First time in Jeju Island, South Korea

April 28, 2022

Today was my first full day in Jeju! We woke up at 10am to get ready for brunch. The weather was really nice, although a bit humid. dNonetheless, I was really happy because the weather forecast said it was going to rain towards the middle of the day so we really wanted to take advantage of the nice weather we had this morning.

We headed out of our hotel at 12pm to get brunch at a KBBQ place. Jeju is really famous for their black pig meats and pretty much every tourist that comes here makes a stop at a KBBQ joint. I went to one nearby our hotel, but we found out it does not open until 1pm. My friends and I did not mind waiting, because the scenery was so beautiful outside so we went to go take a lot of pictures. I think I have almost 500 pictures taken that day in my camera roll….

Anyways, we finally got the chance to try the famous black pig pork belly that cost us almost $100 USD! I think it really was worth every penny because the meat was so different from a typical pork belly that I eat in the United States or anywhere in Seoul. We also got to try the famous Jeju soju that can only be bought in Jeju! I think it tastes the same as any other regular soju, but my friends are convinced that it tastes different.

fLater that day, we rode a taxi to go to the Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. There was an entrance fee of 1,000krw which was really cheap! The waterfall was so beautiful! There were many tourists that day so taking pictures was a bit difficult since there was a line at the waterfall. Nonetheless, the whole park area was so wide that I ended up going elsewhere to take pictures and just enjoy the nature views. I think we spent around three hours in the waterfall park area. We suddenly noticed some light sprinkling so we made our way down to go buy some souvenirs before heading back to our hotels. I also stopped by MangoRay to get the famous Jeju orange drink! Jeju is known for oranges and it tastes a lot different than regular oranges.

 

My friends and I changed into different outfits when we arrived at the hotel because we booked a yacht sunset tour. Although it was a bit disappointing because it was so cloudy so there was no sunset that day. It also is supposed to rain during the yacht tour, but the company that we booked it through did not cancel the trip so we just proceeded as usual. We arrived at the yacht place around 6:00pm and found out there was quite a large group of people there despite the rain. mThe yacht had an upper floor and provided fishing rods too! I never went fishing before so it was quite the experience. At first, I was a bit sea-sick as it was my first time on the yacht so the captain suggested I move to the upper deck. Things started to get better from there! I was no longer sea-sick and the view was super beautiful. The route included a lot of caves and nice mountain scenery. And of course, my friends and I took a lot of pictures on the yacht but it suddenly started raining so our group pictures were super chaotic. The yacht ride was super fun despite the heavy rain, so I am glad the tour group did not cancel it! 

 

My friends and I went back to our hotel room to wash up from all the rain and changed into new outfits before heading out to a bar. I was recommended to go to this bar called “Charles and Bobby” by my friends who visited Jeju last year. It was a Monday, so the bar was quite empty. aThere were only three other customers apart from my group, but I actually really enjoyed the atmosphere! The owners were super nice and gave us a lot of free shots on the house. We even got to request certain songs since we were basically the only group there. All the staff were super nice and they spoke English very well so communication was perfect. We were going to leave the Seogwipo area tomorrow, so the owners of the bar gave us a lot of cool recommendations to do in the north area of Jeju. We stayed until closing time, which is 2:00am because it was so much fun there. I would highly recommend going there if you are looking for a nice bar in Seogwipo. It was a great way to wrap up my first full day in Jeju!