Monday morning there was heavy mist and light drizzle. Weather is a lot like england being an isolated island. Went to the bus station and took the eastern coastal bus to Seongsan Ichulbong. This is a large volcanic crater you can climb to the top and a Unesco natural heritage site. People like to go to watch the sunrise since its the eastern tip of the island, or on new years eve to see the first sunrise.

The bus was about an hour during a heavy downpour. When I got off the bus this korean family was looking at the bus times to goto Manjanggul caves which is where I was going to go next. I told them I wanted to go to and that I'd stay with them, so I'd have no problems of trying to navigate the bus schedules in korean since they were going to the same place.

The family turned out to be quite nice and adopted me for the day. One son is in university and the older one is a pharmacist. They kept taking my camera and taking pics of me everywhere and took some group photos on their camera with their family.

There was really heavy mist and light drizzle so we could barely see in front of us. We had to climb many steps to get to the top of the crater. There are some spiritual rocks along the way. At the top all you could see was fog beyond the railing so none of the breathtaking view of the crater. On the way down it began to rain so we made our way back to the bus stop.

We continued along the outer eastern coastal road to the stop for Manjanggul caves. This is another Unesco natural heritage site and is about 7km of hollow lava tubes, but only a km is open to the public. From the bus stop you have to walk 2km inland. The family took a cab and I walked as you couldnt fit all of us in the cab.

The weather was now a perfect blue sky so shows how erratic the weather can be. Inside the lava tube it was similar to other caves I had been to. Its very cold and damp so a good idea to go on a very humid day to cool down. Aside from the long caverns it was interesting to see the patterns on the floor of how the lava burnt and moulded the rock.

I bumped into the family heading back so I did my thank yous and farewells in korean. Outside is a bus stop that certain buses will come to so I wont have to do the 2km walk back to the main road. Beside the cave was another maze park, this one the biggest in jeju and claims to have the worlds biggest maze.

The bus didnt goto jeju city but goes to a village where I had to change buses. As we got into town I saw a pizza restaurant so got off and ordered sweet shrimp pizza, which is like the chinese sweet and sour sauce. Then did my walk thru the town centre

There was a small palace I wasnt going to into as I had to be at the airport by 5.30 and now it had gone 4, but they had lifesize figures in each building showing daily life so I did a quick run thru. This was the original government complex for the island.

Then I wanted to goto the shoreline for Yongdam Rock which is a volcanic rock shaped like a dragon head with its mouth open. This is the neighbourhood where my vice principal is from. From here we were in the airport flight path so got some shots of planes coming in over the rocks. I could have walked to the airport but I was coming down with a bit of a cold from being out in the rain all day so took a cab for $3. The driver was trying to chat with me so I used my limited korean.

At the airport I bumped into the family again who were taking a flight back to Gimpo. I managed to get a window seat but again very cloudy. I was the front row by the door after business class so managed to run first when the plane landed.

We landed 8.10 and the Daegu bus leaves 8.15. By some miracle I made it to the bus stop and there was only one seat left on the bus. The next and final bus was 10pm so that saved me a two hour wait. They need to make the daegu bus run hourly from the airport. Also, it picks up at the international terminal first so if you have time walk over from the domestic side to the other bus stop. The guy on the bus wanted to chat with me.

Took a cab home and another driver wanting to chat with me. Was home by 10pm so made a very long day. Glad I did not take the 5 hour ferry as that would be a whole day wasted in transit and changing two trains. Now I have all day Tuesday to rest before school on wednesday.

I overdosed on Jeju and wont go again for a long time. I lost weight from all the walking so hope I can keep it off. Jeju is about the size of Toronto (or Daegu) from Steeles Ave in the north to Lakeshore and about the same length, so in theory you can walk or bike it and there are groups that do that. But the terrain is very hilly with all the dead volcanoes and mountains so roads detour around.

If I go again I'll go in a group and rent a car. Its all single lane country roads so very easy to drive. Also if they want to make Jeju one of the new '7 Wonders' I have some suggestions I'll send to the ministry of culture and tourism (who I'm writing for on the korea blog), particularly in regards to getting bus maps, english route descriptions, and tourist sightseeing buses that connect all the different attractions.

From my Andong trip Mar 29 this is week 7 in a row I have been out so next two weekends in May and planning to just stay in town and lay low. After that is the Ulsan Whale Festival end of May and Haeundae Sand Festival first weekend June which is another holiday weekend.

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I was invited back to Jeju for a Press tour in Oct/11, you can read the entry here
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1319539255/tpod.html