Jeju Island

These pictures are not in the right order, but I'm to tired to rearrange them.  We are on Jeju Island and it is really beautiful.  It's balmy, breezy, tropical and very much unlike the rest of Korea.  The picture above is of a giant golden Buddha that I had to climb 500 steps to see. Ted conveniently had to go to the bathrooom when this was going on.This Buddha is about 20 minutes by taxi from where we are staying in Jungmun.



The picture above is of the boys asleep on the bus after getting in at 5 am.  They are having a good time. They always manage to find someone who speaks english, and they are willing to try any food, any drink, any adventure.  I have to remind myself they are 22 years old, and would be doing this kind of stuff whether I was aware of it or not.



This is the view off our hotel balcony. This whole island is volcanic with lots of black rock outcroppings everywhere.



Last night for dinner Kenny ordered the famous Jeju Island Black Pig for dinner, which I forgot to take a picture of, but this is a picture of the things that accompany every meal in Korea.  On the left is cold kimchee soup, then kimchee, which is a spicy, vinegary cabbage, after that is the sesame oil vegetable, then marinated mushrooms.  I can eat a piece or 2 of Kimchee and use it to season other things, but it is really spicy.  Ted had a noodle soup with mussels and clams in the shell, and abalone strips. 



Today Sam and Kenny rented Vespa's and road all over the island.  Ted and I walked and took buses and taxis around.



This is a picture of a bouy and a womans head.  The story here is that the island is famous for its Haenyeo, who are older women (in their 60's) that dive for 2 minutes at a time holding their breath, to gather seafood such as shellfish, sea urchins and octopus. They keep it in a bag tied to the bouy and once in a while swim to the beach with their catch, where other women in the group cut it up and serve it with various side dishes,



The woman above is rinsing the seafood in fresh water before she slices it up.  This is a dyeing art, as their daughters don't have any interest is continuing the tradition.



This picture above is of lots more buddhas.  It is so amazing to me how many shapes and sizes these images come in and they are all interesting to me.