Skip to main content

Korean Hawaii or Jeju Island

Welcome to the board! Today we will have a trip to Jeju island.

A few days ago I was sorting my old pictures, and I found some photos from my trips to Jeju Island, which is located in the South part of South Korea. Probably, many of you have already heard about that island, or maybe you already had a chance to visit it. So, some of you will learn something new, and some of you will remind some old stories.

If be honest I have a loooot of photos, so I have a lot of stories to tell you too. But let’s start from the very beginning :)

So, we will take a flight with Jeju Air, and in less than an hour, we will arrive at Jeju airport.


Jeju Island or Jeju-do (제주도) was calles Quelpart Island till 1946. The name comes from the name of a European ship. However, in the past, this island had different names: Donyenju, Juho, Thamora, Somna, Thanna, Thamna, etc.

Why do Korean people call this island Jeju-Do when foreigners call it Jeju Island or even Jejudo island? The answer can be found in the linguistic meaning of the word. The suffix ‘-Do’ means ‘island’ in the Korean language. So, the right name of the island in English is Jeju Island.

Jeju island is the largest island in South Korea, and at the same time, it is the smallest province in South Korea. Also, it is a city too.



Jeju is a volcanic island, therefore it was established as a result of several volcanic eruptions. And island consists mainly of basalt and lava. It took more than 2 million years to make the island appear in the world.

The main point of the island is a Hallasan volcano, the last eruption of which was about 25 thousand years ago. Hallasan or actually it should be called Halla Mountain (suffix ‘san’ means ‘mountain’ in the Korean language), is the highest mountain in South Korea. If you climb up to the top of a volcano, you will see a Bennoktam lake in the volcano crater. The depth of the lake is about 100 meters.


Halla Mountain is located in the centre of the island, like a Christmas tree xD. Therefore this mountain is well-observed from any part of Jeju island. Also, there is a Buddhist Temple Kwaneumsa on the top of the mountain. The temple was built in the X-XI centuries. It was totally destroyed during the war and then rebuilt again.



At the bottom of the mountain, you can find a nice park zone with beautiful nature, and of course, many souvenir shops and cafes.



A few words about the climate on Jeju Island…Jeju island has not only an interesting establishment history but also a climate too. In comparison with other provinces in South Korea, the climate on Jeju island is subtropical, i.e it is much warmer here than in other parts of South Korea. I have been on the island several times during different seasons of the year, I would like to say, that when it was crazy cold in Seoul, on Jeju island it seemed like fall weather.

When I visited Jeju Island in summer, as I remember it was mid of July, it was super hot here, so it was almost impossible to go outside, especially to stand in the open area. So it took me less than a day to transform from a white choco to the black one.

Therefore, many people, not only Koreans but also foreigners, come here for a seaside holiday, to chill on the beach.

Few more facts about the island…

The population of the island is about half a million people. Many people come here for a vacation. A few years ago, many people called the Jeju island “Korean Hawaii”, because young couples spent here their honeymoon. Jeju is one of the cheapest options for a honeymoon. And young couples who didn’t have an opportunity to go abroad came to Jeju. But, I wouldn’t say that it is the worst option. Because there are so many things to do here.



The symbol of the island is Haryeban's grandfather, which is made of volcano lava. The unique point of this figure is an always smiling face, round eyes, and a big nose. On the head of the grandfather is a mushroom hat.




Citizens of the island use their own dialect, which can understand only Jeju people. It is totally different from the Korean language which is used in other parts of South Korea. Some phrases in the Jeju language may be very confusing, because there are similar phrases in the Seoul dialect, and it has a totally different meaning.

Maybe you have already heard about Hallabon fruit, which was cultivated in Jeju. It is a mix of mandarin and orange. It is tasty and kinda expensive. A kilo of hallabon costs about 10 dollars.


Jeju island is a UNESCO heritage. That also makes it a MUST SEE place in the world.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Seoul National Cemetery

The weather is getting better and I try to travel as much as it is possible. It is hard to travel overseas, but if be honest, there are so many places to visit in Korea too. And I don’t think I will ever say that I visited all of them. Today I will take you to the Seoul National Cemetery. You may say ‘Uhhh…it is scary, it is creepy, but I am sure you will change your opinion after our online tour. Location The cemetery is located in Seoul on Dongjak Station (Subway Line 4 and 9). About Seoul National Cemetery During the difficult time in the 1940-50s when wars took the lives of soldiers, there was a need for a cemetery. In the beginning, most soldiers were buried in the local areas where they served. But an increasing number of deaths made it necessary to install the cemetery. During the search for the cemetery installation area, ten areas were explored in 7 rounds. And as a result, the current location of Dongjak-dong in Seoul was chosen. The cemetery site was confirmed and approved b

A Day Trip. The Last Spot - Ganwoldo

Do you remember that I had a day trip a couple of weeks ago? I started with Seosan city then visited International Tulip Festival , and in the end, I have been to Ganwoldo. And I will tell you about that beautiful place now. About Ganwoldo Ganwoldo is an island with an area of 0.88 km2, a coastline of 11 km, and a highest point of 70m. And it belongs to Seosan city. It was a small island located in Cheonsu Bay, but it is now land, not the sea, due to a large-scale reclamation project in 1984. First of all, there is an amazing view. Despite on wind, I enjoyed each minute spent there. One of the main attractions here is a Ganwolam Welcome to Ganwolam If you go to Ganwol-do, you can meet a mysterious and beautiful hermitage floating on the water. There is a baby island in Ganwol-do. This little island is open twice a day at high tide and low tide, about 30m long, and becomes an island and land. On this palm-sized island, there is a small-sized Ganwolam. A story of Ganwolam Ganwoldo means

Korean language courses in Korea

Travelling around is always awesome, and is full of positive emotions and memories. But during travel, we usually face different issues related to the foreign language. And today we will talk about South Korea and the Korean language. I started to study the Korean language in 2009 when I received a scholarship from Korean Foundation. My first language course was at Hanyang University. It was a short intensive program. The scholarship covered everything, except travel expenses. But still, it was a pretty good deal. The course duration is 3 weeks. A little bit of Korean language… Hangugo (한국어)— Korean language. Hanguk (한국)— Korea, Suffix ‘-o’ (-어) means ‘language’ During the courses, we stayed in the dormitory. There were 2 students in one room. The room was pretty wide: 2 tables, 2 beds, 2 wardrobes, toilet and shower room, etc. The classes were in another building. In order to get there from the dormitory, we could take a subway or free shuttle bus (about 15mins), or just walk (about 3