Recently, I had my first trip to Jeju. Now I admit my planning and forethought for this trip wasn’t all that great. I had it in my head that Jeju was a small island that I would easily be able to get around…on a bicycle. More fool me.

I also thought the weather would be glorious and thus only packed for that outcome. Let’s just say, I was very glad to find a Home Plus with clothing supplies for a very soggy wet Sarah.

The trip had three key aims:
1. Go scuba diving
2. Ride a horse
3. Climb Halla Mountain

The trip didn’t get off to the best start. The first three taxis I tried to get into all refused me and I was starting to get somewhat fraught, but taxi number four saved the day. I arrived at Gimpo with enough time to get a snack and potter aimlessly around the gate trying to work out which passenger I would be sat next to.

I stayed at Jeju Hiking Inn in Seogwipo which was about a 30 minute taxi ride from the airport  (http://www.hikinginn.com/). It’s a cheap and cheerful place. My room was small and clean; had an en-suite bathroom, a TV and an electric blanket.

That electric blanket saved me.

I mentioned earlier about the weather and getting very wet. Well, soaked would be a better description, hence my delight at being able to snuggle into the warmth of the electric blanket.

Key Aim 1.

My first full day was when I had booked to go scuba diving.  I went with Big Blue 33 (http://www.bigblue33.co.kr/). Even though it looked like the walk from the hostel to the dive shop would take about 15 minutes, my dive bag was quite heavy and it was raining…a lot. As I had no raincoat or umbrella or anything that would keep me even vaguely dry:

TAXI!

I arrived a little early and set about filling in forms for insurance and health and showing my dive credentials. A 7mm wetsuit was picked out for me and I asked about the dive.

I have never dived in water colder than 28C so the mention of 15C caused me to be somewhat nervous. The man who owns the shop, Ralf, wasn’t the chattiest of men and he didn’t really make me feel at ease. I didn’t really know what the plan for the day was even after four more divers had arrived and we were all squashed into a minivan going to the dock.

Ignoring the rain, the boat trip was a little choppy, but a good way to check out some of the coastline. We travelled out to Little Munsom. This is a jagged piece of volcanic rock stabbing its way out of the sea. It did not look like a place from which to lead a dive trip, and Ralf obviously felt the same as he told the captain to go to Munsom, a bigger piece of rock with a tiny bit more surface area for landing.

I was still highly unprepared though for being dropped on a small ledge of sharp rock, just higher than sea level, and about five or six meters in width.

I think this picture shows the weather and the rock and how we positioned our gear. There wasn’t much space and the sea kept trying to snatch away any gear left within its reach.

We had to step off the rock into the sea. The main thing about the dive I remember was how cold the water felt as it seeped into my wetsuit and how difficult it was to bend my limbs against the springy thickness of the wetsuit.

I didn’t do my second dive. I was so cold. And there was no sign of the light lunch mentioned on the webpage, although Ralf had brought two flasks of hot green tea. I was very thankful for that. I even poured some into my wetsuit to try and warm me up.

I am glad I tried diving here in the colder water. And as Ralf pointed out, usually the weather is more generous and you come out of the water to be greeted by beautiful warm sunshine and not horizontal rain.

Key Aim 2.

One of the classes I teach is a Continuing Education class. And one of the women from that class comes from Jeju. She had given me a lot of advice and had suggested U-Do Island to me. I took a bus and a ferry and arrived on a beautiful sunny day – so much cheerier than a rainy day in my book.

During the ferry crossing, I had heard people talking about renting various types of transport to enable them to circumnavigate the island.  I chose a bike. I took my time cycling around, stopping a lot to take photos and paddle in the sea.

I passed several horse riding places, but one man seemed a lot more happy and friendly than the others I had seen.

It wasn’t horse riding like I had done at home. It was more like donkey riding along the beach at Blackpool in the UK. There was the saddle and stirrups, but I didn’t hold on to the reins, I held on to an iron hoop and the friendly man led the horse around.

It was fun. The horse was pretty placid and even seemed happy to have its picture taken.

It also gave my poor bottom a break from the bicycle.

Key Aim 3.

This last aim didn’t go quite to plan as you may have guessed from the crossing out. I was so tired from my trip to U-Do that I didn’t get up earlier enough to catch the bus to get to the top of Halla Mountain. You have to be there early for several reasons, but the most important one being that the summit is shut to visitors by 2pm.

It takes about 4 hours for a good hiker to get to the summit.

It took me 2 hours to get about 2km up the path before I decided I was too hot and tired and walked far too slowly to get anywhere near the summit…I also only started my climb at 12:30pm.

I would never make it to the summit in time.

But I really enjoyed my wander up part of Halla Mountain. I took lots of pictures of flowers and trees. The weather was glorious. And I was amazed at just how fast and fit Korean hikers are…and a little envious. It also made me realize that if I return to Jeju, I shall have to get up super early in order to make it to the summit before 2pm. I really don’t think I hike anywhere near the speed of the average Korean hiker so 4 hours up may be a bit of dream…

Ah well, at least I have a plan for next time: more diving and the summit of Halla.

Sarah Nelson(Professor, Dept. of General Education)

snelson@hotmail.co.uk