Our second day in Jeju was spent touring the West Coast of Jeju, but first, breakfast!
What's on the menu: French toast with a side of sugar, toasted bread with jam, cheese omelette and a cup of brown rice tea :>
Our first stop of the day was Hallim Park.
Hallim Park, located 33 km west from Jeju City and west of Mt. Hallasan along the beach in Hallimeup, is one of the most popular tourist spots on Jeju Island. Hallim Park, almost 100 thousand square meters, has a variety of gardens that can be enjoyed in any season.
Visitors can enjoy checking out the Palm Tree Road, Jeju Stone and Bonsai Garden, Water Garden, Subtropical Botanic Garden and much more. The most famous tourist sites in Hallim Park are the Hyeopjaegul and Ssangyonggul Caves, known to be the only two-dimensional caves in the world. In addition, a folk village, children's amusement park and outdoor resort facilities make it enjoyable for both children and adults.
Before exploring the park, let me first take an OOTD just 'cuz I saw this old door hehe.
We were all wearing various shades of coral/orange lippies that day (and every other day actually hehe).
Explored lava tubes that were found in the garden, still pretty impressed by the fact that lava used to flow through the very place we were standing thousands of years ago!!!
Found cute little stone people outside one of the caves!
Walked past a bird enclosure and lo and behold, white doves! (And various other birds of different species.)
But the most majestic of them all has to be the white peacocks. So pretty!! They were all walking around when suddenly, the started shaking out their feathers and I managed to catch a photo of them in all their glory.
Our second stop was a stroll along Suweolbong. I really recommend this stop because the walk along the sea side has got to be one of the best walks I've ever taken! (I may be slightly biased because I love the sea hehe.)
Many people find that the sunset here is comparable to Sarabong. From the top of Suweolbong, you can see Chagwi Island, Dansan, Jukdo Islet, and even Songak Mountain with a telescope. Suweolbong has a legend about a brother and a sister who were devoted to their parents. The legend has it that Noko and Suweol, brother and sister, were looking for 100 kinds of medical herbs for their sick mother. After rummaging everywhere, they finally found all of the herbs but one, the root bark of various araliaceous shrubs. They learned that the plant grew on the cliff of Suweolbong. So Suweol climbed up the cliff and picked the herb.
Had traditional Korean buffet for lunch which I honestly thought was quite... meh. Didn't really enjoy any part of it.
Took a stroll through the Spirited Garden where the restaurant we had our lunch was located in.
A garden starts from a farmer's small thoughts. Since 1968, Spirited Garden director, Seong Bum-Young, has cut rocks, made his own oreum, searched for trees all over the country and planted them here. It is now the world's largest botanical garden with a total landscape of approximately 39,700 square meters. This garden is rich with maple trees, wisterias, and pine trees that are between 30 to 300 years old. Roughly 100 rare species of trees can also be found in the garden. You will be able to see what a long way one man's tenacity and effort can go.
Bought really good matcha ice cream right outside the garden ^^
Our next stop was Sanbangsan Mountain which we didn't bother to climb just because we already climbed a mountain the day before, and also because it led to a Buddha statue (I think) and we weren't interested in that (no offence to people who believe in Buddha!)
Sanbangsan Mountain is the result of violent volcanic activity some 700,000 to 800,000 years ago and is in fact a huge body of lava. The cliffs on the southern side of the lava dome are marked with a rich variety of curious formations such as weathering pits and talus scree slopes, some of which are as high as 300m. As its name 'sanbang' - literally meaning 'a cave inside a mountain' - suggests, this mountain contains a cave, which is located about 150m above sea level and has a spectacular view out over the ocean. Due to its close location to the sea and its high elevation, the peak is often ringed with clouds. The upper sloes of the mountain have their own distinct climatic conditions and are protected for their value for botanical research.
Since we had no interest in climbing up the mountain, we found a little cafe and had a blueberry smoothie while we chilled and waited for the rest who chose to climb to come back.
Our last stop of the day was to see a waterfall! The Cheonjeyeon Waterfall to be exact.
According to legend, Cheonjeyong Falls means "the pond of God" where nymphs descend to take a bath. The first cascade of Cheonjeyon Waterfall is 22m high and the water forms a pond 21m in depth. The water flows father along to form the second cascade of 30m high. Up from Cheonjeyon Falls is the stunning arch bridge Seonimkyo, which is also called the Seven Nymphs Bridge. Water springs from a spot between the precipice of the waterfall and the lower clay layer. From the ceiling of a cave located east of the first waterfall, the water drops and grows into several streams of water. Since it is gushing out of stony ground, the water has been used for curing diseases as well as for drinking. From ancient times, people have believed that they can recover from any disease if they stand under a waterfall on either the Buddhist All Souls Day or Cheoseo Day (at the end of August). Right next to the falls is Yeomiji Botanical Gardens and many other tourist attractions.
You guys don't know how scared I was whilst the next few photos were taken. I was literally going can I just stand here to take the photo, I'm too scared to stand against the railing (which explains why we were like standing almost at the center of the whole bridge.
My fear of heights…..
After that, we got the bus to drop us off at our guesthouse because we needed to pack and get some rest because we were flying back to Seoul the next day!
Some pictures of the living area in our guesthouse while we waited for our takeaways to arrive.
Nene fried chicken!!!! I really love chicken hehe.
Some rice wine (which tasted horrible :'( )
And some Mr Pizza!!
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