Chuseok and Jeju Island - Yeah, I Went There

It's been an exciting couple of weeks for Jeong Mi and myself. We both have had a lot of new experiences and it's been a ton of fun spending so much time together.

Back at the end of August was, of course, our trip to the USA for my sister's wedding.

Adding another chapter to our travel log, we headed to Jeju Island last week to spend our Chuseok vacation. Chuseok, as understanding Koreans will tell you, is akin to the American Thanksgiving. If the Korean is a jerk, however, they'll tell you your phone dictionary and less uptight Korean buddies are wrong.

Chuseok is a day of thanks, for sure. It's not about turkey and stuffing, unfortunately, but it is about giving thanks for family. The timing of Chuseok is a harvest-timing type of thing from the past when Korea was mostly farms. So, 1997. But really, it was a time for the family to come together to get the fall's harvest.

It has transformed itself now into a time for family to get together and give thanks for the family members who came before them. It's one of the two biggest holidays here in South Korea.

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Jeong Mi to join her family on the morning of Chuseok and check out the traditions. I arrived at 8 a.m. and her dad's brother's family was already there. Everyone was preparing the traditional food and dishes, and had the screen with all the symbols of longevity on it.

After it was all prepared, Jeong Mi's dad and brother took a few turns bowing, wow her uncle's family just bowed their heads and prayed. I just took pictures and took it all in. I've been a part of thanksgiving ceremonies in Korea before, as I have been to a few bamboo dance academy openings. But this was my first Chuseok that I got to experience.

I'm very thankful for Jeong Mi and her family, and I think it was appropriate for me to share that day with them.

Jeong Mi's mother's family came later in the morning, so I got to spend some time with them as well. I think I'm making a good impression. After all, they keep inviting back.

After the meal, Jeong Mi's brother took us to Gimpo Airport, where we met with Popper and Jeong before their flight. We boarded an hour or so later and made our way to the southern sea below South Korea.

Jeong and Popper rented a car, and went to check in when they arrived on the island. When we came an hour later, we had to wait a bit for them to come back to pick us up. The island is about 25 kilometers from the side the airport is on to the side our hotel and pension were on.

We got back to our pension and checked in, and we immediately started having fun. Jeong Mi and I checked two suitcases full of meat, side dishes and alcohol. Also, her dad generously gave us a bottle of whiskey. We paid the owners of the pension 20,000 won and he heated up the grill for us. We hung on the porch, basically overlooking the ocean, took in the cool breeze and grilled up some meat.

The yard of the pension was beautiful. Typical grass in Korea is scratchy and hard. This grass was soft and beautiful like a plush carpet. Just awesome.

We hit the road Thursday morning to take in all our adventures. We went horseback riding first thing on Thursday morning. It was a lot of fun. Jeong Mi and I had really nice horses and the trainer walked far ahead to allow them to gallop and catch up. That was nice. They even got to break into a lite run around the final stretch of the track.

After that, we headed to Seongsanilchulbong. It's a now-dormant volcano. The four of us hiked up the side of it and took and ton of really great pictures. The inside of what used to be the volcano was beautiful. It was a bowel covered in trees and grass. It was also high up and allowed for awesome views of the ocean.

Next, we were headed to a hot-air balloon ride, which, unfortunately, we never got to because of "windy" weather. What we found along the way was a go-kart track. While I thought it was a little pricey, the lady ended up giving us a discount and we got a couple of two-person karts.

Good for me and Jeong Mi is that our kart was really fast. Unfortunately, every time we came around the track, the employees told us to slow down. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, it's only a go-kart track. Why would we want to go fast?

After that, we headed to the trick art museum. It was really fun. There were bunch of pictures that were painted in a way that allowed you to interact with them. It gave great opportunity for some really awesome photos. We took a ton in there and it was really fun.

After that, we got some of the famous Jeju black pork. Now, we unfortunately went to a restaurant with terrible service. But if you ever go to Jeju and everyone is telling you you have to try this meat. I can tell you that it's not worth the trip. It's between 12,000 and 15,000 won per portion and tastes NO different from what we always eat around here. Want to know what it tastes like? Have you eaten galbi or samgyeopsal in Incheon? Well, you know already.

Next, we went to a small waterfall to get a few pics. It was dark at that point, but the waterfall was lit up and it was really peaceful.

The next day, we headed to a small park where you can get a really good view of the lava rocks formed from whenever the volcano blasted. We didn't stay there too long, because we had to get to The World Automobile Museum.

The car selection there was pretty spectacular. Popper and I were discussing how it seemed likely that the cars probably all belonged to one super-rich collector and he wanted to share them with the world. There were a lot of fancy cars like a classic Cadillac, a Benz, a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley, among others.

There was also row of crappy Korean cars from the early 90s. They don't even come close to the sweet styles Kia and Hyundai are making now.

Next up for us was the sex museum. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Sex museum? Awesome!" Yeah, me too. But it's not so awesome. There were some entertaining things in there for sure. But it was moslty a lot of info and stuff about world cultures. It was like being in a building with a bunch of pamphlets from health class.

At least there was the sex toy room. That was hilarious.

Then came the moment I was really looking forward to: The giant hamburger. Of course, I shouldn't have built it up in my head. It didn't quite live up the expectations. It was big and it did taste good. But I forgot that I was in Korea with all the nature and fresh air down there. The hamburger wasn't beef. It was pork. It was still tasty and I'm happy I ate it.

When the burger time finished, it was over to mystery road, where we had to avoid the bugaboo!!!! Mystery road is a place where your car is going downhill, but the scenery makes it appear that you're going uphill. The girls didn't explain it to us at first, so we were confused when his girlfriend stopped her car and stuck it in neutral in the middle of the road.

After the first time, we realized what was going on. So we did it a second time, and screamed like our car was flying off a cliff. It was hilarious. We then had a little snack at one of the roadside restaurants and chatted with the ladies there. They were really nice and we had a ton of fun.

We then headed up the top of the peak. It was too dark to see anything at that point, but the ride down was awesome. We saw a ton of deer running along and across the road on the way down. It was like being back in Western Pennsylvania.

After checking the deer, Popper and his girl dropped us off at the airport, and we caught our flight home. I crashed at Jeong Mi's parent's place that night, and rode the train with her to work on Saturday. I went home and crashed for a few hours and then got back into normal life.

Overall, Jeju was an awesome trip. We got a really great deal on our flight and the pension we stayed in was really cool and comfortable. Everyone down there was really nice, as well. The four of us got to see a lot, but there's still more to do, if we ever want to go back.

If you get the chance, take a trip down there, even for a weekend. You'll be happy you did.

Until then, check out my pictures. I'll be updating them as more come in. We have three cameras worth of photos to sort through.

Enjoy all my pics here!!!