Jeju Island

The famous Jeju Island statues

So now that I have time during my winter vacation, here are pictures from our summer vacation. I haven't been so good with this blogging thing recently.

We spent a week on Jeju Island for our summer break. We managed to find cheap flights ($200 round trip from Seoul) and went for it. Jeju is a pretty large volcanic island that is a part of South Korea. It is huge for tourism, with its beautiful beaches with surprisingly turquoise waters, walking and hiking paths leading to massive waterfalls, and of course, a volcano to climb that is the highest peak in Korea.

It often took us an hour or two to get to parts of the island we wanted to explore. We stayed at a great hostel called Yeha Guesthouse a few blocks from the main bus terminal. It was a fantastic location with a very nice and helpful English speaking staff. We could walk to downtown Jeju city in 20 minutes for dinner and drinks or to the Island's main bus terminal in only 5 minutes.  Yeha had bikes to use for just 5,000 won, breakfast included and tvs in the room with USB slots. We had a great stay and would recommend it for English speakers looking for a value in a great location on this famous volcanic island getaway.

Where there are volcanoes, there's lava. Where there is lava, there are lava tubes. Jeju Island boasts the longest lava tube in the world and we were lucky enough to walk inside it.

We took a short ferry to Udo Island for the day. This small island off the northeast of Jeju island is tiny in comparison and super low key. We rented bikes, checked out the beaches and sampled some of their famous peanut ice cream. We met up with Michael and Lizzy, a cool couple we met on the island.

Udo Island

Our friends Lizzy and Michael whom we met in a GS on Jeju a few days earlier. 

The cliff off the side of the crater we climbed on Jeju which happens to be really close to the ferry port to Udo Island. Sadly, it was cloudy so there was zero visibility of the inside of the crater from the top. 

Having fun with dozens of drying octopus

Michael and Lizzy at a hookah bar with live music 

The famous Jeju female divers going through the days catch.

A panoramic view from southern Jeju Island

Double date delicious beer at the Boris Brewery in Jeju City

We made it to the top of Mt Halla, the tallest peak in South Korea! My third volcano summit. We made it up in about 4 hours and down in about 3. Our hostel was surprised to see us back so soon. Zoom.

On our hike down from Mt Hala. Jeju city is far in the distance. 

Mt Halla