Jeju Island Day 2

I usually don't dream about food unless it's Cinnamon Toast Crunch or pancakes of course, but when I woke up on the second day of our trip to Jeju, I thought I was dreaming about warm, homemade bread.  But I wasn't!  Andrew and I went into the kitchen and Ilene was slicing a loaf of fresh bread that she had just taken out of the bread maker.  Talk about Korean hospitality!

We made breakfast for ourselves with the ingredients that were set out for the guests' use; bread, eggs, milk, jam, coffee, and tea.  I had a delicious egg sandwich and Andrew made a fried egg.  We knew we wanted to head out early so we got ready fast and then spoke to Ilene about our plans.  She recommended a beautiful beach for us to go to that would be far less crowded than Jungmun beach, which is where we went the night before.  She wrote out the bus numbers for us to take, as well as the name of the beach, Hypeojae, so that we could just show the bus driver our slip of paper and not worry about memorizing the Korean.  Without even planning it, we ended up going to the same beach as one of our housemates, Ginger Puffer, and yes, that is her real name.  Like Bree, Ginger's from California and teaching at the international school in Incheon.

The beach was beautiful!  There was plenty of white sand and seashells, and we got to walk around the lava rock that remains from Mt. Halla's last eruption in the year 1007.  Mt. Halla, or Hallasan, is a large, inactive volcano in the middle of Jeju island; in fact, the volcano's eruption is what actually formed the island.  The volcano is visible from virtually any part of Jeju, but typically the summit is covered by clouds or fog.

Sitting on some lava rock, enjoying Hypeojae beach. 

And so it begins, my strange obsession with adorable Korean families. 

We were reminded immediately by the wind and temperatures in the low 70s that it was certainly not summer anymore!  We didn't let that stop us though, we walked through the sand, got in the water (to my knees at least!) and laid out on our towels.  I even managed to get a little sunburned!  It was incredibly relaxing and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.  We only stayed a few hours because there was so much more to do!

Our next stop was the O'sulloc Tea House Museum.  We were pleasantly surprised when we got there, it ended up being far more beautiful than Andrew and I were expecting.  It was a small, but beautifully architected building, with a cafe, observatory room, nature walk, paths through the tea plantation, and even samples and demonstrations.  We were starving at this point so we went straight to the cafe.  We shared a piece of green tea cake roll and some green tea ice cream.  Both items were delicious!  We then walked around the museum and went up to the observatory; we were shocked to see that the green tea fields stretched as far as the eye could see, but it makes sense though, since green tea is a Korean favorite.

O'sulloc brings a whole new meaning to fresh!  Here museum workers are packaging the green tea that Andrew and I bought.  

Andrew and me on the observatory floor; that's a lot of soon-to-be green tea!

Smells like tea!

After walking through the fields we decided to head back since we wanted to go back to Jungmun to have dinner at the Lotte Hotel.  We took a cab back to the guesthouse to get ready for dinner.  After showering Andrew and I both came to the conclusion that the sun is still extremely strong in September and that perhaps sunscreen would've been a good idea (we were looking a bit lobster-ish, more so me than him).  I was so excited to go to Lotte for dinner!  Lotte is a huge Korean company that owns supermarkets, amusements parks, department stores, and hotels.  The Lotte Resort at Jeju is a staple of the island, and by far the classiest hotel there, so naturally I was dying to check it out!  I wore a pink silk blouse that I had bought while shopping with my friend Rachel (she bought the same one) before we both left for abroad.  When we bought it we knew we'd wear it to something special while studying abroad in our respective locations, Seoul and Copenhagen.

Andrew and I had 8pm reservations for Lotte's Volcano Buffet and Lightshow. We arrived a little early to walk around the lobby and check it out.  The place was beautiful, and like the Hyatt, it reminded me very much of being at Disney World.  Everybody we encountered was incredibly nice, and it was just so nice to finally be there.  We headed outside to the buffet and were absolutely stunned.  Everything from the beautiful swimming pools, the hotel's "volcano" structure, the sushi bar, and the tables and tables of food, was just amazing.  We were seated right away and perhaps the most surprising, but nice thing was that we were surrounded by so many families!  We had forgotten for a bit that it was still the week of Chuseok, and often this is the only vacation time each year that Korean families get.  

The entrance to the Lotte Hotel

View of the Volcano Buffet from the lobby terrace. 

Andrew and I ate a ton!  Everything was so delicious we just couldn't help ourselves.  I'm sure that the Korean families at the table next to us began to stare after plate six, but that didn't stop us.  Some of the highlights were the sushi, roasted duck, filet mignon, rice cake filled with red bean paste, blueberry cream tart, and green tea gelato.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  At 8:30 it was time for the Volcano Lightshow, the event that the buffet and hotel are known for.  The volcano went dark and then all of sudden a flash of light appeared and it began!  There were flames, streaks of light, flashes of water, and even holographics!  I wish I could do a better job explaining it, but it's just something you have to see in person.  Although it only lasted about 15 minutes, it was an incredible show and it certainly made the whole night worth it.  When the lightshow was over, a group of Korean drummers performed, and although they were quite talented, nothing could compare to the lightshow.  We continued to stuff ourselves, and when we couldn't possibly eat another bite, we walked around the patio and pools some more and then headed back to the guesthouse.  

Volcano lightshow, pictures just don't do it justice.

Andrew and I still going strong, not quite stuffed yet!