Waterfalls in Seogwipo, Jeju

There are two famous waterfalls in Seogwipo, Cheonjiyeon (left) and Jeongbang (right). Both are easy to get to and well visited by tourists. The first waterfall we went to was Cheonjiyeon, which is located on the west side of Seogwipo city. It costs about 2,000 won (about $2) to get in per person and you walk along a very nice path lined with tall trees next to a river in a canyon. Yes, all of those glorious things in one little stretch! It was seriously beautiful.

It's a very easy trek, as it's a paved path and not very long. At the end, you see the waterfall along with tons of other people. When we were there, lines had formed to take pictures at the best photo taking spots, namely the rock below. 

I think it's funny how people (myself included!) always want to take pictures with destinations with only themselves in the picture. It doesn't really relate what the experience is like at all, but we all do it. Humans are so silly sometimes! :)   

After we visited Cheonjiyeon, we grabbed a couple taxis to the Jeongbang waterfall. It's possible to walk and there are signs (in English, too!) to help you along but it's about 5 kilometers away and it was super hot. Plus, taxis are cheap.

Jeongbang waterfall is unique because it's one of the few waterfalls in the world that flows directly into the ocean. To see it, you pay 2,000 won (once again, about $2) and walk down a bunch of steps securely built onto the cliff. You can get a glimpse of the waterfall on the way down.

Once we got down to sea level the spray from the waterfall was soooo nice. We stood around taking pictures and enjoying the cool mist while trying to get out of other people's photos and navigating the rocks. 

Both waterfalls are worth checking and could be done in half a day, easy. The hardest part is remembering to stop taking pictures and just stop, look around, and appreciate the beauty.  

Jeju Island: One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

Since we work at a hagwon (a private English school in Korea), we have two weeks vacation every year which are predetermined by our school: one in summer and one in winter. This year, we decided to use our summer vacation to go to Jeju Island to see what all the hype is about. Jeju Island is a popular destination for Japanese, Chinese and especially Korean tourists (of course!). We always hear about our students' trips there and it always sounds great.

The trip was especially fun because we got to spend time with all of Spencer's siblings and a few other awesome people. As you might know, Spencer's younger brother and sister are English teachers in Korea too and are living in Seoul. But his older sister is living in California and she came out to Korea to visit!! It was so great to see her and give her a glimpse into our lives over here.

I'm going to make some more specific posts about things we did in Jeju, but for now here's some of my favorite group shots I got from the trip.

brother and sisterly love

with the Cheonjiyeon waterfall in Seogwipo

Jeju Loveland

inside the Manjang lava tube cave

in the Manjang lava tube cave

at the lookout point on Seongsan Ilchulbong

Yeosu Expo

So, we went to the Expo. Almost every single one of my students had gone, we only live about 20 minutes away on the train, and our Seoul friends really wanted to go, so we went.

I didn't really want to go because I heard it was super crowded with long lines everywhere and not enough amenities (like benches and one time even, food!) to go around. When the Expo first opened, there was a lot of negative comments about the shoddy organization. I heard some horror stories from my students and coworkers.

Yeosu Expo main walkway through the International Pavilions

Because of all of this, when we went I was expecting nothing good. I was happy to have friends visiting but beyond that, I had no hopes other than a real German beer, which I knew would be there because of a picture I saw on Facebook from another English teacher.

Let me ask you this, what better creates a perfect day than expecting nothing?? Nothing. Nothing makes for better exploration and joy than low expectations.

We had a great time making our way through the different countries. We sampled coffee in Kenya, drank beer in Russia and Germany, danced in a parade-like-thing with people from all over the world, saw cool street performances at seemingly every turn, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

mosaic in Tunisia, Yeosu Expo

beers in Germany, Yeosu Expo

acrobat from Romania, Yeosu Expo

Switzerland's awesome mirror/pool + projectors reflection room, Yeosu Expo

Thai boxing performance, Yeosu Expo

parade/dance that we eventually joined in on, Yeosu Expo

We stayed at the Expo for about 12 hours and still didn't see everything (it's HUGE!) but I'm really glad we went and I feel like I didn't miss anything I really wanted to see.  

our crew at the Yeosu Expo <3

A terrible case of the Mondays

I thought it was going to be easy going back to work after vacation. We had nine days off and about five of those were spent on an island. We went to the beach, relaxed, saw some great waterfalls, and got to spend time with some really, really great people. We even had a couple days after our trip to just chill at home.

I expected to be recharged and ready to be patient with my little students and cram English into my older ones' heads. This is not what happened.

On Monday, every other word out of my mouth was a complaint. All I kept thinking about was how I want to keep vagabonding and not be stuck in a little room teaching and how we still have another four months to go before we can travel again. Ugh, four months seemed sooooo far away.

Just so you know, writing this now makes me feel incredibly stupid. Wah, wah, wah. I'm like a little crybaby sometimes. Four months really isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, but I just couldn't help myself. I had a terrible case of the Mondays.

And honestly, Tuesday wasn't much better, either.

However, tomorrow is another day and I'll be spending part of it splashing in the kiddie pool with the five and six year olds. Look at that, I'm getting back to the positives. I just need to remember to take these four months one. day. at. a. time.   

Boryeong Mud Festival 2012

The great part about extending our contract is that we get to experience all the great parts of Korea that only happen in the summer and fall two glorious times. That means, we made it to Mudfest again!!

This time around at Mudfest, we did things a little better. We got to hang out with friends and family, planned better, spent less money, and got to play on more of the inflatable toys. Win. Win. Win. Win.

From Suncheon, we left on Friday night and made our way to Jeonju by train. When we arrived in Jeonju,we took a taxi to the bus station to look at bus times to Boryeong and try to buy tickets. We weren't able to buy tickets the night before but we did see all the times and they had special seasonal buses going to Daechon beach. Yes, just what we were hoping for! We stayed at a great love motel (the front was the lone word "Hotel" and it claimed to be "a tourist hotel") that was only 40,000 won for the night.

The next morning we got up early and left on the 8:30am bus to the beach. We arrived at about 9:45, stored our stuff in a locker (2,000 won this year, free last year), and bought wristbands for both the morning and afternoon sections. (Last year there weren't sections and only on entrance fee of 5,000 won for the whole day.)

The morning section was a LOT less crowded than the afternoon section. We only had to wait about 15-20 minutes in line for each slide, mud pit, or obstacle course. We were able to do everything. Even though each activity seemed to be over really quick, it was still super fun. I was laughing, slipping, and sliding all over those big plastic toys!

The afternoon is when everyone and their flippin' brother arrived. All the organized tours started pulling in and the place really started filling up. The lines swelled and what used to take 20 minutes, took up to two hours. We didn't go on any of the slides or anything in the afternoon. It just wasn't worth it to wait that long for less than a minute of play time.

It was so crowded but there was still plenty of mud to go around! They have a "jail" where you go inside and they festival workers throw mud all over you. It was a good way to get to lookin' like this:

The first photo was taken by Katie and the last four were taken by Brent of Kimchi Bytes.

Gwangalli Beach, Busan

Over the weekend we went to Busan to visit with some friends and for Spencer to play in soccer tournament. We stayed with our friends in the Gwangalli beach area and it was like a little slice of Korean heaven. I loved everything about the place! First of all, our friends live about a block away from this:

Beautiful, no? :) The bridge lights up at night with little color changing lights. It's gorgeous! I wish I took a picture of it but it was rainy when I saw it at night. Bummer.

Number two, Gwagalli has a variety of cafes, restaurants, and bars along the beach. For the price of a cup of coffee, you can sit in the shade for a couple hours enjoying the cool sea air. There is some great people watching to be had, and what better place to do it from than from the second story of a coffee shop?

Another great part about our beachy weekend get away was our friend's cat, Oscar. Oscar is a loaner kitty that Courtney is watching while her friend does some traveling for a couple months. I'm honestly not very much of a cat person but I instantly fell for this guy.

He has got to be one of the most chill cats, ever. And his hair is just awesome. He's like a tiny grey and white lion! He's a gem.   

Also, here's a few more photos from the weekend, just for fun.

futsol tournament

art in the metro

Gwangalli Beach, it's definitely not secluded!

The Highs

This is a great idea!

Gwangalli street sign

heading home to Suncheon, bus terminals as far as the eye can see!

Korean Photo Poses

One of the greatest things about Koreans is the way they pose for photos. Just smiling isn't good enough for them. They feel they should invoke what they are feeling, some creativity, or silliness into their photos. It's silly but actually really fun!

Here are a couple of our friends, Kaylee and Jeremy, showing some of the poses for you.

Photos by Miss Katie High.