I took flyscoot airline from sg to incheon, with an hour transit over at taipei.
We reached taipei at korea time 9.50pm.
We set off to a hotel near Gimpo Airport to wash up and set off to jeju via air busan the next morning.
Flight timing from gimpo airport to jeju is about 50mins.
I have done research online for the past months and my family and i decided to engage a taxi driver to bring us around jeju due to the transportation in jeju inaccessible. This is one alternative.
Or you can rent a car and drive around the island, but do note that they are left hand drive.
Dont bother about taking bus. Because it will take forever!
I come out with an itinerary before we left sg.
So on the day the taxi driver who is also my tour guide fetch us from our hotel, she read through my itinerary and give us suggestions.
Fyi, jeju is bigger than sg. Therefore, the traveling time is way way longer.
I stayed in jeju city which is near the airport. Food is everywhere so there is nothing to worry about.
Day 1:
Manjanggul Cave
After manjanggul cave, on our way to haenyeon museum, we passed by a flea market, we stop by and tried their food and took some photos because the view is just too amazing!
Haenyeon Museum
This musuem is dedicated to the woman divers by the government of korea as a form of gratitude for their contribution to the economy in the 70s.
The oldest haenyeon is 91 years old and the youngest is 57 years old.
They are highly respect as they are the last batch of Haenyeon, as there isn't any younger woman who want to work and they do not want their children to take over because this is a tough job!
I have read about how brave the woman in jeju were when they have to dive into the sea to look for abalone and sea animals.
These musuem shows how they diver into the sea and what tools they used.
Japan has woman divers too, but their dress code are different from the koreans.
From the above photo, the pot in the centre is used to store water.
(If you remember, Da Cheng Jing always carry this.)
In the past, water is very precious to them as the well is far far away, and they has to collect the water and carry it back home.
Which is why, in the past, when they know their friends/family has just moved house, the best gift is always water.
To be honest, I am really proud of them.
They are super brave and strong! And they take pride in their job.
According to the tour guide, there are 4500 woman in jeju who are divers.
I didnt get to see them diving into the sea throughout my trip due to the rough tides but my tour guide said it is common to see them by the sea. She often see them there.
After the museum, is about noon time. we head to haenyeon restaurant to have fresh abalone porridge, it is sooo good!
Must support them!
Seongsan Ilchulbong
We are able to climb this mountain! My dad and I went to climb up. It is super tiring ok!
And the below is the view we got when we reach the top.
Jeju Folk Village Museum
This is one of the place where the famous show, da chang jing had acted in.
Because I visited this village, I understand why the stone statue in jeju is everywhere and why most newly married korean couples wanted to visit jeju as their honey moon place.
It is also known that this village does not welcome japanese because in the past japanese capture the woman divers from this village and killed all of them.
Stone statue is known as dol hareubang everywhere in jeju because is a myth that koreans in jeju believe that the stone statute protects all the lives on the island.
They usually come in a pair, not because one is male and the other is female but is because the stones come in left or right hand raise higher. The stone with left hand higher represents the 武, the one with right hand raise higher represents 文.
Couples love to visit jeju because they wanted to touch the stone statue on the nose which they believe will give you a baby boy, while if you touch the ear, they believe will give you a baby girl.
This conclude our first day in Jeju.
I am trying to compile everything. Stay tune!
