Jeju Island - Day 1

For Labor Day weekend, Ben and I took off on a group tour to Jeju (aka Cheju, Chejudo, JeJudo) Island. It is a Korean Island just south of the Korean peninsula and I've heard it called the "Hawaii of Korea." I think I remember people saying Okinawa was the "Hawaii of Japan," so if that's true, while I haven't actually been to Hawaii, I've been to islands similar...or so other people have said. Anyway, we spent three days there and since each day was jam packed I'm going to make each day a separate entry. First of all, I did not really like the group tour experience, but thankfully the tour guide was flexible. The flight to Jeju island was a little less than one hour. Once we got there we had lunch and then went straight into touring the island. First up was Hallim Park which actually had a lot to offer. The first picture I have is Ben and I there. In the picture I am touching the nose of a grandfather lava stone statue, which legend has it if women touch the nose of one of these statutes (they are everywhere around the island) they will have a son. We'll see. At Hallim Park there were lava tubes (much like what we had seen when we were at Craters of the Moon NP in Idaho), a bonzai and stone garden, tropical garden, water garden and a small folk village. Next we went to Hyopje Beach (second picture) which represents what most of the beaches on Jeju island look like. After that was the O'Sullok green tea museum which included a taste of green tea ice cream (third picture) and a walk through tea fields. Although I do like ice cream, this ice cream was not as sweet as I like and it really did taste like green tea. It was ok. We were ahead of schedule so we went to see Cheonjiyeon waterfall (fourth picture) before we went to dinner. The waterfall was really beautiful and afterwards we were able to try some of the local pineapple and bought some tangerines (the prize fruit of the island). Dinner was a taste of Jeju black pork which is five alternating layers of meat and fat. It was really fatty, but since it was a local favorite, I tried it and it was ok. Ben was fine eating it. The last picture was taken at the restaurant from the balcony we ate on. The lights in the background are actually squid boats in the ocean. Finally we got to our hotel and went to sleep.