I meant to go to JeJu Island with a friend...but sometimes you simply cannot wait for people to come along. You have to just do it on your own. So I did, with more or less an idea of what I was going to do...
I met two Korean sisters on the ferry who were very nice and helpful. We communicated in a mixture of English and Korean. Their Korean was better than my Korean, but not by very much. I definitely was able to exercise my knowledge of the Korean language. I communicated, though various means, that I was an English teacher in Busan. The one girl was 21, her sister was younger, but I don't remember how old. She was very giggly and liked to put her hands up to her face, a very common thing among Korean females, it appears. They helped me find a place to charge my phone, which ended up being the kiosk. The man charged me 1,000 won for 40 minutes. It lasted long enough for me to have a conversation later that night with a friend in Seoul. I also, again quite randomly, met up with a group of foreigners, which consisted of Americans, one South African, and one Australian. Five girls and one guy, Korean, though they referred to him as "Mung?" Must find out what this means (note, I hope it doesn't mean what I found online...)
I crashed with the foreigners at their hostel, 12,000 won for the night. Not bad, considering other hostels wanted me to book a 2 person room for 40,000 a night. I chanced it and it worked out all right for me. When we arrived at the hostel, it wasn't quite ready, so we wandered around downtown for an hour. We stopped at a Paris Baguette, oh how convenient those can be!, found everywhere in Korea and having nothing to do with France except that bread is also baked there. I picked up a roll which turned out to be vaguely cheese and herb flavored and orange (I realized in better lighting that the outside of the roll was that same orange colored, I should have suspected it wasn't cinnamon earlier). I also got a small carton of strawberry milk and at the very last second, as I approached the counter, the woman was JUST taking out a tray of hot dogs wrapped in filo dough with what looked to be cheese on top and I just HAD to have one (as did my friend). My second hot dog in Korea. Then it was back to the hostel. We chilled, napped, and around 11? Got up and the first thing we did was try and find the Miniaturized Museum.
We had a generally good time taking pictures of all the miniature landmarks and famous buildings (the Statue of Liberty is much smaller than you might imagine, much smaller than the Eiffel Tower, for example). This girl, Nadia, who I found myself taking pictures with that afternoon, liked to stop at the gift shops. At one, I picked up a small volcanic Buddha statue. The old man behind the counter said something about smiles, and we both thought he meant, did i want a smiling one, and I thought, sure, that would be nice...and he went around, we assumed, to exchange it...but then he sat down on a stone bench and started chipping at it-- and we realized he was actually going to PUT a smile on the little man for me. I videotaped him at work with my pink camera. It really did look much friendlier for the effort, and I thanked him and purchased a heart shaped rock and a couple of cute figureines in addition.
Then, oh!, have to share this. We had passed a go-cart place earlier and the taxi driver wanted to take us there right away, but we said, no, we want to go to the museum first...so the first thing we did after that was the carts. I was actually a bit nervous, having forgotten the last time, if ever, I had done this, but I determined to drive anyway, rather than be a mere passenger. I tried to get the man to videotape, but think that failed. Anyway, I kicked butt. I think I was third to start my car and I definitely passed everyone in the group. I KNOW I lapped the guy at least once in the end, which I think rather pissed him off (in the American sense of the word.) He complained I didn't know how to use the breaks. I did, I just didn't see the point in them. I paid for it, though, marks all over my elbows, a long scratch from my seatbelt, and a decent-sized bruise on the back of my shoulder. Well worth it.
The last sightseeing point of the afternoon was a famous waterfall which fell directly into the ocean. Quite pretty, although too many people to be serene. I could sense it being very romantic at night....
By then, we were starving so we ate at a Japanese restaurant before recuperating at the hostel for the night's adventures.
That night, one of the girls said that we needed to explore another waterfall, which was supposed to be even more beautiful at night, all lit up and gorgeous. We found it.....eventually. I think we followed a sort of snaked around path which took us basically in the opposite direction...but we DID find it, and for 2,000 won, it was worth it. Nice path up to the waterfall, too, with a stepping stone path over water.
After that we took it easy at the hostel, chatting and watching (or half-watching, half-freaking out) I Am Legend. Only it had a crappy ending where Will Smith lives and he and the woman live happily ever after.
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