Day 21 & 22: Rain and Long Walks

Day 21

After sleeping in for the past two days I didn't want to wake up early anymore. I also really enjoyed the unplanned sightseeing style from yesterday so I decided to do something similar today. Unfortunately, I did not check the weather forecast before leaving.

One of the places I had been most excited to visit in Jeju was a garden called Camellia Hill. It's a really beautiful garden that's in a forest and the pictures I had seen online looked amazing. It was also the place where Jin from BTS took a photo for their Love Yourself album teasers.

I decided to start the day off at Camellia Hill and then go from there. The bus ride took a very long time (almost an hour and a half). When I got to the last spot where I needed to transfer I found out that the next bus wasn't coming for another hour so I chose to walk the rest of the way (only half an hour). About halfway there it started to drizzle. By the time I made it to the Camellia Hill sign it was basically pouring. I couldn't figure out where the entrance was because I had walked right past it at the beginning so I wandered around completely lost for a couple of minutes. I finally turned back around and found the entrance as well as a cafe. Since it was still pouring rain I stopped in the cafe to grab a drink and hoped the rain would stop soon. It didn't. I bought a ticket, put my hood up and hoped the gardens would be worth it.

There were no flowers. I couldn't find any flowers except for a few small plants at the beginning. I was so cold and I clearly did not come to this place during the right season so I left the garden early and went back to the bus stop to bus to the next location, another garden (I had left all the outdoor stuff for my last couple of days, oops). The bus didn't come for another hour and a half and at this point I was wet and cold and not in the mood to explore more so I looked up buses to go back to my hostel. I checked the schedule and there was one coming relatively soon so I went back to the cafe to wait for it. About 20 minutes later I went out to the bus stop and started to wait for the bus. It didn't come. I guess I must have missed it or something but I waited for 10 minutes and it didn't show. I checked the schedule and it looked like there was one coming in another 20 so I went back into the cafe to wait for that one. 15 minutes later I was back outside again waiting for the bus. When it didn't come this time I started to get confused. I checked my map again and it was showing that the bus hadn't left the garage yet. I checked the schedule again and it ends up that, not only had I been looking at the wrong location, but I had also been looking at the wrong bus. So back into the cafe I went. The people in the cafe must have been wondering what the heck I was doing because I kept going in and out so many times. I had to wait 40 minutes for the next bus but I finally got on it! I could've made it on the bus to the second garden with how long I waited but I was too tired and I just really wanted to go back to the hostel at that point. Another hour and a half later and I had made it to my room. I spent 3 hours bussing, so much time walking and waiting, and maybe 20 minutes in the garden I was super excited to see (with no flowers). But my bed was comfy and it was nice to just lie down and know that there wasn't much else I could be doing because the weather was crappy. I finished off the night with a super hot and delicious pork and noodle soup from across the street and then went back to my room.

I still hadn't booked my flight back to Seoul because I had been having really good luck getting cheap flights by booking last minute and I was trying to do the same this time. Unfortunately, my luck had run out. By the time I checked two days before the flight date, they were almost all sold out and the ones that weren't were much more expensive than my flight here. I quickly booked the latest one I could find that wasn't in the evening. I had originally wanted to go to the airport early and drop my bag off and then look around the city a bit but the latest flight I could get was at noon so that plan fell through. At least I checked tonight though!

So thankful I brought my coat today

(October 16, 2018)

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Day 22

Today was a super relaxing day filled with so many different cafes and lots of walking.

The day that I met Kyeongbin and Danbi I went to a cliff in the morning. On the way there I noticed a brunch restaurant and made a note to visit it another day when I had time. It was a very short walk from my hostel and I decided to go there for breakfast today. I got a bubbly lemon drink and super yummy and sweet waffles that were absolutely covered in whip cream. The view was really nice and it was a much better way to start the morning than having convenience store food!

By this point I had given up on the itinerary I created on the first night in Jeju. I had no plan for today so I checked my map app and found a dock nearby that also had some nice looking cafes around it. I bussed there, which didn't take long.

I was going to stop at a specific cafe I had picked out at breakfast but ended up walking around to explore and finding a different cafe. The inside of this one was very modern looking and so pretty. There were tons of plants and the colours were very relaxing. Plus it was right by the docks so the view was nice. I did not eat very healthy today but I had lots of fun treats! I bought an iced tea and white chocolate rocky road.

When the lady brought the food out she also gave me a sample of cheesecake for free since she was testing it out to see if she should add it to the cafe menu. It was probably the best cheesecake I've had! The rocky road was way way way too sweet though. She warned me about that beforehand but I figured I would still like it (I'll listen next time). I could only eat two pieces of it because it was so sweet, but I packed the rest in my bag for later. I told the lady that the cheesecake was amazing and went back out to the docks.

I was going to bus back and find more things to do but then I decided it would be fun to just walk back. Kakao Map told me it would take an hour and a half but I took a couple different roads on the way there and stopped for lots of photos so it actually took me 3 hours. Wow ok it didn't feel that long but I just checked the time stamps on my photos to figure how much time it took and it was almost 3 hours... If you look at the last map screenshot you can see a little blue and orange path. I mostly walked along that on the way back so I could stay beside the water.

Anyways, I walked for a very long time but it was amazing. I plugged my headphones in, took small roads to stay along the water, and just enjoyed the sunshine. At some points it was a random bumpy path through a forest, at other points it was a paved back road, and then at another point it was climbing over big rocks along the coast line (I did not wear proper footwear since I thought I was going to take a break from walking today but oh well). I passed by a ton of fish factory places (I'm not sure exactly what they are called). I also passed a huge building where there were tons of ajummas sitting outside and cleaning oysters. It was interesting to see some of the countryside of Jeju island that wasn't tailored to tourists. I didn't see anyone (aside from people that were working) until an hour and a half into my walk. This guy had caught up to me (I was walking super slow and kept stopping) by the time I got to the forest area. He passed me and I didn't see him for a few more minutes until I got to the rocky part. He had stopped to wait, tell me to be careful, and see if I was okay with how rocky it was.

We had a brief chat about where I was from and what I had done so far in Jeju. It was only his second day in Jeju and he was here for a wedding. He had been walking since 7:30 in the morning! He had started from one end of the island and his destination was near Namwon (where I am staying) where he was meeting his brother/friend (I didn't catch that part exactly). Our conversation kind of died and I stopped to take a photo to let him go ahead more so it didn't feel like I was awkwardly following him. I continued to walk by myself for a bit through a forest and then the path opened up to the coastal point that I had gone to visit a couple days ago.

I ran back into the guy there and he told me this was where he was stopping and he said goodbye. I walked a little further until I found a sunny spot on part of the cliff where there was a bench I could lie down on. I used my bag as a pillow and lay down to read in the sun.

A big group of people came to that area of the cliff to take pictures after I had been lying there for awhile. They were trying to take a selfie with all of them in the photo, but it wasn't working too well so they asked me to take it. I counted to three in Korean before I took the picture and they seemed to love that. After I took their picture they wanted to take a picture with me, which was cute and kind of funny. We took a picture and then they all said bye. I decided I had been lying down for long enough and got ready to leave. I opened my bag to grab my phone and realized that my glasses were in my bag. I had completely forgot they were in there and I had popped one of the lenses out while lying on it. After several moments of panicking (because I had broken my eyes) I tried to fix them. It took me quite a while to get the glass part lined up properly and back in but I felt so accomplished afterwards, haha. I was super careful with them for several days after that because I thought I might pop it out again.

I started walking back to my hostel and passed the group that had asked me to take their photo. They were all super adorable and nice and kept saying hello to me as they passed. I made it back to the road that goes in front of my hostel and decided to walk along it a little further before I went back to my room. I saw so many squid that were hanging out to dry and found yet another cafe. I looked it up online and found out that it had food other than dessert there and I decided to grab a late lunch.

The inside of the cafe was so cute! There were colourful umbrellas all over the ceiling in the area near the window and the rest of the walls were covered in bookshelves. I ordered a sandwich and tea and sat down to eat. As I was eating an older man came in and gave the cash register lady some oranges. They seemed to know each other and were chatting happily. Then he came over to my table and started giving me handfuls of oranges! I was so excited because they're super delicious and here I was getting a ton of free ones. I thanked him very much and he went to the upstairs part of the cafe.

I went to my room after I finished eating and put my bag away. I wanted to try to watch the sunset because it was my last night in Jeju so I went outside to the walkway near my hostel. Unfortunately there is a huge building covering the area where the sun would set but the sky was still really beautiful. I sat on the edge of the walkway for a bit just watching the water.

I took a video of my legs hanging over the edge as well as the colour of the sky and the rocky beach. I posted it on my instagram story with the caption 'Bye' because it was my last night. The next morning I got a hilarious call from my dad jokingly checking in to make sure I hadn't jumped. My legs were hanging off the barrier and I had added 'bye' to the video... lol sorry dad, probably should've added more context to the story!

I tried to figure out what time I would need to leave and the bus route to get to the airport and then I started the terrible task of packing. Fortunately, I am getting a lot faster and much more efficient! I have enjoyed my time in Jeju so much. It was such a beautiful and relaxing place to be and I hope to come back again in the future to explore more!

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(October 17, 2018)

Distance walked: 11.3 km