Weekend trip to Jeju Island! (Part 1)

And we're back on the mainland! The Jeju jaunt on the weekend went quite well and we hit most of our destinations. The flights themselves went smoothly and we had little trouble finding our way around the island. We had to check our maps a few times, but we didn't get lost. Our travels took us to Jeju City on the north side and Seogwipo on the south side. 

Getting there and back proved easy. Like I wrote below, getting through check-in and security was easy. We went from the front door to the waiting area in less than 30 minutes. I can't say the same for any time I've traveled in the US. Over there, it's "arrive 2 hours before takeoff," but over here, it's "arrive 45-60 minutes before takeoff" or something similar.

Here's what we saw or did:

Ate delicious barbecue black pig

Drank Jeju Orange makgeolli

Love Land

Cheonjiyeon Falls

Jeonbang Falls

Wandered south Seogwipo

Since we took many photos, part 1 will focus on food, drink, and Love Land. Part 2 will look at the both falls and will include some reflections from the trip.

We arrived at Jeju Airport at 5:30pm and immediately made for the information booth. The lady there handed us maps and bus information and helped us with the evening's plans for food and visiting Love Land. She spoke good English and highlighted our bus stops. We were to take a city bus to the restaurant and get a taxi to Love Land. From there, we'd take take a taxi back to the airport and pick up the #600 Airport Limo bus to Seogwipo. We did precisely that and rode the #5 bus out of the airport.

Black pig at Heuk Don Ga Restaurant

My intrepid co-teacher Mrs. J recommended it "one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten in." R and I couldn't agree more. We partook of the regular black pig and the marinated black pig to compare the two. Portions were generous and there were plenty of side dishes. While both agreed that black pig didn't taste significantly different than regular pig, the special sauce the restaurant served did set off the flavors. The sauce sat in a small cup on the wire grill. It acted as a marinade and had a savory punch to it. Between the two kinds of meat we ate, I liked the regular black pig the most.

Heuk Don Ga's easy to find: It's a block away from the Halla University bus stop. It's hard to miss thanks to having two buildings and a large facade. While walking inside, we noticed a three story black pig restaurant across the street. Both establishments were doing a lively business as well. Think of that though: a multi-story restaurant dedicated to barbecue. If the place is that big and that busy, then they know their stuff. 

As for prices, we paid 34,000 for the spread you see above. Two portions of meat at 14,000 and a 6,000 bottle of tasty makgeolli. The makgeolli (I forgot the name) cost more than usual, but it was tasty. This blog, http://blog.daum.net/wirbel/15522679, has many excellent pictures of Heuk Don Ga. It's in Korean, but the pictures tell the story.

Drinks: Jeju, Jeju Orange, and Olleh makgeolli; Hallasan Soju

One thing I enjoy about Korea is trying the makgeolli in different regions of the country. It can change in subtle ways depending on your place in the country. The Jeju and Olleh brands tasted more or less like carbonated makgeolli: Creamy, but not too thick. The Jeju Orange stuff, on the other hand, was a treat, for it's flavored with the juice from real Jeju oranges and had a stronger, less carbonated taste. R remarked that it tasted like it had more alcohol than it did, but it was the standard 6%. It tasted vaguely like a carbonated screwdriver. I'm glad I got to try it, if only for one time to far. As far as I've seen, it's not available on mainland Korea. A standard 750ml bottle sells for around 1800won. (Readers: Is it out there? Perhaps in Busan or Mokpo?)

On the Hallasan Soju: It tastes like soju and has cool labels. It costs a couple hundred won more than regular soju.

Side note: R and I saw a kind of peanut makgeolli at Heuk Don Ga, but we didn't try it. Anyone seen that on mainland Korea?

Love Land

What a place. It puts the adult in adult theme park, for it's sculpture after sculpture of genitalia and sexual acts. The picture here comes from the VisitKorea tourism site. It should provide an idea of Love Land. We enjoyed wandering about the beautiful grounds and admiring the artwork. And it is art, it's simply art about sex. Love Land, like Haesindang, ranks among our favorite experiences in Korea thanks to its coolness and its incongruity with Korean culture. Love Land highlights how even conservative Korea makes room for outlandish sexual sculptures. We can't recommend this place enough.

Getting there will most likely involve a taxi ride, but it is on a bus line. We paid about 5,000 because it was a short distance from the restaurant. The taxi ride back to the airport cost around 7,000. Admission to the park? 9,000. Age 19 and over. Also, bring some money for the gift shops. They aren't all about sex, for I picked up a fedora there.

More links:

http://www.jejuloveland.com/eng.html

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1056683

http://jejufood.tistory.com/18 (Korean)

Dongmak Beach, Ganghwa Island (동막해변, 강화도)

Rochelle and I journeyed to Gangwha Island off the west coast yesterday.

While we didn't have as much luck with getting grilled  eel as I had thought, we're  having fun. We did meet some fellow English teachers at lunch. More later.

The makgeolli chronicles: 1.5 liters of  Ganghwa ginseng makgeolli. 5000won. The dark bits near the top of the liquid are the ginseng. Tasty!

Note: Ginseng makgeolli in Korean is 인삼 막걸리. I'd misspelled 인삼 in the original post.

Escape from Foreigner Land: strolling on the north east side

Rochelle and I planned on hiking the Seoul Fortress wall this weekend, and though we got close enough to get on path, we ended up taking a wrong turn and found ourselves somewhere in Seongbuk (성북). After determining we weren't quite dressed for the occasion (me more so than her), we elected to keep walking around. The weather was a clear and pleasant 64 degrees. We had nowhere pressing to go. The neighborhood we were in wasn't busy at all, so this was a plus. We hardly heard any noise from the road.

After a while I directed us back to the Hansung University Station (한성대입구 역) and showed Rochelle the Seongbuk Cheon (성북천) so we could take a walk along it. It's a smaller version of the better-known Cheongyecheon Stream (청계천) in central Seoul and it didn't have much traffic on it either. I found this refreshing because Seoul can get like one never ending mob of people. We had room to breathe and we took full advantage of it by walking for miles. We walked further than anticipated thanks to overshooting the Bomun Station (보문 역) and needing to double back. The trip didn't end there, for we got on the train and cruised up to Korea National University (고대). Why go there? We did want to buy a DVD or two to watch in the evening and figured we'd find some there. As it turned out, we didn't; we did see the prestigious university though. Its gate and manicured quad certainly looked impressive to us. We took a look and got back on the train.

We rode back into Itaewon because surely that area would have some movies we could play on our American computers. Again, no dice. We said "Oh well" to that idea and hit the Home Base grocery store to find the discovery of the weekend: black bean makgeolli. I'd been looking for the stuff ever since we'd drank it at Wang Dae Po on the east side and had had no luck finding it. I was overjoyed, not only had I located the stuff, it cost a mere 1500won for a 1.2 liter jug. It would make the perfect complement to the evening's dinner. 

Getting back felt good. My feet were tired and the crowds had worn on my nerves. Actually, I think it's more about having to dodge taxis and scooters in the Noksapyeong/Gyeongnidan area than the crowds. Stil, I did notice something--and this is why an otherwise normal Saturday story's getting posted--despite all the war fears, life goes on in Seoul. Everything's the same as it was last week, last month, last year. Foreigner Land's burger joints are still hopping, the families are still shopping, and couples are still strolling. 

Edit: I should note that tourism has taken a hit lately. The Joongang Daily wrote about it. 

Is this what the British meant by saying "Keep calm and carry on"? Or is this perhaps the Korean way? I wrote the bulk of this while riding home to Wasu. The lack of traffic made typing away possible. I always like leaving Seoul because I know the air'll be fresher when the bus rolls into Wasu. I can only handle so much of Seoul.

* Foreigner Land is my term for the area in and around Itaewon. I suppose it sounds elitist or ironic given that I'm a foreigner too, but as a country bumkin, it's strange as hell encountering foreigners I don't know now.

The Thanksgiving spread

Rochelle and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday. Neither of get crazy about turkey, so she cooked up barbecue chicken, yams, and pasta and cheese. And because we're in Korea, I had some seasoned seaweed to cap off the meal. We washed all of this down with Shiraz wine and makgeolli. Everything tasted delicious.

* Thanks, mom dept: I fell back on what she's said about wines when Rochelle was choosing which bottle to buy.

** Walmae makgeolli's the best one out there because of its creamier taste.