Day Three

...and fire chicken. Before I tell you about my fantastic day three of vaca (it was my favorite), I have to tell you about dinner yesterday. Sassy T (sorry, she already has the nickname and it works for blogging purposes) invited a bunch of people out to what she called "hell's fire chicken." I imagined chicken so hot my mouth would burn for days after. What she meant was rotisserie chicken that was cooked with flames shooting up. It really did look hellish. However the taste was the opposite. It was very tasty (oh, good, I'm starting to talk like my students. Next I'll tell you how 'yummy' everything was. Well, it was). The best part of dinner was the experience rather than the dinner itself. We walked in, and unsure of where to sit, we stood around awkwardly. A gentleman came over, found us a table, cleared it off and chatted a bit before going back to his table and joining his party. He didn't even work there! He just wanted to help us.

Then, as we were leaving and went up to pay and split the bill, the cashier reduced our tab so we all just had to pay 5,000 won each. The bill was 34,000 won but she brought it down to 30,000 so it would be easier to split. It was very kind of her. Korean hospitality made it a great night out.

Day Three of vacation was a trip to Udo, a small island off of Seongsan. The female divers who are now up in their 70s and still dive without breathing appartus dive off the island, but they weren't out when we went. Instead we rented scooters and an atv and puttered around the island taking it all in. What a fantastic way to travel. I was on the atv behind Sean until the last 10 minutes of our trip where I got to ride a scooter! To be quite frank, I drove like an 80 year old woman. I was thinking 'bike' and I was definitely not on a bike. I was exhilerated going 20 miles, oops, sorry, km per hour (so even more slowly than you imagined). But by the last 2 minutes or so, I was so revved up and a lot more comfortable that I was zooming along at a whopping 30 km per hour (please don't tell me the equivilant; don't shatter my dream). Anyway, it was terrific fun.

I took loads of pictures and bumpy video that makes me slightly ill looking at it now from the back of the atv. Crutches took off his shirt part way through, but kept the vest on. It made me giggle. It was a cross between Abu and a ringmaster. I couldn't decide. But he was a great driver. That is, he knew what he was doing (I think). After my initial nervousness at getting on something like that, I pulled out my camera and happily took pictures and enjoyed the wind in my hair and the magnificent scenery of the island. Plus I got a cheap thrill when we revved the engine and passed our friends on scooters.

We took the ferry back and proceeded to climb Ilchulbong Peak (aka "Sunrise Peak"), a crater. For whatever reason, it was harder this day  that it had been the previous evening. I kept stopping to take pictures so I was the last to the top. It was gorgeous. It was only a little disappointing that we couldn't walk around more. Also, I don't know what I imagined a crater to look like, maybe a little more rocky, but this was green and while beautiful, I don't know that you would necessarily know that it was a crater unless you were told. I have pictures; you tell me.

We took the ferry to the island

It was rocky

and green

with fantastic hills that reminded me of Scotland

and funny signs that remind me of "Mind your head" in England.

Unfortunately, I did not heed the muddy slope...

and fell

But for this view it was worth it, don't you think?

the road took us around the island

our caravan

the clouds and the grass

the ocean and the rocks

the beach

a lady drying seaweed

racing past volcanic walls and houses with blue roofs

I went a little camera crazy on the atv

the Jeju group!

at the rocks

and that was our trip to Udo Island

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Ilchulbong Peak

views of the city from above

do you see the sky? it's breath-taking

at the top

it's a crater

crazy face at the top (with my shirt!)

Ok, I saved the beach for last because I miss it already. It's hard to imagine that the sun was so bright and the air was so clean and the waves were so huge when you're sitting in your tiny apartment in Seoul. So, stay tuned for the next and final (I know, thank goodness, right?) installment of Jeju Vacation of Awesomeness.