Jeju-do!

Vacation on Jeju Island:
It rained on Thursday when we flew in. The forcast called for rain almost everyday that we were going to be there (dang!) but the man who took us to the town where we were staying informed us that the weather was clearing up....while it was still raining. We could only hope that this islander knew what he was talking about. We went to a resturant after unloading our stuff in the hotel. It was pretty good food! It poured the rest of the night but when we woke up the next morning it was only cloudy! The hotel was nice, but near three other hotels that were 5 star, amazing, highly expensive ones called the Shilla, The Lotte, and the Hyatt Regency. The Shilla constantly ran horse drawn carraiges up and down the streets in the evenings. The hotel played music over speakers in the evenings too, reminded me of Epcot.
We took a little while to look around and had the best coffee I've ever tasted and a coffee shop called "Ripley's believe it or not coffee" It had some relation to the actual Ripley's chain in america. We then decided to ride the submarine. We reserved a time and bought a ticket. Then, to kill time, we went to a beautiful waterfall (pictures on facebook soon!). A boat took us out to the submarine. I forgot how much I love boat rides. It brought back memories of our Seattle trip. I guess since we were Americans they let us go first into the submarine. We crawled into the hole and went 40 meters below the water. A scuba diver followed the sub with a bag of fish food so the fish would swim right by the windows. We saw sea anenomies as well as a cool looking sunken ship.
Jeju Island is known for it's black pork so that's what we had for dinner. It was really good. Resturants here have grills in the table so the food is cooked right in front of you. It's a neat concept. Like a Japanese steak house at home but you do most of the grilling of your food, with the waiter coming by to motion that it's done.
We found out Hallasan Mountain (the dormant volcano that formed the Island) only had 2 of the 4 trails open because of the holiday. One didn't go to the top but only took 3 hours, the other did but took 8-9 hours. Lenny and Jen took the 3 hour one but Dave and I really wanted to go to the top so we woke up at 5:00 to drive our propane car an hour to the trail. It was a little chilly in the morning but we thought that it would warm up, so we didn't change our outfits of shorts and tshirts(Dave) with a sweatshirt(me). Mistake. ha! It warmed up a little but we were passing people who were dressed like it was 40 degrees! I would have been sweating a lot if i had dressed like that. As we had a date with Sarah, Soo, and a hamburger big enough to feed 5 people later, we began with a very quick pace. "We'll cut the time down and kick this mountains butt!" we thought! We were passing people right and left! Literally right and left, they have no order on how they walk up and down the stairs (or mountains) here. There are arrows on stairs, up=left, down=right (opposite america...strange) but they don't follow the arrows...frusturating!
My ankles started to get more tired than anything else by hour 2. We were walking/hopping up large pieces of igneous rock. There weren't any flat surfaces. I can't even imagine how they laid the rock out to make step like surfaces. Spaced every once in awhile were some wooden steps they had built to...give us a break? Make it actually physically possible to get to the top? Who knows...but they were handy. Some of the stairs near the top were so new that they weren't even bolted on the the metal beams. As we neared the top about 3 1/2 hours later the wind started to pick up. The trees weren't growing anymore. Not because we were at the tree line (it's not that high) but because they wouldn't be able to grow with wind like that. The temperature was...very...cold.
Side note: Koreans stack rocks here because they believe they have unseen powers. A prayer is said for their family and friends for each rock that is stacked.
After making a quick stack of rocks for our family and friends, we hurried to the top and looked into the awesome crater for a little while. We then took cover from the wind behind a rock and had a delicious lunch of snickers, nuts, bananas, and powerade. We called Soo and Sarah from the top ("You can't be to the top already!!" "No really, we are...") and then HIGH TAILED it to the tree line were the wind wasn't as bad. We decided to try to get to the bottom as fast as physically possible (without breaking something) to make a record. but then...
Side note: there was a sign at the top saying that Hallasan mountain was home to dozens (dozens I tell you) of Roe Deer.
...we heard a strange noise. Dave thought it was a pig. But after hearing rustling, we spotted a deer. It wasn't that far from us and he was aggravated that he couldn't get across the trail to what? another deer who was unknowingly even closer to us than the other. We spent about 45 minutes watching the upset one trying to find a way over while dodging hikers who were oblivious to the whole thing. He finally made it over and then we were on our way again. We saw about 4 more deer, 2 babies, on our way down. With only dozens being on the mountain, we might have seen half the heard right there!
Both Dave and I only fell once each on the rocks. I happened to go hands first down one part of the trail but for me...that's pretty good. :)
After that, we had enough time to grab Sarah, throw our suits on, and swim in the Ocean for awhile. The water was only a little cold getting in but took very little time to get used to.
We then went to eat our very large, yummy, hamburger. Hang on monkey bars. Try out the exercise equipment, hurt our feet walking on rocks, and search the town for a gift for the man who let us borrow his car (everything was closed).
The next morning we had to get up early because their flight left at 8:30. Mine didn't leave until 2:00 so I walked around the airport for awhile. I then flew to Fukuoka Airport (in Japan). Strange I know, but it was the only flight available. When I got off the plane, an attendant walked up to me and asked if "I was the one going back to Seoul?" She then took me to a room with 2 other attendants where I sat for almost an hour so they could switch my ticket and send my bag through customs. I'm not totally sure what happened during this time. They were speaking alot of Japanese to each other. But they walked me up the stairs and into the area where all the other people were waiting for the same flight. I bought a shirt with a Japanese Hello Kitty Surfer on it. Rock on.
I flew back to Seoul. Thought I would try the subway home instead of a bus. Realized this was a mistake because line 1 is a darn confusing one. Had a Korean woman help me with my bag because she thought it was too heavy for me. Arrived home, and didn't collapse in bed right away. (another mistake...lol)
So my trip was fantastic! So glad Sarah and David invited me to go. Being here in my apartment for 5 days would have been lonely!

miss you all!