feel a little sea sick because we rocked back and forth so much.

When we got to the island, we started the ole trail that takes you around the island. Since it was a very hot, humid and sunny day and since we were wearing our backpacks, it was an intense workout. We probably walked the first day for 6 hours! Keith was such a trooper. The big backpack that he was wearing which had the tent weighed about 50 lbs! Almost every Korean that we passed along the ole trail made notice of his strength and ability to carry it during the hike. The ole trail took us through forests, up many many hills (I felt like we were always going uphill! haha), by temples, and along the ocean. Check out all the beautiful pictures I took. We found many little secret spots that were off the ole trail that we went and rested at or snorkeled at. And we met many Korean travelers from Jeju or the mainland, as well as locals on the island. We accidentally hitchhiked a few times (were offered a ride by some locals). We were very grateful for those rides since all we were doing is walking and walking. lol The whole weekend was great. We snorkeled several times and saw some pretty fish. Keith even saw 2 octopus and I saw a starfish along with some colorful fish. I was wearing my five finger shoes the entire weekend and they were so practical. Great for hiking and walking uphill, and perfect for in the water. So far, they have been a great purchase. Other things we did were played some frisbee, ate some local fish, and camped at a private lil area at the top of a hill which overlooked the ocean. We set our tent up on a gazebo so as not to get wet in case it rained and for an even surface underneath us(no rocks). We loved this spot and had a fun time camping. I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more camping now that we have a car too.

I loved the whole weekend and it really sums up how Keith and I want to live our life....enjoying nature, taking adventures, discovering new areas/cultures, meeting new people, and spending quality time together. It was perfect!