KOREA DAY 3

Jeju Tangerine farm -> Seongsan sunrise Peak -> Submarine experience -> Horse Ride -> Manjanggul Lava Tube -> Yongduam (Dragon Head Rock) - > Mysterious Road -> ice sculpture Gallery -> Trick Art Museum -> Street Near our hotel ( 保健街 )

Ringgggg! Our morning call rang at 6am and we have one hour to prepare before we head down for hotel breakfast at 7am and head off for our day itinerary at 8am!

View of Korea street at 6.30am

Somehow other countries (like Taiwan) gets brighter earlier in the morning. In Singapore, you only see this around 7 plus am!

Complimentary mineral water

The hotel provided us with 1 bottle of FOC mineral water/day/room.

Lobby

Lobby counter

This is our only breakfast in the hotel. For the rest of our days, we have our breakfast outside.

Breakfast voucher

Colin gave us each a breakfast voucher the night before. The restaurant in our hotel is opened at 7am and we can just enter and have our buffet breakfast there after presenting these.

Hotel Buffet Breakfast @ T.H.E Hotel

Interior of the restaurant

They serve a wide variety of food! From western (Cereals/french toast) to Asian cuisine ( Porridge/vegetables/boiled egg). There's fruits too!

Pumpkin broth (side) is very concentrated!

We find the breakfast satisfying! During our meal there we saw Korean air stewardess/pilot having their breakfast there too! Looks like this hotel is frequent by Korean air crew too!

Street outside our hotel

Halfway through our meal it was raining ! It's the rainy monsoon season. Colin told us that weather forecast has said that there will be occasional downpours everyday till Wednesday. And Wednesday is the day we return to Seoul :(

But Korea generally has shower rain, that comes quickly and go quickly.

Our Jeju tour Bus!

We departed for our day itinerary as usual and headed for our first stop - Jeju Tangerine Farm at 8.45am.

Rainy day at Jeju tangerine farm 

As it was not the tangerine season, most of the tangerine in the farm are unripe. Those orange ones that we see are actually fake ones, to allow tourists to take photo with it!

They have pear (水梨) too!

Jeju 土地公 （Earth God)!

You will see plenty of this statue around Jeju - iconic tourists landmark / outside restaurants. It's Jeju's iconic earth god!

Tangerine sold in the small shop at the farm

Despite selling tangerines, Colin/store owner didn't advertise it to us. Instead they were advertising Jeju chocolate souvenir to us.

Jeju chocolate (Left to right) - Blueberry, Tangerine, Kiwi, orange

There's ample samples for us to try before we buy. They sell choco crunch ( Cactus/tangerine flavour) too.

Our loots

We bought everything above from that shop except that packet of chocolate with different flavours. We bought it at another store in Jeju later on.

The choco crunch (bigger box) are of the same price as the chocolates. They cost KRW 10,000 ( SGD$11.40) each. They have a promotion of buy 3 get 1 free. We took 2 boxes of choco crunch and 1 tangerine choco ( consisting of 5 small rectangle box ), and they gave us a smaller box of choco crunch (blue) FOC . See that small figurine on top of the blue box, we bought that cute looking 'Jeju earth god couple' for KRW 2000 ( SGD$ 2.30 ).

Choco crunch

Each box of the choco crunch consisted of 48 small individual packaging. This is good for distributing to many people as souvenirs since they are in individual packing. We find the taste good and thats why we bought it, however its a little too expensive. in our later stop overs at souvenir shops, we find them selling it around the same price but with a larger variety and they come in assorted flavours.

This brand ( Blue Jeju ) seems quite famous as we tend to see these choco and choco crunch in airport duty free shop or even in other souvenir shops in Jeju.

The rain stopped when we were there and it started to drizzle again when we were about to leave for Seongsan Sunrise Peak (日出峰). Seongsan Sunrise Peak is a UNESCO Heritage Site.

It is about a 15-20 minutes bus ride and we reached there at around 9.30am.

Colin went to purchase the admission tickets while a few of my tour members went to buy poncho. What a time to rain! The slight drizzle turned into heavy downpour when we reached.

Heavy rain :(

We saw tourists who came downhill were all drenched. The rain was so heavy, everyone wore poncho + umbrella. There's fog on top of the hill! It was really cold when raining!

Sea

I must say that we are lucky enough to not back out! The sky cleared shortly after!

The view was spectacular may it be facing the peak/hill/mountain or facing the sea! The air was very fresh too!

Mid way to the top of the peak

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago. Located on the eastern end of Jejudo Island, there is a huge crater at the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak. The crater is about 600m in diameter and 90m high. With the 99 sharp rocks surrounding the crater, it looks like a gigantic crown. While the southeast and north sides are cliffs, the northwest side is a verdant grassy hill that is connected to the Seongsan Village. The ridge provides an ideal spot for walks and for horse riding as well. 

                                                                                                                    - visitkorea.or.kr

Pathway

There are steps leading to the top of the peak. It's relatively easy to advance upwards but I must say you must have good stamina! But colin said a 15-20 mins walk up should lead you to the peak!

We gave up while half way through as we are afraid that we do not have time to descend since we need to gather back at the carpark by 10.30am. Still the midway scenery is a sight to behold! It overlook the pacific ocean!

For fellow buddhist devotees, there's a temple at the side of the base of sunrise peak.

We left that pretty scenic place and went for our submarine ride. It's a 10 mins bus ride to the ferry terminal. Prior to that we would have to take a ferry out to the sea. Colin booked our ferry tickets beforehand and our ferry timing is 10.45am. 

Ferry terminal

We see the Jeju Earth God again!

our ferry!

A week before, my family went to Batam and we went there by ferry too. I must say both ferries are equally comfy! :)

They have ferries that specialised in fetching tourists to board the submarine. They departed quite on time - once all passengers have board the ferry. They do not care whether you are seated or not, but they just departed off. Seems like they are running a very packed schedule!
This time round we took the seats at the upper deck as those at the lower deck has been filled. It was a great experience and we love the sea breeze!

On board the ferry to take the submarine which is anchored out in the sea

This ferry ride took approximately 10minutes and we are ready to board the yellow underwater vehicle!

Our submarine!

That ferry which we alighted from will fetch those passengers who just finished the submarine experience and is going back to mainland.

To get into the submarine we need to climb down a steep flight of stairs. See that red cover that the guy in pink (Submarine personnel) lift ( see photo above), thats where people climb down and into the submarine. And yes, you do climb up the stairs when you exit the submarine. So for ladies, do wear shorts/pants!

Beautiful scenary

There's professional photograph that help you/family take photo before you board the submarine. You can redeem the photo after you board the ferry back to mainland. That is free however they have a beautify copy of the photograph placed in a photo frame which is for sale at KRW 10,000.

Interior of submarine

It is quite narrow and small, can fit around 30 passengers. Halfway through the journey, it can be quite stuffy/hot. So off we go underwater!

It descend to a depth of 33m!

And we see fishes!!!

There's only small fishes though

Colin warned us before not to have too high expectations. He said that the fish in Korea are quite dull in colour - like grey instead of the fishes we see in Singapore - colourful.

Oh well, so why will fishes all swim around this gigantic vehicle? Shouldn't they be afraid of it? It's because there's a feeding session going on by our friendly neighbourhood DIVER!

Annyeong Diver!

The diver is there to lure the fishes over to the submarine. He will go to each window ( like airplane window) and feed the fishes. This is so we will be able to take photos of the fishes real up close. He go round the submarine twice. So if you forget to snap glimpse of the fishes get your camera ready the second time!

There is a 'navigator' in the submarine and he drive around the ocean floor. At times we see seaweed, corals and even spotted a small stingray!

The submarine ride lasted half hour before we went back to the water surface. Nothing much amusing though except that you can say ' I have taken a submarine before!' We personally feel that underwater world is much nicer to view. Apparently other fellow travel bloggers have similar sentiments as us when we read their blogs prior to our trip. thus we didn't really have high expectations for this submarine ride.

So we board the ferry back to mainland and received our photos.

Submarine Photo

We really like our family portrait when they displayed it with the photo frame and we decided to purchase it for KRW 10,000. The small card ( foreground of image above) is FOC.

After coming to Korea, we realised that most of the things including souvenir jump at a starting rate of KRW 10,000 ( SGD$11.40 ). Not too sure whether it is because we follow a tour package and we tend to go tourists attraction but some of the stuff can be a little too expensive!

Korean Pumpkin toffee candy vendor

Upon reaching the jetty, we saw this Pumpkin toffee vendor and decided to purchase sugar candy from him after seeing quite a few people buying from him. It tasted not bad, soft and chewy. But once it's cold, it will turn hard - like a rock candy. We bought one box ( passar malam muah chee kind of box) from him and it cost KRW 10,000!

Our next destination after submarine is the stables!

Horses!

Stables

Our virgin horse riding experience here! We were the only tour group here though. They allocate the horses to us and help us get on the horseback. Then the horses will follow the first horse which is lead by a 'cowboy'. There will be a photographer helping us to take photograph. The photographs are sold at KRW 15,000 (SGD$17.20) per A3 photograph in which you can choose to buy or not to.

 Once we reached a roundabout...

Roundabout

A person will ask us whether we want to run. Run means gallop. Most of us did not opt for this as we were afraid how fast the horse will gallop and it was our first horse riding experience. However 2 of them who opted for gallop said that it was a great thrilling experience! My dad even went for gallop twice ( can be requested since theres time ). He said the speed was fat and he was bobbing up and down. He even drop his spectacles during the gallop, and only realised it when we were having lunch. Luckily, Colin informed our bus driver who liased with the people in the stables and managed to find back his spectacles in good condition! Really appreciate them for their effort!

Gallop Gallop!

Lunch - BBQ, was a 10 minutes drive away. We were famished by then after a morning of outdoor activities.

Restaurant interior

It is a tourist restaurant and that's why the huge dining area.

Lunch - BBQ black pork!

Colin called the restaurant earlier to BBQ the black pork for us before we come, so by the time we reach its cooked! Similarly, we can ask for more meat and colin was very enthu in giving us more servings of lettuce/meat/seaweed!

After the meal on the bus to our next destination, Colin told us that black pork used to feed on animal faeces as they were reared near the toilet of villager's house. But nowadays, they eat those excess food wastage from us humans!

Korean seaweed!

Korean seaweed is very different from Singapore's in that it does not lose its crispness that fast. Despite serving and placing it in open air from the start of our meal, till the end, the seaweed maintains its crispness. While in singapore, after a few minutes of leaving it out in the open air, it becomes soft. This is because of the difference in the percentage of seaweed per piece. Korean seaweed contains a higher percentage of seaweed as compared to the other ingredients.

The seaweed is to be eaten together with the rice. Like a sushi wrap. While the fresh lettuce at the side of the table is to be eaten together with the pork.

After the lunch, we wanted to wash our hands but realised that theres no water supply in the toilet. Thus we wanted to wash at the kitchen area, but was prohibited by the ahjummas (Aunties) in the kitchen. They only understand Korean and despite us using simple chinese or english to describe 'No water' they still do not understand, until Colin step in and explained our situation, the ahjummas then allow us.
Communication breakdown when both parties don't understand what each other is talking about :(

We had a fast lunch and boarded the bus for Manjanggul lava cave. According to Colin, Korean working adults tend to eat very fast like around 5-10minutes only.

plantations seen along the way in Jeju

So we arrived at the Manjanggul Lava tube half hour later at 2.30pm. It is a world natural heritage (UNESCO heritage site)

Colin ( in dark blue shirt) queuing to buy our group admission ticket

As usual, Colin went to buy our admission tickets before we can proceed to enter the lava tube/cave. The weather was so hot then and apparently we saw a lot of koreans there too. Probably they want to avoid the hot temperature of 36degreescelsius by staying under the cave since it is real cold inside!

Entrance to Manjanggul Lava Tube

Manjanggul Cave (만장굴) is one of the finest lava tunnels in the world, and is a designated natural monument. A lava tunnel is formed when the lava that was deep in the ground spouts from the peak and flows to the surface. Manjanggul Cave has a variety of interesting structures inside including 70cm lava stalagmites and the lava tube tunnels. Only 1km of the 13,422m Manjanggul Cave is open to the tourists. The inside of the tunnel sustains at a temperature of 11~21℃, creating a comfortable atmosphere. There are rare animals such as bats living in the tunnel, which makes this tunnel valuable for researchers as well. The stone pillars and stalactites are widely spread and the tunnels shows off the cave’s topographical features. The Stone Turtle is especially eye-catching because it is shaped like Jeju-do Island.

                                                                                                                            - visitkorea.or.kr

The image (above) bottom left is the stone turtle. It is quite chilling inside - almost thought that there's air condition! Anyway it is very dark inside the cave as you venture deeper, and not all parts of the tube is lighted up. So it would be good if you have a torchlight or handphone spotlight armed with you to shine your path!

Next up is some 'rock viewing session' - Dragon Head rock or also known as the Yongduam rock! It is around a 45 minutes bus ride.

Dragon Head Rock ( Yongduam Rock)

Does it looks like a Dragon head? 

Once again, it is filled with many tourists and there is only a narrow passageway leading to/fro the platform to view the dragonhead rock.

Airplanes!

We spotted many airplanes in the sky there as its very near Jeju International airport. All of the air planes that we spotted were due for landing.

Vendor selling jeju ice cream - 3 flavours to choose from

Our first ice cream in Korea

The weather was real hot, and we decided to buy ice cream! It cost KRW 2500 for 1 cup.

Between the entrance of the Dragonhead rock and the carpark, there's souvenir shops, ice cream stores and stores selling cuttlefish. It is like a mini bazaar market.
We went to its souvenir store and spotted the Blue jeju choco crunch/chocolate packs there. It's sold at the same price but not too sure whether they have buy 3 free 1 promotion. However they have a greater variety and they bundle up different varieties together and sell it off, which is actually more appealing to my family since we like to try different flavours.

However because we bought the packs already, and decided to buy something different and thus we chose this nut mix(tangerine flavour) pack. It cost KRW10,000 ( SGD11.40). There's no sample provided in this store though.

Our next stop is not really a destination but a famous phenomenon in Korea. It is the mysterious road ~

Mysterious road - 神秘之路

So why is it called the mysterious road? It is so as any vehicle can drive uphill with the engine being turned off. So we put our tour bus to test. When we are reaching the stretch of mysterious road, our bus driver turn off the engine and surprisingly we see our bus moving 'upwards' slowly by its own. However dont expect it to be a very long stretch of road.

Mysterious road with engine off!

Do drive to mysterious road if you happen to be in jeju! It is actually a regular road but due to optical illusion things seem to roll uphill instead of down! We saw passer by stopping by to see too!

We end off our day itinerary with a visit to the ice sculpture gallery and 3D Trick Art Museum before dinner. Both places are located in the same building. We reached there at around 5.20pm.

We visit the ice sculpture gallery first before visiting the trick art museum. You can expect to view a variety of huge ice sculpture, and there's even an ice slide! A good place to escape the hot weather! All visitors will be given a towel to wrap yourself around as it is really freezing cold inside!

Brrrrr!

Huge Ice Sculptures!

and there's an...

ice slide!

This is already included in the admission ticket to the Ice Sculpture Gallery.

Its really cold and we are starting to get numbness in our hands/ears/cheeks since all of us are dressed in light clothing (summer)!

So our next stop is 3D Trick Art Museum! 3D Trick Art Museum provides an interesting perspective with 3D paintings and exhibits. Don't be afraid if you are not too sure where to pose or even what pose to do so as to get the maximum effect, as there's instruction board beside each painting!

The 3D Trick Art Museum is fairly big  and it contains 7 themed sessions: Parody Zone (showing famous paintings and sculptures), Animal Zone, Jurassic Zone, Aquarium Zone, Egypt Zone, Magic Zone, and Illusion Zone.

We had real great fun posing with the photos! We recommend people to visit this place. It is ideal for families and friends! However do note theres an admission fee of KRW 8000 (SGD$9.20).

We were given 45 minutes in the Trick Art Museum and then its dinner! Our dinner place is near the museum!

Dinner of sashimi!

For sashimi lovers, this is a dinner of sashimi! However if you do prefer to eat food cooked, then there's steamboat still and we can just cook the fish slices/prawn slices/Abalone. Colin warned us that the abundance of glass noodle beneath the fish slices is not edible. He poured 'Soju' (rice liquor) and oh my, I think Singapore beer is so much better!

Overall we find this dinner not too pleasing as the 'fishy' smell is too overwhelming! While eating, we met another Singaporean tour group - Chan Brothers agency in the restaurant.

Our day itinerary with Colin ended early at around 8pm back at our hotel. Colin told us that we can go to the street near our hotel to shop for cosmetics. These cosmetics are sold cheap however they are mostly products that do not sell well in Seoul. In another words, the cosmetics are quite outdated. Since we have some spare time we decided to venture around the street of Jeju, Korea!

Convenience store

They have many convenience stores on the street of Korea. Like '7 11', 'GS 25', 'C U'. However not all convenience store are opened 24 hours. Do check them out.

Night Street of Jeju

Seafood/bbq store

Generally shops in Korea close early at around 9.30pm. The street that we are at - 保健路is supposedly Jeju's bustling town area. However there's not much human traffic on the road.

保健路

This street is near our hotel - a right turn from the hotel lobby down and cross over the road at the second crossroad. The clothes are pretty expensive as compared to Seoul. There's plenty of stores selling cosmetics and they specifically cater to PRC tourists. These cosmetics stores have store attendants who know how to speak good chinese. When I enquired on the price of a specific brand of cosmetic in chinese, she told me the amount in RMB. And when I told her I am from Singapore not China, she gave me the puzzled and blank look. Looks like they were trained very well to handle China tourists!

No doubt like a bottle of Laneige Water bank essence can give a difference of SGD $9 when bought in Jeju cosmetics bazaar store as compared to Seoul Lotte Duty free store, I would advise people to still buy cosmetics in Seoul duty free stores. They are more reliable. As recent years, there has been more cases of fake cosmetics from China sold in Korea. Prices in Seoul duty free stores are still cheaper than buying in Singapore!

As there's nothing much to shop around and since the stores are mostly closing already, we head back to our hotel and decided to give the casino a visit!

T.H.E Hotel & L Vegas Casino

Don't expect anything as big as Singapore's MBS/RWS casino. Apparently when Colin came to Singapore for vacation, and had a chance to visit Singapore's MBS casino, he says that Singapore's MBS casino is around 30 times bigger than Korea's average casino. Korea has many casinos but all are pretty small scale. The casino at our hotel is very small with only around 5 tables. When we went, its around 9.30pm and theres only one table with people playing Russian Roulette. There's a few jackpot machines. The casino is really small. Casino in Korea is exclusive to foreigners only, in another words Koreans are unable to enter. The age limit for our hotel's casino is 19.

Side-note:

T.H.E Hotel Jeju

Korea's hotels don't use 'stars' to rank their hotels. But rather they use flowers. The flower is their national flower - Hibiscus. So 5 flowers is equivalent to that of 'five stars hotel'.