I’ve never thought as hard about the content of a post as the one about Jeju Island, South Korea. I have way too many pictures to stuff them all into one post, and Jeju Island is too beautiful for just one post anyways. I could’ve written three posts, about the three separate tours I’ve done on the island (east, west & south), or I could’ve written a post about possible itineraries when visiting the island. Instead, I’m leaving the planning all up to you! I’m writing two posts. One about the cultural sights I’ve seen on the island and one about the natural sights. I’ll start with the cultural ones.

Yakcheon Temple

Yakcheon Temple is a Buddhist temple of the Jogye Order in Jeju Island, which is one of the main lines of Korean Seon Buddhism. The temple is surrounded by little creeks and waterfalls, so walking up to the temple is quite a treat.

Something I had never experienced before is the fact people are allowed to take photographs inside the temple, even of the Buddha statues. It goes without saying that I went crazy and took as many pictures as possible, even though it still felt a bit naughty.

The interior of the building is beautiful, and it’s fun to roam around the different floors. From the second floor you can see people praying and meditating on the ground floor which is also quite a special sight. What struck me when I visited this sight is how little I actually know about Buddhism. How does the praying work? Why are the lantarns hanging from the ceiling? What are those candles for? I visited this temple on the first day of my two week trip through South Korea and already I started to look forward to the Templestay in Haeinsa.

Zooming out a bit, the surroundings of the temple are also fun to roam around in and to take photographs.

The below picture is one of the many photographs I took of the Dol Hareubangs (a.k.a. grandfather stones). They are made out of basalt (volcanic rock) and they are considered to be gods offering both protection and fertility. Nowadays, they are one of the main tourist sights of Jeju Island.

I visited the Yakcheon Temple as part of the Yeha Tour of the south of the island.

Hallim Park

Hallim Park is basically a theme park with botanical gardens. It goes to show how not special the park is, when the tour guide tells you to run through it and to skip a couple of gardens. Not all plants are native to Korea so they’re mostly there to educate and entertain the Korean tourists.

We were told to run straight to the volcanic caves, which was OK by me because it was raining anyway.

Actually, what I liked most about this particular sight were the eerie looking stones the park had placed between the different cave systems.

These caves were mostly a preview for the Manjanggul cave which is UNESCO heritage listed and which you’ll find in my post about the natural sights of the island.

We were only given a short amount of time to see the park, so we ran past the other sights (the Bonsai Stone Park and the “Traditional Folk Village”). Actually, I would see another Bonsai park on the same day and an actual traditional village the next day so I didn’t mind. For me, Hallim Park just felt like killing time and literally everything I saw there I saw somewhere else better.

I visited Hallim Park as part of the Yeha Tour of the west of the island.

Spirited Garden

This is the other bonsai garden I mentioned before. The overall atmosphere of the Spirited Garden is so peaceful, it’s a great place to walk around. As you can see the sun started shining as well, which always lifts up my mood. The garden came into the international spotlight as a beautiful garden that was created from a rocky wasteland by a single farmer.

This garden is highly photogenic so if you want to choose only one garden on the island – this one should be it.

I visited the Spirited Garden as part of the Yeha Tour of the west of the island.

Haenyeo (Lady Divers)

We were meant to visit the ALTHR Airfield, but our tour guide told us that this sight does not actually contain the damaged plane anymore and it just looks like a farm now. Therefore, he arranged an additional stop with the lady divers of Jeju Island. I didn’t mind, because it was a nice opportunity to meet these women in person.

Haenyeo are an old tradition, most of the women have been diving for over 60 years and are now in their eighties. The youngest haenyeo is in her sixties. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that this line of work is not interesting anymore to the young women of Jeju Island because other (less straining) options are now available to them.

How long the haenyeo spend in the water depends on the season. Now that they can dive in wetsuits, instead of the cotton clothes they used to wear, haenyeo can stay in the water for five to six hours at a time, even during the winter. With each dive, haenyeo plunge up to 30 meters deep and can hold their breath for over three minutes. Their harvests consist for example of abalone, conch, octopus, and sea slugs. The divers must deal with dangers such as jellyfish, poor weather and sharks.

Did I mention most women are in their sixties. They are amazing!

Seongeup Folk Village

I liked the Seongeup Folk Village mainly because of our temporary tour guide. A local from the village. He speaks impeccable english and his facial expressions are the best. He was such a sweet man. He showed us his house and explained a bit more about the way of life in the village.

The Seongeup Folk Village shows the unique culture of Jeju Island: the black lava rock walls, the straight but curvy alleys to block the wind.

Also, the local black-haired pigs and pigsties are especially well-known characteristics of Jeju folk culture. Jeju black pork is said to be very nutritious. I don’t know whether this is true because although most of my tour group had the pork, I chose the vegetarian bibimbap for lunch.

If you visit this village, you’ll probably also get to try Omija tea (five flavour tea). This tea changes flavour depending on the state of your body. This was the first tea I ever drank that I actually like. I thought I would be able to buy it from the mainland as well, unfortunately I did not find it. So buy it on Jeju Island when you have the chance!

I visited the Seongeup Folk Village as part of the Yeha Tour of the east of the island.

Nanta Show

I hadn’t planned to visit the Nanta theatre show, but everywhere I went I saw signs promoting it. So I figured why not?

The show is about three chefs and an apprentice who have to prepare dinner for a restaurant. It’s a fun show which combines music, dance and laughter. Sometimes the comedy is a bit over the top, but I think that’s part of the Korean charm.

You can also visit this show in Seoul, but I liked the fact that I saw it on Jeju Island in a relatively small theatre.

Conclusion

I met many people during this trip and most of them were not particularly impressed with the sights. I don’t agree with them. Sure, an East Asian Buddhist style temple is an East Asian Buddhist style temple whether you’re in China, Japan or Korea. However, when I’m travelling I seem to always be awe-struck by the sights I see, even if I’ve seen them a hundred times before.

I have to admit that the cultural sights of Jeju Island are not the highlights of the island. Its natural sights are much more beautiful and some of them are even UNESCO heritage listed. You’ll read all about them in my next post!