झिझक 아니에요 :): jeju

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Trip to Jeju Miniature Park, Halasan Mountain, and ....

It was Saturday 3rd May 2014, the third day of our stay in Seogwipo town of Jeju island, ,Korea. We started at 9 am in the morning with plan to go to Hala-san (हला-सान, 한라산 ) mountain first.

Starting from Seogwipo town on car

Hala-san (हला-सान) is a volcano (ज्वालामुखी) and is the most famous tourist place in Jeju island.

San (सान) in 'Hala-san' is a Korean word for mountain.

On road of Seogwipo town, 8:50 AM

The road goes to start of Seongpanak trail which goes to the top of Hala-san, 9 AM

'Fluid lava flows' some 20 lakh years ago on top of sea-floor (100m below the sea-level) created Jeju island and Hala-mountain in middle of it. Our goal was to reach the below crater at end of the day.

Our goal was to reach this crater by walking some 10 km on Seongpanak trail

The last volcanic eruption in Hala-mountain happened a thousand years ago, in days of Mahmud of Gazni (known in India for his plunders).

We reached at the start of Seogpanak trail at around 9:40 am, which has below facility for the people going for trekking. We parked our car there.

Facility at start of Seongpanak (성판악) trail, 9:30 AM

Start of Seongpanak (성판악) trail, 9:40 AM

1.5 km of Seongpanak (성판악) trail, 10 AM

In background, there is a single-line rail-track, and a vehicle on top of it carrying food-items for sale, up along with trek

some water stream in background, 성판악 trail, 10:15 AM

10:20 AM, 성판악 trail, volcanic rocks of Jeju

After 3.1 Km of trekking, 성판악 trail, 10:45 AM

After 4.1 Km of trekking, at Sokbat shelter in 성판악 trail, 11 AM

After looking at trail map, we decided that it would be better for us to return because trail would increase in difficulty.

We returned back from Sokbat shelter, 11:15 AM

Somewhere while returning on 성판악 trail, 11:40 AM

Back to start-point of 성판악 trail, 12:00 PM

After returning back to start-point of 성판악 trail, we prepared noodles and had lunch, and waited for our friends to join us.

After rest, we left this place at around 2:30 PM with plan to go to Jeju Miniature Park. We found below observation point on the way, and stopped to click some photos.

At observation point, near Seongpanak, 2:40 PM

We also saw a horse-farm on the way, and stopped there as well to click photos.

Horse-farm, near Seongpanak, 2:47 PM

Road near horse-farm, near Seongpanak, 2:50 PM

With Gulliver, in Jeju miniature park, 3 PM

in Jeju miniature park

Replica of Osaka castle of 1600 AD, made of stones and wood.

Replica of memorial in Taipei in memory of Chiang Kai-shek

Replica of 600 years old Forbidden City , home of emperors of Beijing, China

Replica of 800 years old temple in Angkor Thom , Combodia dedicated to Buddha and built by Mahayan buddhist king Jayavarman VII

Replica of 4500 years old 60 feet high statue of Sphinx, a mythical beast in Giza of Egypt, Africa.

Replica of 800 years old Vishnu temple of Angkor Wat , Combodia built by Khmer king Suryavarman II

Replica of 2300 year old temple built by Askoka and later restored by British, dedicated to Buddha at site 100 km from Patna, Bihar, India

Replica of statue in New York, symbolizing freedom with broken chain at feet.

The Thinker

The Thinker is the bronze sculpture created by Auguste Rodin to represent philosophy.

With Gandhi

Statue of Sakya-muni Buddha

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Jeju to Suwon by Ferry and Car

It was Monday morning of 05 May 2014, and we had to be at Jeju international port by 7 am to put our car in ferry. Our navigator estimated that this journey from our stay in Seogwipo to be of approx 2 hours. So we aimed to start by 4:50 am from Seogwipo, which is next to sea in the south.

We woke up at 4 am and we were ready by 4:45 am. We had purchased some Ramyan (राम्यन) cup noodles day before from the e-mart; we added hot water to these cup noodles before starting the journey at 5 am.

It took only a little more than 1 hour to reach Jeju port. There, we ate Ramyan noodles, drank some coffee. We people wanted to prepare tea, but no milk was available in the shops of port at that time.

We took our car to cargo area to park it in first floor of the ship at 6:45 am. After that, we started our sight-seeing of the harbor area.

One of the ropes which is holding our ship.

These motorcycle and car guys are waiting to park their vehicles in the ship.

Ship is parked just next to the floor. Another ship is visible at distance.

Cargo loading area

Bow of the ship. This is designed to reduce the resistance of the hull cutting through the water and is designed to be tall enough to prevent water from washing over top of it.

Another ship bound to the shore

Jeju port is international port, and they do the immigration check. There was separate line for foreigners taking the ferry, and it was good for us because it meant easy and early way out of passenger queue.

PS: According to wiki page on Jeju, mainland Koreans considered Jeju people foreigners, before foundation of modern Korea in 1945, had to suppress the uprising of 1948 by death of tens of thousands and torture and rape of many Jeju people. Jeju had matriarchal society and their language was distinct enough from Korean language according to linguists.

Finally, we boarded on our ship at 8:30 am. We met same set of crew members whom we met while coming to Jeju from Wando 4 days ago.