Potato in Seoul - Jeju Island: Day 1

The sudden snowstorm this past weekend inspired me to write about a time when snow was a distant memory and summer was about to enter full-swing. 

During my summer in South Korea, I took a week-long trip to Jeju Island (제주도) off the southern coast with three friends, two from CAU and one from home. It's a popular vacation spot and tourist destination full of beaches, mountains, and a peaceful atmosphere that's a great escape from the business of Seoul. (Though, personally, going to a busy city is a better escape for me than a quiet island.)

PREPARATION
A few weeks before we were planning on going, my (Parisian model) friend Andy (from CAU) and I spent around six hours using four different computers trying to buy our plane tickets, which was such a hassle. Funny how buying airplane tickets can sometimes be the most difficult part of the trip. However, in the end, the tickets (round-trip) only cost us $40 for each person! So, you could say those six hours paid off in the end. After that, it was just the waiting game: finishing our classes and taking final exams and saying goodbye to friends who were leaving right after the semester ended.

Our third group member, Jenni, actually flew in only a few days before we left for Jeju Island. Incidentally, she saw most of Jeju Island before she ever saw much of Seoul. However, I did make sure to introduce her to my favorite boba place (which has since closed ㅠㅠ) before we jetted off to Jeju.

DAY 1

Andy, Jenni (friend from home), and I met up in the Hongdae/홍대 area about three hours before we were supposed to take off. It takes about one hour to get to the airport if you take the Airport Railroad from Hongdae to Incheon Int'l Airport, and we figured two hours would be a good amount of time to get checked in and find our gate, etc. Well, turns out we probably needed more than two hours. We didn't expect the lines. I suppose we should have, considering Jeju is a popular vacation spot, it was summer, and tickets were so cheap. That being said, we were on time for our flight only because of a 30-minute flight delay.

Our fourth group member, Gedas, was going to meet us at the airport. However, due to some complications (aka he was stuck in traffic in the back of a taxi), he messaged us saying he was going to be late for our flight. So, we had to leave without him. He ended up catching a train to a coastal city and then taking the ferry to the island, arriving the next morning. We ended up seeing him at the bus terminal as we were getting ready to head off for our first day in Jeju.

The flight conditions were ideal (for passengers) when we took off from Seoul. The sun was just starting to set, which created a beautiful orange sky, and the weather was cool though still a bit humid. The trip was only going to take 45 minutes then we would have a 20-minute bus ride into the city to get to the hostel we were staying at.

The flight itself was smooth. The landing? Not so much. It kind of felt like we just fell out of the sky. Everyone who had fallen asleep during the ride was rudely awakened by the loud thud of the plane wheels hitting the runway. However, it wasn't a malfunction, just a bumpy landing. Thankfully.

We got off the plane and wandered outside for a bit looking for the correct bus to take that the hostel owners had given us to get into the city. It turns out the bus we were supposed to take did, indeed, stop at that stop outside the airport doors, it just wasn't listed on the sign.

The ride into the city didn't take long. We were staying in the city located closest to the airport, mainly for convenience sake. We got off at the Jeju City bus terminal then stared at the Naver map and directions the hostel owner gave us trying to figure out which direction to walk to get to the hostel. The place was supposed to be a five minute walk from the bus terminal, but if you can't figure out which way you're supposed to go, that five minutes can very easily turn into ten or fifteen.

We eventually found our hostel, which was tucked behind a number of other buildings, and we went in to see a bunch of people our age sitting around a long table having 치맥 (fried chicken and beer) together. One of the hostel staff helped us check in and gave us our keys and off we went. Originally, we had booked what we thought was an entire room with an attached bathroom. Well, it wasn't that. We had booked four beds. Imagine our surprise when we walked into the room and a stranger was sitting on one of the beds with his stuff spread out all over the place. He was friendly and even asked if he could have a picture taken with Andy, Jenni, and I as part of his travel log. Consequently, throughout the week we had two other people staying in the same room at different points, which is exactly why we had tried to book the entire room, but in the end, we weren't even in the room long enough to really care.

After we checked in and locked up our stuff, we headed out to find something to eat. Jeju is famous for its black pork, and being the meat lover that I am, I had to have that as my first meal on the island. We wandered the city looking for a restaurant that was still open and stumbled upon a rather large restaurant that was open late that was supposedly known for its black pork. (The waitress told us this.)

Cooking the black pork and kimchi

The food was great at the restaurant. The lady who served us gave us (aka me, since I was the only Asian present) a 5-minute tutorial of how to cook the meat, of which I understood about one word: 고기/meat. Thankfully, all three of us travelers already knew what to do, and after the lady left, we set about cooking the meat and downing water to fight off the chilly but somehow also humid air.

Note: For those who may not know, Korean barbecue (which is simply the best) is cooked at your table. You're given the raw meat of your choice, tongs, and large scissors along with side dishes that you can cook if you wish, and then you eat the meat when it's cooked to your liking. If you're not comfortable doing it on your own (for those who fear eating undercooked meat), you can have a staff person do it for you.

After we finished eating, the night was still young! We needed to do something else before going back to the hostel. We were in Jeju, after all. We ended up going to karaoke, which is not at all an experience unique to Jeju. Karaoke is an extremely popular and inexpensive past time in all of South Korea. We walked up and down this one section of sidewalk trying to decide which of the five karaoke places seemed the most friendly and clean. We finally decided on one and spent an hour singing and dancing till our bodies hurt (so embarrassing to watch the videos of this).

When we got back to the hostel, our roommate was already asleep (early to bed, early to rise) and we got ourselves ready for bed and went to sleep. It was the end of our first evening in Jeju. And it was fun.