I was up with my alarm predawn and stumbled out into the lounge to gulp down a few cups of coffee and do my Duolingo set before going out for the day. I knew I might not have the energy to study later, so I had to get it done while the caffeine worked its way into my bloodstream. Having learned my lesson at Dobongsan, I made sure to wear long sleeves and pack a down jacket just in case.
It was light outside by the time I headed to the bus stop, and I didn’t have to wait long before the 281 came rumbling along. It was a good 45 minutes of twisting, stomach-turning roads before I could topple off the bus at the Seopanak trailhead.
I made exceptionally good time up the mountain, stopping periodically for a swig of liquid and mouthful of calories, but ever mindful of the cutoff to ascend to the peak and the lunch awaiting me. The scenery was nice enough, though the leafless trees gave a rather desolate feeling. Signs pointed out every 100 meters in elevation gain, and I passed the tree line around 1,700 meters in elevation. Coming out of the ocean like that, it is an impressive mountain. It makes me want to go back Malaysia to properly summit Kinabalu.
The crater lake at the top was low of water but impressive nonetheless, and I spent more than half an hour plopped down on a rock munching away on a salad and snacks. A golden weasel (?) occasionally stuck its head out from under the rock to look at me or dart out to grab to nuts that a previous hiker had dropped. I spent some time chatting with a Korean-Canadian who was towards the end of a 2 year roundabout. Two years is a long time, but I guess when you get working holiday visas and can stop for a couple months to build up a nest egg, it makes sense.
I headed down the north trail (Gwaneumsa), which is both far more scenic (in terms of enjoying the mountain rather than the view from the mountain) and a harder trek. Vast stretches of the path were muddy from melted snow. Though slightly shorter, it felt longer because I was getting tired and anxious to get back. I eventually made it out of the forest to the parking lot. I had to transfer buses, but there was no difficulty returning to the town where my hotel is.
I vegged out a bit in the lounge, showered, noticed how I got a little burned despite touching up sun block multiple times, and vegetated a bit more before deciding to explore the market for some food options. Approaching early evening, the market was crowded, and the “street food” stalls were packed with queues. I want a sit down meal, so spent quite a bit of time looking in and around the market, eventually finding a smallish, oldish place with a decent amount of people eating inside. I had some sort of abalone soup with plenty of other seafood in it, though it basically tasted like a bean paste soup.
I was still a bit hungry later, and grabbed an ice cream from a 7-11. I was beat, and decided to watch something on my laptop. At one point, some new guys to the dormitory asked me if I wanted to drink with them, but I had to decline the offer.
| Seafood Soup | 10000 |
| Ice Cream | 1800 |
| Total: | 11800 (71.4 RMB) (USD 10.64) |
On my last day before the marathon, I didn’t have any particular plans other than the wish to do a short 5km run to stay limber. That didn’t happen. I was pretty hungry when I woke up, so I decided to go out for some breakfast, arriving at a Dunkin Donuts just as they opened. I spent a couple hours there working on my computer.
I headed back to the hostel and borrowed a bike, but didn’t make it very far before realizing what a horrible idea it was. The roads are way too hilly and being out of biking shape, attempting to put 10 or 20 km on a bike would absolutely wreck me. I made it over one hill and followed a cutoff to a scenic attraction to make the best of the situation. It was beautiful, and I realized why a car would be necessary to really make the best of Jeju. There are scenic spots every couple miles along the coastline, and while one can walk lots of trails going through the scenic areas, you could cover a lot more ground in a day with a car.
I biked back to the hotel, ditched the bike, changed into sandals to be more comfortable and caught a bus to Jungmun Resort area where I knew there was a beach. I packed swimming trunks just in case. Firstly, Jungmun means “Chinese (writing)”, so I had to check out the area. Secondly, the resort area is really resort-ish. To get to the beach, I followed a “valley of flowers” and came out looking over the ocean. Past noon and hungry again, I stopped at the convenience store and had a simple meal at a table outside.
Afterwards, I followed the boardwalk, which was a bit more hiking than I intended, leading along the top of the cliff above the beach, before cutting down some stairs to reach the beach, which was only populated by a large group of student surfers. I walked the length of the beach and not particularly eager to move on, found a spot to lay out a blanket and take a nap. The wind started to pick up, and though the warmth of the sun was enough to compensate for its chill, the way it would sometimes pick up the sand convinced me my nap was enough. Regarding swimming, the beach was only open for swimming in July and August, and sticking my feet in the water convinced me it was for the best. However, as I was leaving I did notice some kids frolicking in the water.
Rather than head straight back, I decided to follow a trail for a bit. The trail led through and around some luxury resorts, a yachting harbor, and patches of green punctuated by thousands of flowers in full bloom. The wind continued to grow in strength, and by the time I decided to cut back to the main road to catch a bus, I was thoroughly chilled.
I tried the market again for food, heading directly to one restaurant that had caught my eye previously. Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen the “2 ppl and up” fine print, so it was out of the question. I went back to the hotel and asked the front desk if they had any recommendations. Upon their advice, I had some bbq pork veggies thing that was not only amazing, but the restaurant “tolerates” single portions. I wouldn’t have minded paying for a double portion of meat, but the veggies were basically bottomless. I felt like a total foreigner that meal both with the auntie taking over the cooking for me and me dropping food everywhere in my eagerness to eat.
I did my best to pack everything up so I wouldn’t have to worry about it in the morning. It was my last night in the hotel, and I would be at the marathon until checkout. The original plan was to take everything with me from the hotel (south side of island) to the venue (west side of island), run, take everything to the Jeju City (north side of island). Try to catch a ferry to the mainland, arrive late at night, find somewhere to sleep, then catch a bus the next morning. However, upon second thought and noticing how there was no time scheduled for eating or showering, I looked at flights, and decided to spend a night in a guesthouse near the airport and catch a flight in the morning. The irony is that a flight ticket is about the same as a ferry ticket.
So, I went to bed early to be ready for the race, which no longer seemed like the biggest concern among the swirl of other travel worries.
| Dunkin Donuts | 6600 |
| GS25 Lunch (ttoekbuki + drink) | 4100 |
| Mango ice cream | 1800 |
| Duruchiki | 7000 |
| Total: | 19500 (118 RMB) (USD 17.58) |
Running Total: 16817 RMB (USD 2505.5)
Daily Average: 271.2 RMB (USD 40.4)