I've been trying to no avail to watch the Iowa State basketball game (dang it, March Madness!) online fo' free. No dice, so I'll write a blog post instead :)
Wednesday morning, we flew to Jeju for a few days. Last year when I went at the same time, it was so nice and refreshing, but this year it was cold and cloudy. And cold! Just ask Kris. We stayed at Backpacker's Inn, which was awesome! They were so helpful, the rooms were really nice and we loved spending time in their adjoined cafe at night, playing cards, listening to music and partaking in beverages, not to mention, their breakfast was bomb, once someone helped start our burner to fry eggs. Some things in Korea will always be confusing. The first night, we took a little walk to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. Then, we walked around the harbor in search of a certain seafood restaurant that had been recommended to us. When we found it, and it was closed, we settled for the restaurant next door. We ordered a broiled mackerel, a bowl of abalone porridge and a plate of assorted raw fish. YUM. Everything was delicious, even more so after the restaurant proprietor (who watched us eat our entire meal...) gave Bob and Kris forks for the slippery and hard to handle fish. Awesome.
The next day, we took a bus (yikes! I hate unfamiliar buses!) to Hallim Park for the day. What a circus that place is! There was so much contained in this park that it easily took us the better part of the day to explore everything. We saw all kinds of different kinds of plants and rare reptiles, a small folk village, a bunch of birds (why on Earth are ostriches sooooo awkward?), a couple of caves and several winding paths of rock formations. That night, we gathered at our hostel for a barbecue. Awesome.
The next day, we hired a delightful man named Mr. Kim to drive us around in his pimped-out taxi all day. We conquered the east side of the island, seeing all the sights. Such sights included, but were not limited to a crater or two, the beach, the largest lava tube in the world, the potential for old ladies diving for fresh seafood but not actually doing so, a folk village and about 200 meters of Korea's largest mountain. Oh, and lots of radishes and burial plots. It was a big day, people! We ended the night with some tasty fried chicken, a lesson in Korean writing and a Korean band's take on Just the Two of Us. If you ask me, it was perfect.
Our last day entailed a trip across the harbor's bridge and going to the airport... big stuff. BUT, when we arrived back to Gwangju that evening after traveling by bus, plane, subway and bus respectively, I took Bob and Kris to my favorite barbecue joint in Gwangju for a late dinner. They enjoyed grilling their own meat, rolling it in lettuce leaves, and eating kimchi, of course. They also sampled octopus. It wasn't their favorite. And, that's just fine :)
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