Jeju Island Travel Diary - Day 2

1. A night at the guesthouse

The next morning, a photo I took as I was leaving the guesthouse. I've used guesthouses while backpacking in Japan before, but this was the first time I'd stayed in such a terrible one. And thinking about it now, I feel like it was a place for foreigners or laborers to crash for a night, rather than for travelers. The staff at the counter were Indian?, and they didn't even play the free movie at 10 PM every day that was mentioned in old reviews.

After waking up so early, I headed to the underground parking lot to go to a place I'd looked up the night before. (The parking lot only had two spots.)

I do drive sometimes when I'm at home, but maybe because I hadn't gotten used to Jeju yet, I was floundering a bit like a new driver. And that day, the wind and rain suddenly picked up, and I was scared I'd get into an accident. Thankfully, I didn't, but it was the scariest day of my driving life.

It looks like this because it's a video, but the wind and rain were insane in real life. My first destination through all that was Gwangot Cape.

2. Gwangot Cape and a Cafe

They say this is the closest spot on Jeju Island to Haenam.

I took a panorama shot like this, too. If the weather had been nice, I feel like I could have taken a leisurely stroll and enjoyed the view, but the walking paths weren't that great and there were no cafes or restaurants nearby, so I headed straight to my next destination, a cafe.

Actually, I had been to this cafe before with my mom. It's a famous cafe in the area, and I remembered enjoying the bread, so I visited again.

I ordered an Einspänner and some bread. I usually prefer plain bread without sugar or other ingredients. I guess it's because I like carbohydrates themselves.

This kind of weather sucks when you're driving, but when you're watching from a safe place, there's no better view. When I came here before, kids were even swimming here.

3. Jeju Stone Park

The next place I went to was Jeju Stone Park. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations at first. But for real, it was one of the best places I visited.

First of all, the scale of it is just magnificent. I read in reviews that it takes about half a day to see the whole park, and it's true.
If the weather had been good, I would have wanted to see all the courses, but because the weather was bad (and it was too cold), I only saw the yellow course.

This is a pedestrian light designed with the motif of Seolmundae Halmang, a figure from Jeju folklore. It lights the way to the Stone Museum.

On the way to the museum, there's a huge pond like this. It's a massive sculpture that simultaneously symbolizes 'Baengnokdam Crater Lake,' 'Muljangori Pond,' and the 'porridge pot' where the goddess fell to her death, all from the legend of Seolmundae Halmang.

When I entered the museum, the first thing I saw was a suseok (viewing stones) exhibition. I was the only visitor, which was great.

At first glance, suseok might just look like common pebbles, but if you look closely, they say the grand landscapes of nature and the forms of all things are compressed within them. In fact, they brought in many suseok that resemble the nature of Jeju.

The suseok exhibition hall is a place where precious collections from donors and valuable suseok excavated from all over Jeju are gathered together. Bizarre and mysterious stones, each with its own name, were waiting for me to arrive.

Next up were exhibits about how Jeju Island was formed. I was able to see a lot of diverse materials about Jeju's topography, from its origin story to the process of geological exploration.

There were especially a lot of volcanic rocks.

When a volcano erupts, chunks of hot, red liquid lava are sometimes shot high up into the sky. As these lava chunks fly through the air, they collide with the cold air and their surface begins to harden rapidly, and that's what a volcanic rock is.

Because they experience air resistance while spinning and flying through the air, they have a unique shape completely different from ordinary stones when they land on the ground. These "volcanic rocks formed by solidifying in the air" are called volcanic bombs in scientific terms.

On Jeju Island, there are volcanic bombs the size of a baseball, but there are also massive volcanic rocks that are much larger than a person. To think it could shoot such incredibly heavy chunks of lava high into the sky and have them solidify in mid-air, I realized anew just what an alpha male the explosive power of Jeju's past volcanoes must have been.

After experiencing the overwhelming power of Jeju's volcanoes, the next part of the route leads to a special exhibition space where the mystery of nature reaches its peak. Here, uniquely shaped volcanic rocks, created by chance during volcanic eruptions, are meticulously arranged like works of art.

They didn't just line up these natural sculptures; they were harmoniously integrated into the indoor space in three dimensions to best highlight the charm of each shape.

There was also a unique exhibit where a soft light was shone behind a lava tree mold, casting a giant, bizarre shadow on the white wall.

The stones displayed in this space can look like the figure of a menacing demon depending on the angle of the lighting and the shape of the shadow, a technique designed to encourage visitors to use their own imagination.

This kind of exhibition doesn't offer a standardized answer. It is said to provide a mysterious experience where a single volcanic rock can be reinterpreted into dozens of different creatures or shapes depending on the viewer's perspective, emotional state, and imagination.

A photo taken on the way out after seeing the entire exhibition. This would be a great photo spot if you came in the summer.

4. Aquarium

The next place I headed to was the aquarium.

I remember the admission ticket being a bit expensive, but it was fun nonetheless.

As soon as I entered, I saw small tropical fish. Among them was a tilefish, and seeing it, I resolved to eat it for dinner tonight.

Ugh, why didn't I take a picture of its name?;; Anyway, there was a transparent fish too. It was nice to be able to see fish from other countries.

I also got to see how to make fish specimens and specimens used for research where bones or flesh are dyed with chemicals.

It's a moray eel. Am I the only one who thought of the moray eel from Metal Slug 3? It's from Metal Slug. Its size was really considerable. I thought it would be delicious as sashimi.

There were also fish that matched the personalities of each MBTI type. I'm an INFP, so I snapped a shot.

Just some random shots.

Before this picture, there was a penguin and sea lion section, but there were so many kids and it was so crowded that I left before all my energy was drained. So no pictures,,,

This is actually the highlight of the aquarium. There are chairs on one side so visitors can watch freely. Of course, this place was also crowded, so I just took a few pictures and moved on right away.

And jellyfish for dessert.

It was fun because you could see various fish species and have experiences that weren't limited to Jeju. It was especially great to go with kids because there were penguins and otters, which are popular with children. You can also watch free performances at certain times, so I recommend looking it up in advance before you go.

5. Dinner and Rest

The meal I had for dinner. I came here because they said you could order a single portion.

The tilefish had a very clean finish like dried yellow croaker, with a strong umami flavor and a subtle sweetness that was superb. The soup and side dishes that came with it were also really delicious.

Ah, I want to go back so bad, for real, it's driving me crazy.

After dinner, I returned to the guesthouse. Humans are adaptable creatures, so it's starting to look kinda cozy now.

This time, I showered in the bathroom in the hallway? The facilities were a bit so-so; instead of having a proper drainage system, it was the type where you pee and then fill it up with the showerhead.

Oh, and I found out then that my room was male-only, but the floor seemed to be co-ed? I think the rooms were probably divided into male-only and female-only.