Grad trip - Day 4
The jellyfish is back! This post is about my Day 4 out of the 12 days grad trip in South Korea! ^^
It is a long post, but if you are interested to read about my experience, please do so. :)
Day 3: http://jellyunderthesea.blogspot.sg/2017/05/grad-trip-day-3.html
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Day 4: Jeju Island - Seogwipo
After the walk, we headed straight back up to the near
entrance of the resort complex. We wanted to take an alternative route, but it
seems like the green line that leads to the Seogwipo bus terminal requires a
certain distance of walking, and we are simply lazy to risk it and walk there.
The uphill walk is fine, we waited at a bus stop and saw the black couple from
earlier. They were travelling to somewhere else, and said goodbye to us. =) Meanwhile,
I tried to look at the Jeju map for the correct bus to the Seogwipo bus
terminal, and concluded that since our bus line on the map is blue in colour,
and the bus stop also has a light / dark blue colour, thus any bus that passes
by should also be correct. Alright, don’t need to give the “wtf are you talking
about” expression, we both knew it was wrong, but just sort of YOLO and took
the bus that passed by anyway. XD We took bus 5 (it turned out to be a brown
line), and it passed by many ulu places and private accommodations. A rather
long bus ride, but the hope of going back to the accommodation facility is
revived as Jeff saw a 740+ bus when we were nearing the Seogwipo rotary (a
roundabout). Not wanting to go astray from a safe observation, we alighted from
the bus. Some people will panic if they miss a stop in SG, but here we are just
YOLO on a bus to an unknown location in a foreign country. Amazing stuff people
do when they travel. XD
The Seogwipo town area seems to be quite crowded for an evening, at least more populated than the Jeju accommodation area. We walked around for a bit, and proceeded to a family style restaurant for dinner. I had fish cutlet rice which was delicious, but I don’t find that really different from the ones I had in SG. The side dishes were standard, but this time there was green rubbery seaweed that was not bad! My fish cutlet rice also came along with a small serving of refreshing fruit salad that went along quite well with the honey mustard sauce for the fish fillet. =P Before we left, SY suggested buying some kimbap as a snack. I got myself a cheese kimbap for 3.5kW, and SY bought a beef version. I realised that the kimbap station is separated from the kitchen, as there was a dedicated station holding the rice, seaweed and other fillings. I guess that place must have sold kimbap separately during other hours of operation. Very convenient for a quick sales in my opinion. Anyway, I learnt that Korean restaurants’ waiters are familiar with the English term ‘takeaway’, as SY didn’t know the Korean equivalent term and just used the English one. It works!
After dinner, we headed back to Jeju province after purchasing tickets (3.3kW) from a small counter that looks like an ex-terminal which resembles a bus stop. The bus ride is a roller coaster experience, as the driver is literally weaving through the small roads at fast speeds in the dark. Is he racing or something? Anyway, that sorts of show that the night countryside roads in Jeju seem to be very smooth. I forced myself to sleep in the bus to prevent being giddy, and after about 50 minutes of intense riding, we reached the bus terminal. SY suggested that we get a cab back to our accommodation facility after we realised that there is only 1 bus back and that will take quite long. Not sure what is wrong, but a lot of cab drivers do not recognize the location (Tapdong-ro) even though the location appears on the signboard. Probably the distance is near and they do not want to fetch us. Anyway, we got a cab finally, but as someone horned him from behind, he was kind of pissed off and we had another rage mode taxi ride all the way back to the accommodation facility. That was a dizzy ride, and Jeff was in a confused state after going back. The laundry still wasn’t dry, and thus SY suggested drying them in the washer even though it is a dry-spin option instead of a proper drying option. We tried to figure out the controls once more to see if we had more luck, but to no avail. Ah whatever, we left the clothes on the clothes horse, ate some kimbap with pickles and rested for the night. There wasn’t a lot of cheese, but still a decent kimbap after a tough ride is still not bad. =P Thats about it for the day, it was a fun day 4! =D
It is a long post, but if you are interested to read about my experience, please do so. :)
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Day 4: Jeju Island - Seogwipo
The sunrise timing in Jeju seems to be about the same as Seoul, being totally bright at 6am, and with a very cold accommodation facility, it is a bright and beautiful morning in Jeju. Waiting for SY to wake up, I did some puzzles and had my breakfast of sandwich and white chocolate tart. The tart’s filling is rather plain, but the crust has a melt-in-your mouth feel, decent! About 2 hours later, SY woke up and we proceeded to do our laundry with the washing machine. Alright, a big challenge which we will not face in SG is the instructions of the washing machine as everything is in Korean! After Jeff got bored of finding some instructions using the dictionary / online translators, we just YOLO-ed and threw in our clothes with 1/3 of the bottle detergent and hoping the settings are correct.
That is when things got disastrous! After we took out the clothes, we realized that half of our clothes have orange patches! It shouldn’t be some random dye stains as the extent of damage seems to be too elaborated for some pieces! O_O So we just sorted out our clothes (sadly) and leave it to dry on the clothes horse. The socks and shorts are totally unaffected, the underwear and 2 of my clothes had some orange stains, while my snoopy shirt is totally destroyed. T.T I like that shirt sia. My parents bought it for me at Toa Payoh Bossini the day before my CE9002 exam. Ah oh well, there is nothing much we could do. Suspecting it is chlorine stains, we went back to the shop and bought another bottle of detergent. I took my dictionary with me just in case. Jeff took a bottle he seen the night before, and properly read out the Korean words, and that’s when he see the CHLORINE in Korean, big and easy to read! How could 2 guys missed that out!? O_O Anyway, we managed to find a nice small bottle of detergent (with the correct words) on it. After we got back, we realized that the clothes heavily reeked of chlorine, and quickly threw in the clothes again with detergent. While waiting, we walked along the streets of Jeju. Ok, much lesser than people than Seoul in the day, a lighter traffic too. There are some traditional shops that sell the different kind of rice cakes and fruits. Ah speaking about fruits, there are A LOT of oranges! I remembered SH said something about Jeju oranges, but we didn’t buy them. SY went to GS25 to buy some beverages, and was happy to see that the girl from the previous night is still there. =P
1110hrs: We hanged our clothes on the clothes horse, and quickly proceeded to the bus stop near Seomun market. On the map, it looks pretty far, but in reality it is shorter. =D We waited for the Jeju tourist bus which comes on an hourly basis during office hours. It is a standard nice bus, costing 1.2kW per entry, regardless of how far you go. It goes to various tourist attractions in the Jeju province, and you will be in luck if any of your attraction is in your route. =D Not sure why it passes by the market, but it certainly benefits us. =P 11.29hrs (on the dot), the bus arrived. We boarded and admired the scenery outside. There’s a Yongduam rock which we missed, but nevertheless the north coastal breeze is still great! It is the first time I boarded a short distance bus in Korea. (The express bus terminal one is considered long) Well their system is about the same as SG, you can tap in and out for normal buses, and pay cash if that is not available / for special buses like this. We saw the Jeju Airport, car-rental places, and the beautiful trees and plants on the roadside. So they said SG is a garden city, I guess this part of Jeju island is comparable to SG then. :D Nearing to noon, we alighted at the Jeju Intercity bus terminal (a small one). That is the place to go if a person wishes to leave the Jeju province. The tourist info center staff told us in Chinese to proceed to the ticket counter and say out the location, pay up and the process would be completed. Two tickets for us, 2.8kW each, and we were on our way. Since the air is rather cooling, the bus air-con doesn’t operate, and instead the air comes from the windows. It is a smooth ride (even though there are lots of stops). We passed by some long ulu countryside roads, expressways, random universities. Eventually, we reached the Jungmun Resort Complex entrance after an hour or so.
Ok, it is a beautiful place with various man-made attractions. The place looks really similar to Sentosa, with places to eat, natural and synthetic scenery, and even accommodation / hotels for people to stay in. SY suggested getting some lunch, and after rejecting all sorts of random shouting for going to GS25, we went to KFC. Overall, the outlet organization is close enough to the SG style, the colour, tables, and “chicken from kitchen” English wordings are about the same. The dustbin requires you to differentiate your trash (including the ice cubes), and the drinks are to be filled by yourself (similar to SG subway). In SG, I usually put down all the stuff I want in a memo and then show the cashier the order due to the confusion nature of my order, and thus I used a similar approach except that this time all the words are in Korean! =D I had a Tower Burger set (a zinger burger with another hash brown patty, fries, drinks) and another extra coleslaw. My order number was 54, and I was told to get my order after the cashier called out the number. 3 (sam) and 4 (sa) can be really confusing at times. The coleslaw packaging is different from SG, as the one in Korea looks very pre-packed with a plastic top. The food quality is about the same, not bad. To eat the coleslaw, they provide you with a small strip of paper-like material (unlike SG where they give a plastic spoon). Kind of flimsy, but I managed to survive with it. The coleslaw is disastrous and tastes like some sour frozen vegetables. >.< I guess the hot kimchi and vegetables side dishes are much better ya?
After lunch, we proceeded straight to the botanic gardens. There are really a lot of attractions in the JRC such as some K-pop facility, chocolate attraction? If we had more days and our accommodation is in Seogwipo, I would have probably asked SY if he wanted to see more stuff, but oh well. The Yeomiji Botanical Gardens is said to be the largest botanical gardens in Asia, and so it was a place I wanted to see when I was planning the grad trip timetable. I am a noob level in terms of identifying plants, but it will definitely be good to know more and take some pictures as memories. =) The ticket price is 9kW ($11) and into the attraction we go! So there’s this very large greenhouse at the main entrance, with the standard fountain decorations and small plants to show a nice entrance of the attraction. Greenhouse first then, and wow it is definitely warmer and more comfortable than being the cold. XD There is some soft background music to make the place less quieter, a lift to the observatory at the top of the glasshouse, an atrium of shops for snacking, souvenir shopping, face-sketching, etc. The glasshouse has a partition of smaller gardens, each having its own theme to showcase the different classes of plants.
The first internal garden is the Flower garden, and as the name suggests, there is a large variety of potted plants in the area. The names are quite complicated, and I don’t know how to read more than half the names. XD So other than flowers, they also build small tree shelters to simulate a outdoor garden environment, a pond in the middle, mosses and trees. The place is beautiful, and it is really perfect for a warm quiet walk by yourself. At the back of the garden, there is a small area where a 2D-array of potted flowers were displayed, and they were meant for some gifts to North Korea. Hmm ok.
The second internal garden is the Aquatic garden. Plants that usually grow around water areas such as ponds / wetlands / mangroves can be found in this garden. The plants I see in SG are definitely nowhere near the water, as they are either by the roadsides or are potted plants grown in the HDB areas. XD An interesting plant is the very tall Bottle Palm tree, which the trunk has some bulging area until the whole thing just looks like a bottle / gourd. Has anyone seen this in SG before? A mini waterfall also exists in the garden, with some small beautiful flowers hovering just above the water. Serenity checked. The plants in this exhibit are generally quite tall, but if you were to ask me to identify these plants in a real life situation without the water background, I will still not be able to identify them. They seriously just look like trees you may see in forests. =/
The third internal garden is the Cactus garden, with all the different kind of cactuses and plants that can survive in the really hot climate. The garden sure felt warmer than other internal gardens and the atrium, probably that is so to optimize the living conditions of the plants. A stereotype cactus image for myself will be a short fat cactus, with many thorns suitable for people who are a pain in their ass, and perhaps a flower as an extra decoration. This cactus garden breaks that view and showcased cactus of varying heights, with some even taller than normal trees you see from the roadside. Wow! They come in different shapes too, like flattened versions that stick to trees, uneven surfaces instead of the standard circular configuration, cucumber-like shapes, etc. Some cactus have a light colour too. There is also an aloe-vera similar kind of plant in the cactus area, but it looks very dry too. This garden does not have a pond so as to be consistent with the hot climate, but rather it has a plain road / sandy ground to show the dryness of that place. There are also some external cactus-like decorations that strangely looks like a penis. -_- Did someone have a hard life while working in the botanical gardens? Not sure what’s the point of that.
The fourth internal garden is the Jungle garden, a place that simulates a tropical forest. Alright, the place seems a bit darker due to the dense covering of the tree cover, but the layout is still nice. There are the normal shrubs, ferns, in the garden. For some reason, there are statues of pre-historic creatures being displayed in the garden, probably showing the ancient life of the past? There is also a pond (illustrating a swamp) in the garden with fake crocodiles and real kois. All the tall trees in here, nothing really special. Well alright, some plants have a very nice symmetrical shape, perhaps an intro to group theory course could use a picture and ask the students to find the order of the plant group. XD
The fifth internal garden is the Tropical Fruits garden, and in my opinion is quite different from what I had expected. So what I had in mind is that the tall trees in the garden would have the fruits growing on them, since they are real and all. The actual reality is that the trees are there, but the fruits cannot be seen at all! What is nice is that there is a box containing a sample fruit, with a description on the signboard in front / beside the tree. There are the usual kinds of fruits that we see in SG, jackfruits, bananas, guavas. However, there are some special ones such as eggfruit, strawberry guava, Macadamia, etc. All those cookies, and yet I have never seen a proper nut. =P The banana tree has bananas though, even though I don’t remember them growing so high up on the tree, shouldn’t bananas be growing on the trees but nearer to the ground level relatively? Hmm. =/
At 2.35pm, we decided to go for a short break. I had the mini dotz ice-cream which I didn’t have it for very long in SG! Back in Unity / BP, there was this mini dotz vending machine on the 2nd level of Lot 1, but it got removed quite quickly after as there wasn’t much business? Ok, relieve memories with the original fruity flavour. Delicious! It is not as milky as the SG version though, but the fruity flavour is definitely there and it gives me an ice pop feeling. After the break, we went up to the observatory via the elevator. Jeff was simply stuck at the 5th level as he didn’t dare to climb up any higher, so SY went up and took a video of the JRC view. (Thanks SY!) Ok, lots of trees everywhere, there is a nice view of the facilities and the sea of the complex, and the view of the external gardens is beautiful too. Since we still got some exploration left to do, we didn’t stay for long up there.
The second part of the botanical gardens exploration is visiting the external gardens. Unlike the interior where gardens are classified by the plants’ classes, the external gardens are classified according to the country styles. The air is amazingly cooling. Jeju is warmer than Seoul (probably due to the passing of a few days and the geographical location), but the plants in this area simply make the air much fresher and clean. =) So we walked along the tram rides (blue lines) and enjoyed the wind and beauty of the plants. The first external garden is the Japanese garden, decorated with quite a lot of standard trees, pond with kois, and stone decorations. The gardens are a bit small though, but definitely comfortable. There is also a small pavilion for resting. Perhaps it is the wrong season or other reasons, there is no Sakura trees there. =P The second external garden is the Korean garden, which surprisingly looks kind of empty, but has a large area in front of some brick walls. I feel that the outside garden of the Seoul palaces look nicer than the current one. The Korean garden has a much larger pond though, with those traditional pavilions painted in red for people to rest in. Perhaps it is their culture to blend architecture with water bodies. An interesting combination. For both of the gardens, the plants are not exactly fantastic or special, but rather you see how the gardens are organized, and the focus is more on the decorations that make the gardens special.
Throughout the various garden stops, there are a lot of small statues in front of plants, which SY said that they are called goblins. Does anyone know about the origin of the goblins? Are they used to protect items from being stolen? =/ Should have read about them but oh well. The third external garden is the Italian garden, which shows a beautiful curve of red bricks and waterfall after climbing down a few steps down. The bottom level of the red bricks is an indoor shelter for people to view the water, while the top level of the red bricks is a small garden of plants on the stone railings and the source of the waterfall. Very little plants, but beautiful design. Two pairs of side staircases with bricks supporting the mini trees lead to a maze at the bottom. We didn’t go down to the maze, and headed back to the main route. Nearing to the opposite end of the entrance, we saw an area which is not an attraction, and doesn’t seem to be available for the public. Nevertheless, we went in to take a look. The area is filled with many white tents, warmer and has a very large variety of small potted plants arranged neatly. They seem to be under conservation / care by the gardeners and are in really nice states. SY felt that they were protected plants or items that were on standby for other events. The tram route also has many side plants and greeneries decorating the area. Even though they are not explicitly mention, their aesthetic view is simply beautiful. =)
We walked for quite a big round, and saw a group of people who suspiciously sound like Singaporeans, but didn’t say hi to them. The fourth external garden we saw is the French garden and that is when we realized that the maze is actually the garden! -_- Ok, confusing routes which we didn’t walk into, nice white shelters at the corners of the park, clean and neat. We continued to walk uphill, breathing in the fresh air. SY seems tired and just wanted to get out of the place. Nearing to a corner, we saw a side path of grass with a rocky road, and wow there is a dragon bridge in the near distant! I called that the dragon bridge because the decorations on the side looks like white dragons, but the actual name is called the Seonimgyo bridge. Aiya, dragon bridge sounds cooler luh. =D There seems to be some other external gardens, but it seems like we missed out some of them or they are under construction. At about 3.40pm, we came back to the entrance of the botanical gardens.
We decided to take a rest and waited for a tram. A nice
cooling sit, with many noisy flowers passing by and making a lot of noise. Are
they from a school or something? It is rather random to have an excursion on a
Tuesday afternoon. When the tram came, we boarded the 1st carriage
right behind the driver’s seat. The doors are automatic, but the windows could
be opened just like any other closed door trams. Not many people on our tram,
and so we just camped a bit. That’s when Jeff’s blunder happens! >.< The
lady driver came to us and asked us if we had tickets, and we obviously didn’t
have them. Not sure if SY is joking, but he asked me to show the entrance
tickets which I obviously knew wouldn’t work, but I still took them out anyway.
When the lady shook her head, I quickly looked at the price stated on other
passengers’ tickets, and quickly took out 2kW to pay her. Just when I thought
that the problem was settled as we had paid her the correct price, she walked
all the way into the indoor area, and came out like 5 minutes later. Our best
guess is that she went in to buy two tickets for us, and self-collected as a
procedure. I felt EXTREMELY GUILTY. >.< Without intention, I troubled an
elder person to do something for me. SY was like laughing all the way
throughout the tram journey, while I am trying to familiarize with saying
“Sorry for the tickets”. =/ After the ride, I just apologized and the lady was
nice by smiling and saying it is ok. Such honesty and friendliness from her,
someone give her a prize please! With that, we ended a very nice exploration of
Yeomiji Botanic gardens. A nice place to visit in Jeju! =D
4.20pm, SY was hesitating on whether we should visit the
Cheonjeyeon waterfalls that is situated right beside the botanic gardens. In
the end, we still visited anyway for an entrance fee of 2.5kW. An auspicious
temple at the top which we didn’t visit and a fountain of 5 blessing creatures
greeted us in the entrance. So the main point of this attraction is that the
waterfalls and water areas are supposedly beautiful in this forested area. It
is everyday you get to see beautiful scenic waterfalls. The waterfalls from a far
view are very nice, you get the overall picture with the trees complementing
the background. The sounds of the waterfall are in-sync with the background,
with streams harmonizing like a beautiful tune, under the golden sunshine with
a cool breeze supporting the nice and serenade weather. So much bullshit in the
previous sentence could be summarised with the sentence that the waterfall view
is nice, and the weather is cold. J
We crossed the dragon bridge (damn high, very cold) and woah, the view of the
trees below is simply amazing! We can see the top of almost every tree from
that height! The bridge has stone latterns on the side, very traditional and
artistic.
Getting to the waterfall is an exercise. We have to climb
down a lot of steep staircases just to get a closer look of the waterfalls. The
park has some exercise facilities too, but I doubt anyhow uses them. So we got
down quite a bit, and wow that viewing spot has a lot of tourists! Many couples
are there taking photos of each other, pretty nice. For me, I took some videos
as a memory as pictures wouldn’t tell much in such a scene. That should be the
3rd waterfall in Cheonjeyon Falls. Once we are done, we took the
flights of staircases up the original point. It is damn shag, and I am
definitely like “woah omg why aren’t we up there yet”. SY seems to be tired
too, although he isn’t showing it. =P We had actually planned to hike a
mountain the next day, but after that staircase experience, it seemed like more
vertical challenges isn’t that good an idea after all. XD Although that is so,
we still went down to see a stagnant pool, which is even deeper than the 3rd
waterfall. The pool is a very quiet pool, no waterfalls, and the water surface
is so calm without any wind. Many tourists skip over the small rocks to get as
close as possible to the shallow water to take a photo with the rock background
behind. Reminds me of the Kung Fu Panda Inner Peace. =P
At 5pm, we left the waterfalls. We walked down the stone
paths and proceeded to the beach. Passed by the forested area of the falls,
some under construction buildings, and many beautiful trees in the area. It
will be very nice to hold SH’s hands and walk down, like in drama shows. =P
After 15 minutes, we reached the proper resort area that is just above the
beach. The wind is even colder here, but the view of the water is just damn
nice. We walked inside the area, and apparently there is a sea animal show,
nice carpark, a few unknown buildings and restaurants. The height somewhat
resembles the top of a small cliff as compared to the beach. We sat down and
rested for a bit at the benches, while I drank my orange juice. It must be a
nice place, since tourists were taking photos with various random objects that
were in that scene. There was also an elderly man selling various products such
as selfie sticks, but in the end he spent a lot of time to help the tourists to
take a pair / group photo, how kind! After the short rest, we started to walk
along the edge of the cliff. There was a black couple on holiday, and they
asked SY for help to take a picture of them. They were laughing at the pose
they were taking and seemed to enjoy themselves, which is great! =D The view of
the waves crashing on the rocks is beautiful. When the whole place has nobody
around, it is just the sound of the waves and the wind, something very
difficult to get in SG. I stopped and stared at the sea for a few minutes,
while SY breathed in the nice Jeju air. I suggested to SY that imagine if
someone were to shout out all their worries at that spot, or to write down
their worries in bottles, throw into the sea and hope they will not get washed
to the shore. That is the way to destress if a person has nobody to talk to. SY
seems to be uninterested and called that a therapy application. =/ Such fresh
air from Southern Jeju will not be seen again. I took a video capturing the
scenes of that place. =)
The Seogwipo town area seems to be quite crowded for an evening, at least more populated than the Jeju accommodation area. We walked around for a bit, and proceeded to a family style restaurant for dinner. I had fish cutlet rice which was delicious, but I don’t find that really different from the ones I had in SG. The side dishes were standard, but this time there was green rubbery seaweed that was not bad! My fish cutlet rice also came along with a small serving of refreshing fruit salad that went along quite well with the honey mustard sauce for the fish fillet. =P Before we left, SY suggested buying some kimbap as a snack. I got myself a cheese kimbap for 3.5kW, and SY bought a beef version. I realised that the kimbap station is separated from the kitchen, as there was a dedicated station holding the rice, seaweed and other fillings. I guess that place must have sold kimbap separately during other hours of operation. Very convenient for a quick sales in my opinion. Anyway, I learnt that Korean restaurants’ waiters are familiar with the English term ‘takeaway’, as SY didn’t know the Korean equivalent term and just used the English one. It works!
After dinner, we headed back to Jeju province after purchasing tickets (3.3kW) from a small counter that looks like an ex-terminal which resembles a bus stop. The bus ride is a roller coaster experience, as the driver is literally weaving through the small roads at fast speeds in the dark. Is he racing or something? Anyway, that sorts of show that the night countryside roads in Jeju seem to be very smooth. I forced myself to sleep in the bus to prevent being giddy, and after about 50 minutes of intense riding, we reached the bus terminal. SY suggested that we get a cab back to our accommodation facility after we realised that there is only 1 bus back and that will take quite long. Not sure what is wrong, but a lot of cab drivers do not recognize the location (Tapdong-ro) even though the location appears on the signboard. Probably the distance is near and they do not want to fetch us. Anyway, we got a cab finally, but as someone horned him from behind, he was kind of pissed off and we had another rage mode taxi ride all the way back to the accommodation facility. That was a dizzy ride, and Jeff was in a confused state after going back. The laundry still wasn’t dry, and thus SY suggested drying them in the washer even though it is a dry-spin option instead of a proper drying option. We tried to figure out the controls once more to see if we had more luck, but to no avail. Ah whatever, we left the clothes on the clothes horse, ate some kimbap with pickles and rested for the night. There wasn’t a lot of cheese, but still a decent kimbap after a tough ride is still not bad. =P Thats about it for the day, it was a fun day 4! =D
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If you would like to read more about my experiences, you may click on the links below. :)
Day 3: http://jellyunderthesea.blogspot.sg/2017/05/grad-trip-day-3.html
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