Annyeonghaseyo,

To catch our breath again we went on a 6 day trip to Jeju which is Korea's holiday and honeymoon island, off the southern coast of South Korea. Jeju has been compared to Hawaii, the Mediterranean, Disneyland and Paradise; the volcanic island features impressive cliffs and rock formations, swaying palm trees, orange orchards, beaches where you least expect them, scuba diving, 14 golf courses (not that we played), casinos and some interesting museums.

Though Koreans show their affections more openly we were surprised when we saw that they had an open-air museum called "Love Land". Jeju Love Land is a theme sculpture park based on sensuality and eroticism. When the museum was first opened in November 2004, it was the first such museum in Korea at that time. Jeju Love Land is an attractive place where art and eroticism meet in cool, fun and humorous styles and it was our only stop in Jeju City.

At this point we want to tell you about some of the most bizarre experiences we had so far with public transportation (mainly taxis and buses). We have been told that the typical hand signal we make to indicate to someone to come in (waiving with the hand - palms facing up) is rude in Korea. Since we only found out about this late, we had some very confusing moments when we asked bus drivers whether their bus was the right one and all they did was signalling what means to get out to us (waiving with the hand - palms facing down). A convenient way to let foreigners know that this is the stop where they want to get off, is screaming from the front "Hey Tourists!!!". Taxi drivers seem to prefer calling someone else to ask for the exact location of our destination rather than using their GPS; it goes without saying that the time is already running and he is driving already around while being on the phone. Having said all this, we met some extraordinary people who really went out of their way to provide us with the right directions; a bus driver left his bus and walked us to the nearest tourist office which was around the block about 4 minutes away, a shop owner closed his little store and hopped on his scooter to show us the right way when we were lost and the list could go on. These special people showed us that it is not necessary to speak the same language in order to help someone.

Our time on Jeju Island was divided in 2 parts. At first we spent 3 nights in Seogwipo where our guest house was located a little outside and provided a peaceful atmosphere. We went Scuba Diving with a German owned company (first diving experience for Sabrina), saw some really amazing waterfalls (Jeongbang Waterfall is the only one in Asia which falls directly into the ocean) and rented a scooter for a day to explore some of the coastal regions. The remaining 2 nights we spent on the eastern side of the Island in a small but very nice guesthouse away from any city but only 10 minutes walk to the beach. We hiked up to Seongsan Sunrise Peak which was packed with tourists but as soon as we walked an additional 5 meters to the side we had the whole space to ourselves and slowly turned into a tourist attraction ourselves (a few Koreans came up to take pictures of and with us).

After an amazing few days we flew back to the rainy Seoul for 1 day before we had an early flight to Hong Kong. This is the time to say good-bye to South Korea and all the wonderful people we met.

Cheerio,

Ann & Sabrina