Jeju Island: Day 2

Day two we woke up early and I washed without shampoo and body soap, because of my skin sensitivities iiiiiiick... >.< I am glad to say though that nothing was stolen that I am aware of. ;)

The breakfast hall was filled to the gills before 7:00am with hungry tourists. Most of them consisted of older women and country-accented individuals. Breakfast was a pleasant surprise to the palate and I must say I was quite stuffed! :D It consisted of rice, kimchi, seasoned spinach, fish patties, seaweed soup, and rice porridge. Yum!!

With a full tummy and a more positive outlook, we clambered onto the tour bus and our tourist guide informed us of our day's adventures... in Korean, so I hardly understood a word she said.

Our first stop was Camellia Hill which carried the most luscious odor of plants and flowers... that were not. The camellias hadn't bloomed yet, but somehow it still smelled wonderful. I heard the cuckoo bird among other lively song birds and simply enjoyed the peace and quiet of the natural park. I will let pictures do the work here instead of words. :)

After this place we took a bumpy ride in our tour bus for a short stop at a green tea field and then hurried on to our next appointment.



We entered The Ma Park where there were lots of people lined up to enter the arena... or rather the place where the audience observes what goes on in the arena. We were greeted by some traditional music that seemed both lulling and sad, yet thrilling at the same time. It was performed on an old rendition of the modern cello as well as some more traditional instruments.

The performance commenced with two very small girls doing great limber moves that I would consider dangerous. Made me envy their rubbery abilities. :P After this, a series of performances commenced that represented the beginnings of Korea, though it rather seemed like Mongolian history. Here again I will present photos more than words for you to view for yourselves, as I cannot seem to express in words how amazing the performance was.

 

Next stop, we came to this mountain that we were to climb in order to visit a few Buddhist temples. The steps were very steep, and the air was muggy, but after several flights of stairs I was greeted with brilliant colors and fanciful artwork chiseled into stone or carved into wood. A huge Buddha statue sat stone cold beside a large temple where a family was in the process of mourning for 49 days for those who passed away. After climbing maybe a third of the way up the mountain, I gave up and scurried down the hill, as I realized that I was late getting back to the bus.

We arrived at the Seokbujak Museum and were greeted by a very loud speaking guide. He led us through a field of bonsai trees and exotically shaped lava rocks that were apparently formed naturally. One of the trees was said to have taken 300 years to grow to 1 foot high! O_O From here we were brought into a secluded building where several dozen glass bottles were incubating ginseng roots. Sadly we weren't allowed to take photos of their biochemical and medical experimentation.... for confidentiality's sake -_- The guide led us into another room with benches where he swapped places with another informant who was to introduce us to the sciences of the ginseng and advertise its capabilities. To what end I know not, since I understood none of it. :P From here we were given a third speaker who began advertising the product itself. They let us try ginseng tea, then ginseng alcohol, ginseng powder, and finally the ginseng itself. To be quite frank, the edibles went from great to awful in flavor. :P Finally the advertisements ceased and we were allowed to meander through a greenhouse filled with bonsai trees and plants that were grown into lava rocks.

We went back to our hotel after dinner and went to snoozles.... zzzzzzzzzzz.....