Keith and I decided to take a trip to the south end of the island since I still had never been to the most popular beach in Jeju- Jungmun beach. I don't know why I haven't found the time to go there but this past weekend seemed just perfect because we had a free weekend to explore.
We first went and saw Seongbansan Mountain....a beautiful rock cliff with patches of grass on top. If you climb up near the top, you can find a water temple which is neat to see. A five minute walk from the mountain will take you to the beautiful Yeongmari Coast. Keith has been there before to surf in the area. He was excited to show me the area, however, that day the tide was high and waves were strong so the path was closed. That's ok though. We'll be living very close to the area soon (maybe 20 mins away?) so we'll go another time.
Then we went to one of the many fun little touristy museums on the island. We had heard good things about the new Ripley's Believe It Or Not, so we went there to check it out. I had only peeked into a Ripley's in LA in the past but did not spend much time in there so it was pretty fun and interesting to see this one. Ripley has traveled all over the world, meeting incredibly unique people or traditions/cultures and he shares them at this museum (in case you have never been to one). For example, we saw a model and video of the tallest man in the world, along with the shortest man. There was also a picture of the longest finger nails and a man who could pop his pupils out of his eye sockets! So strange! And then there was a car made all out of cardboard and a wedding dress made out of toilet paper. One of the oddest things we saw though was a shrunken head. It is a tradition in one of the tribes in East Timore to melt the head down to a tiny size when someone dies to keep their spirit and soul with the tribe. I just couldn't believe the process that they use and how much the face looked exactly the same but 10 times smaller! Check out the picture! There was also interesting and shocking facts around the whole museum. One area that Keith and I were surprised to see was a torture chamber. It was a spooky area with tons of torture weapons that have been used in different countries. Honestly, it was I think a little too much for the kids who were visiting. One girl was crying because she was so scared to pass by the area to get to the next spot! Poor kid. All in all, I think they put a lot of time and effort into the museum. Keith and I were there for about 3 hours and I think we could have been there the entire day reading all the interesting facts. Since we love traveling and learning about new cultures it was a great place for us to check out.
After exploring the museum, we had a sandwich at Kraze Burger (Keith loves this place) and then we took a 5 minute walk down to Jungmun beach. The sun was just setting and we just relaxed there and enjoyed watching one Korean woman do a little photo shoot with her husband. It was so funny to see.
The beach had a lot of people but it wasn't too packed, probably because it was overcast that day. The Hyatt Resort overlooks the beach on one side, and on the other side there is a food area which is part of a cave/cliff. Really cool! There are also some ajummnas (older woman) selling some seafood and other snacks near the beach. The sand is pretty soft but also very sticky. It's impossible to get the sand off of you!
We ended up staying at the beach for a few hours then having dinner at the Hyatt resort. I had gnocchi(yum, what a treat!) and Keith had a pasta dish and we both ordered fresh juices. It was a fantastic weekend!
Oh and here are a few photos of the view from our rooftop of our apartment. We can see the ocean and port and many colorful buildings. I can't believe we will only be living here for another week, then we have our big move! I will try to take pictures as soon as we move in, which won't be until about the second week of September. I also have a picture of flooding on our rooftop. I go up there sometimes to workout and when I went up there that day, I couldn't believe the water was so high! It only lasted about a day though and then it drained and dried up. Good thing rainy season is over! Now it's just hot and humid. Oh, the hot summer days! It's a love-hate relationship. :)
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