The 11th through the 13th we were part of a trip to Jeju Island. Half of the people were USAF and the other half were ROKAF. It was a fun experience and I'm glad we were able to go. We flew in a C-130 to Jeju.

I hadn't been on one since Iraq, and certainly haven't ever been on one owned by someone other than the U.S. The flight was uneventful, which is always good. Here is a picture of Mt Halla, the tallest peak in South Korea.

After we landed we got on a bus and headed for Hallim Park. On the way there though we stopped off to get a snack. One of Ben's co-workers is collecting Soju from different parts of Korea, so Ben bought 2 bottles at the store. When we were checking out one of the ROKAF member's asked Ben if he knew what he was buying, perhaps thinking we thought it was water and accidentally bought soju. Ben said he knew and I was a little embarrassed. It was in the middle of the day. Ben then was called out on the bus so everyone knew he just bought 2 bottles of Soju. Ben was a good sport about I. I thought for sure we were in trouble that night because the Koreans like their Soju and I thought we'd have to drink a lot at dinner because they already thought we liked it a lot. Enough to buy it in the middle of the day. :) Thankfully, it seemed like people had forgotten by then. So we got to Hallim park and saw the same stuff that we saw before. Since we last were here in September, it did look different, but the lava tube looked the same, still cool, but the same. Here is the aisle of palm trees.

Then we went through the lava tubes, which are coated with limestone.

Next was the bonsai garden. We were told that Japanese bonsai are small and Korean bonsai are big. It had rock sculptures too.


Flower mode!!

We last saw the water area, which had a statue of a woman diver. Unfortunately the woman diver of Jeju island is dying out. Right now only woman divers can get seafood. Men are allowed to catch fish, but seafood is only caught by woman divers who go pretty deep without any breathing assistance.

After Hallim Park we got back on the bus and went to the Yongmeori Coast. On the way there our tour guide told us this coast compared to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately I've never seen the Grand Canyon up close (only from the air), but the coast was pretty amazing.





We were running late so we then all went to dinner and had some bulgogi. Yum. After dinner we checked in and took it easy the rest of the night.
The second day started out late for us, 9am. We first went to the Jeju Folk Village Museum, which was something new. It was similar to the one in Suwon, but of course different and Jeju specific. Even though it is part of Korea, things are a little different and more laid back in Jeju.








Of course a folk village wouldn't be complete without some traditional dancers.

We then went to Seongsan Ilchulbong or Sunrise peak. It was quite a few steps up to the top, but we quickly got up to top before most of the group. We then tried to see if we could find any woman divers, but we were out of luck. This area was so pretty.





We had lunch then went to see Jeongbang, a waterfall that is freshwater and goes into the saltwater of the sea.


It is pretty awesome. Here is Ben touching the water.

I always love taking these shots, not sure why, maybe it's because I have such a cute husband. Ben and I had some time so we saw some flowers and the top of the waterfall too.


Because of the weather we then went to Yakcheonsa temple instead of going on a yacht trip, which had healing waters so they say.



Our last day Ben and I went to see Cheonjeyeon waterfall. We took a taxi there and then ran back to the hotel. It felt good to run a little.




Here is our view from our hotel room, which was pretty nice.

Because it was such a beautiful morning, we were split into 2 groups to ride on 2 separate yachts. You had to wear a life jacket to and from the boat, but once on you could take it off.




The whole thing only lasted a little over an hour, but it was really nice. They had all kinds of drinks to include wine and soju.

Fruit, chocolate, sashmi (raw fish) and the fish that people caught were cut up and served to everyone. Ben was lucky to catch one.

The other yacht didn't catch any but we got several. It was a really nice trip.

We saw Mt Halla from a distance

and a few of the Korean couples sang karyoke.

We passed by the mystery road (where it looks like you are going up hill and speed up, but really it's an optical illusion and you are really going down hill), did some shopping and then got back on the plane. It really was a great trip and I'm glad Ben and I got to spend it together.
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