After 6 months of looking at tower block buildings, jam-packed roads and smog that surrounds the views, it was refreshing to see clear blue skies and a coastline again. The convenience of Seoul is mesmerising, and I stand by my choice to live here, especially as a first timer in Korea. Everything is accessible and I have no issues when it comes to food. However through this trip and my previous experiences of being abroad I have finally decided that I am not a city girl, give me small towns and beaches any day :)
This is what Jeju was like. The Island is renown here in Korea as the place Korean people go to for a quick and easy get away. The flight is less than an hour and there are so many cute and cheap guesthouses to chose from. Our dear friend Julia, who has been to Jeju a few times, arranged the whole trip for us and due to this I will be eternally grateful to her :) We saw beaches, got lost in a giant maze, went for Korean BBQ, drank until we could no longer keep our eyes open and breathed in as much clean air as we could.
We went to a glass museum (the name does not give it justice) which was a collection of pieces and statues made entirely out of coloured glass and positioned around a huge garden with lots of trees. With the sun beaming down the glass reflected and gave the whole place an element of magic. Julia also took us to a place called "Love Land." Now this is a strange place indeed, but a famous one. It was put together by a group of art students that wanted to change the Korean opinion of sex and it's secrecies. so upon enter you are immediately confronted with a statue of a giant penis. This is just the start of Love Land. Through the park there are a numerous amount of statues portraying women and men having sex in all kinds of positions, from skinny to large, from Koreans to Europeans, Love Land doesn't leave much to the imagination. The park will indeed make you blush and laugh with hysteria but it is something Jeju is know for, so it is definitely worth a visit.
On the second night of our trip we stayed at a guesthouse called White Wale Guesthouse. It's decor was Greek and built on a hill with views that took your breath away. The owner was extremely friendly and insisted on taking me, Maeve, Julia and Becky on a little tour before we went for dinner one night. We ended up in the house of a monk who served us lotus tea and gave us some hand made soap in celebration of Buddha's birthday. She was about to leave for a 6 month meditation trip to Nepal. A completely random and unique experience that I was happy to have had, he also took us to a green tea farm and showed us some amazing views.
When we arrived back in Seoul, with our backpacks, sandals and sunburn we were greeted with nothing less than a complete downpour of rain, car horns blaring and the rush of city life. It was nice to escape for a bit.
