Jeju, Cheju Island, South Korea

Cheju Island is a special autonomous province of South Korea in the East China Sea. The island measures 40 miles from east to west and 16 miles from north to south. The island is volcanic and rises to the crest of the inactive Mount Halla. It is  at 6,398 feet with a lake in it's crater. Jeju city has around 500,00 people, but did not feel crowded. Most buildings were fairly old, but clean.  

Our tour today started with a visit to the small but interesting Folklore and Natural History Museum.
The entrance to the museum is guarded by two statues known as the "grandfathers". They are seen in large and small statues frequently around Jeju. It is said that if you are pregnant and rub his ears you will have a girl, and if you rub his nose you will have a boy. Since boys are more popular in Korea, his nose has been worn flat by all the rubbing!

This is the skeleton of a small Fin Whale . They can grow up to 80 feet in length and are second in size only to the blue whale.

Roe deer of Hallasan Mountain. They are unusual in the fact that they live as a family group.

Traditional Korean homes had thatched roofs with rope in a grid pattern to secure the thatch since they get a lot of wind.


Traditional weaving loom.


Traditional wedding costumes.


Traditional dress.



Our next visit was to Youngduam Rock, shaped like a dragon's head.

A close up of Youngduam Rock. The legend says that  a dragon living in the Dragon Kingdom wanted to ascend to heaven, but this was not easy. Realizing that he could be a real dragon if he stole a precious pearl from the mountain god of Halla, the dragon stole the pearl and successfully descended to the valley of Yongyeon. However, he was discovered and shot by the God with an arrow while flying. He landed on the beach where he turned into petrified stone, crying and wreathing in agony. 


A fast food stand near Dragon Rock had this whole deep fried  calamari on a stick!


They also had this deep fried potato spiral. Looks delicious!

Our last stop was to the  large traditional Dongmun Market. It had 12 alley way entrances off the main street, and different locations had everything from food to hardware and household items, bedding etc.  I wandered into the fabric area, and found several women with small sewing businesses making traditional Korean clothing, and a few making creative individual designs. I purchased this interesting short sleeve jacket that the lady is working on.

Her cubicle was only about 6 x 10 feet. She managed to produce a lot of inventory in this little space!




Comments

  1. LindsayMarch 27, 2023 at 6:49 PM

    The calamari looks delicious! Adalea said she wouldn't like the spiral potato but i think she'd love it. It's like a fun giant French fry on stick! She accidentally called it a tapato 🤣

    ReplyDelete

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