today i woke up super excited! new day, new transportation skills and peanut ice cream!
i asked the front desk to call me a cab for the intercity bus terminal so i could catch the express to seongsan harbor. he tried to convince me to take the bus – that it was an easy two block walk and then a bus would take me there. these jeju-si buses and i aren’t on speaking terms, but i thought i’d give it a go… then i walked out the front door and saw a cab waiting there. when given manna, right…? i should mention that cabs are super cheap here – it costs about 5500 won to cross the city in about 1/3 the time of most of the buses near here (since my hotel is close to the airport, most of the buses going downtown loop there first, adding a lot of time – in hindsight, a downtown hotel would have been a better choice for what i’m doing).
anyhow, the very awesome taxi driver took me to the transit station and i got there just in time to catch the 111 to seongsan! boom! take that, jeju-si transit! after arriving at the harbor, you fill out a couple of info tickets, pay 8500 for a roundtrip ticket and jump on the ferry for udo. easy! once in udo, the ferry is greeted about 900,000 vendors yelling, offering rental of various island transportation options. maybe it just sounds like it’s that many people. after a little looking around, i decided to rent a regular bike vs. the battery or motorized options (e-bike, tandem e-bike, moped, covered scooters, tuk-tuks).
since it was still early-ish and i was still riding the latte i’d had on the ferry ride, i decided to do a lap around the island first before eating. i’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. it was honestly one of my favorite things i’ve done. one of those, “pinch me this is so awesome” things. i actually felt sad for all of the people who had brought their cars over or were taking the bus shuttle – the day was too glorious to be inside!
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after completing a lap, i was ready for food! i’d done a little research the night before and there was a bakery that makes a black pig burger with a rainbow bun. how are you going to eat anything better than that?! well, it turns out not only is it a black pig burger, it’s a black pig bacon cheeseburger. come on! i watched as a family of three shared this monster burger as i inhaled one solo. in all fairness, i had skipped breakfast with this very event in mind but it was still an impressive conquest. afterwards, i should have done another lap of the island to work it off. instead i went for some peanut patbingsu. there is peanut ice cream at almost literally every cafe in udo – really – and it was a tough call… but i love patbingsu and hadn’t had it yet on my trip and time was running out. so, peanuts, red beans, shaved ice and sweet milk, please. and it was amazing. so amazing.
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after that i did go back out and road about 1/4 way around the island and back as i was concerned i would explode on the ferry if i didn’t. it served its purpose and i stepped onto the boat feeling like today was going to be a hard one to top!
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[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”60″ gal_title=”jeju day three : udo to jeju-do”]
then back to reality. not to take away from how amazing the day had been up to then, but here’s a couple of lessons i learned this afternoon. 1) on udo they do not like credit cards. this meant i used cash for almost everything and i was already running intentionally low since i leave tomorrow. 2) all atms are not created equal. i know this, why don’t i learn? i figured the harbor would have an atm or few. nope. one. and my card didn’t work. fine – i have my t-money card for the bus back and… 3500 won. that should work. 3) watch your t-money balance when you’re not going through the subway (which has reload machines at every entrance/exit) several times a day. so, there goes 3000 won of cash for the return bus. at least i’ll get back to jeju, right?! 4) express isn’t always express. the return bus turned out to be a variant of the bus i took to seongsag – adding a 1 hr scenic detour to the drive back 5) go where you know. i had intended on taking the “express” (or not so express) back to the bus terminal and then taking a taxi back to the hotel. but i was down to 500 won. fortunately, the next stop after the bus terminal was the airport! they had atms! and i knew one out of those 5 atms gave me money last time! hurray! so, i rolled into the airport, got some cash, reloaded my t-money and was feeling pretty good about the salvage. 6) make sure you walk to the right bus stop. until, that is, i grabbed the right bus to my hotel – but it was going the wrong direction. i was down to 2% on my phone battery (i know! get a battery charger!) and so didn’t check until 2 stops in. oops. that was about an hour long mistake by the time i picked up the same bus going the opposite/correct direction.
great day! lessons learned! i was a little bummed that the extra time on the “express”, no money/airport, my bus hopping mistake meant that i wasn’t going to get back downtown tonight to see (eat) more fun stuff. but when i got off the bus at the closest point to my hotel, i was in the middle of a super cool shopping district with a really cool park! all just behind my hotel and i had no idea!
the park was great! a workout station similar to those along the han, badminton courts, a basketball hoop, play structure for kids and a path that went around the perimeter through blooming cherry trees. a ton of people were out for a walk – of the exercise type – and if i’d felt a little more inspired, i would have joined – it was a beautiful night to walk in falling cherry blossoms.
the shopping district was fun – but honestly, it could have been myeongdong or any of the shopping districts in seoul. there was definitely more seafood options for eating but most of the stores were the same brands you’d find anywhere else. i had been thinking about what i would eat for my last meal in korea and walked around, trying to find inspiration, but that burger was still fueling me and i didn’t think i could handle a korean sized sit down meal. i was on my way back to the hotel, thinking i might just grab some kimbap from a convenience store when i saw a poster for shaved ice. there’s always room for that! i must not have been the only one thinking that because they were out of every flavor but chocolate. not my first preference, but if i must…
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tomorrow is travel day. i say goodbye to jeju and one final goodbye to seoul. i’m excited to get home to friends and family but part of me wishes i could press repeat on this whole last week. it’s been such a great time exploring old and new places, meeting old and new friends. i’m not sure that i had many expectations going into this, other than exploring a place i’d gotten a small taste of so long ago, but any expectations i had were certainly exceeded. when i think back to my first pictures of flying into seoul, it’s hard to believe it was just a little over a week ago. travel – meeting people and cultures along the way – is such a gift.
Hi there! Such a wonderful article, thank you!