Jeju Island

I forgot to mention that in the beginning of May, Sujin and I traveled together to Jeju Island!! It was windy and cold, but still fun and beautiful. I love Jeju-do!!

We stayed in pensions on the beach, so we had great views of sunsets over the water. Because we rented a car, we were able to drive all around the island easily. We were there for 3 days, but it was plenty enough time to see everything that we could imagine wanting to see. We traveled up and down each road there was it seemed!

The first day we went to O'Sulloc Tea Farm. It was huge, and fun to walk up and down the hundreds of rows of tea bushes. I picked a few tea leaves (don't worry, I paid for other stuff too) and dried them in our car. When I came back to Seoul, it made a surprisingly delicious tea!!

There was a beach with cliffs that had unique rock shapes. It's a little similar to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. They were beautiful, and it was amazing to see how glorious God is through His creation.

One day we went to a crater/hill that had once been volcanic. It was amazing walking up along the ridge, and then down into the crater. It's been completely filled in by trees and land, so it didn't seem as strange as one might imagine. It was interesting to see caves that the Japanese had built to hold up in during their occupation of Korea.

One fun part of our trip was going horseback riding! Our pension gave us tickets to go for free, so of course we took them up on it. Even though their intent was to get us to buy more things, we stood strong and went for a short 15 minute walk around the tracks. BUT, at the end, they asked if I'd like to go for a run! It was so fun to not just trot, but to gallop on the horse!!

On our last day, we went to Udo Island (a smaller island off the east side of Jeju) where we took a bus dropping us off at random intervals. We walked up another really steep crater and got great views of the entire island. At the bottom of the crater were cows that we tried to pet. We weren't too brave, so didn't get that close, but it was still an adventure. At the end of the trip, just relaxing on the beach was worth it. God's beauty through nature amazes me more and more the longer I stay in Korea. Maybe it's because I take notice of the smaller details now, but it's still a great comfort and blessing to be reminded of God each and every day through life around me.

At the airport, we realized we were a day late coming home. Our tickets were for Saturday, but we'd assumed Sunday...Oops!! It was still ok though. We traded our tickets in for $10 and it ended up to be a great day of extra sightseeing for just a few dollars. It was so great to travel with Sujin. She's a great friend, and I'll miss her next semester!!

First night at our pension
O'Sulloc Tea Farm
Those planes fly low!!
The volcanic crater we're about to climb
Inside the crater
A weird animal/bug was inside this cool cocoon...
Can you spot the foreigner?
Neat rock formations
Drying seaweed out on the streets. Strange to think this is the stuff I eat every day...
Pretty horses
Submarines down below!