Motorcycle

This is how I get from here to there

Hallasan

Jeju City Night Scene

It's been raining for the last 4 or 5 days straight.  I was getting a little cabin fever, so when the weather cleared, I bolted to the top of the hill.  The lights on the horizon are the fishing boats.

Oedo Sunset

Dark Oreum

Green Forest

Fallen Flower

Donnaeko

It rained the other day....

Oreum Project

Summer is approaching...

I've been busy lately working on my Masters degree here at Jeju University.  The blog has been sorely neglected for a while.  It will be so in the future too, but if I ever get some nice pictures, I'll be sure to put them up here.  The daily shot never worked, it ended up being the monthly shot. Maybe the island time phenomenon is contagious in Jeju, similar to the Jeju Weekly (a bi-weekly newspaper).  The beauty of the internet is that everything stays forever so it doesn't really matter, does it?  Give me some comments, should I change the name back to the original "Dan's Bloggin' in Jeju" ???

Anyway, I'm going to work on my much talked about and long overdue project documenting oreums and hiking in Jeju.  When I get things rolling and ready for public consumption, I'll report back here.  In the meantime, you're going to get a lot of pictures of oreums and hiking.

Jeju University Forest Walk

If you're ever around Jeju University and want to take a nice walk, there's a beautiful little forest walk that makes a nice little stroll.  20-30 minutes is enough to get you around the oreum and to the top as you wish.

Winter Climbing at Oedolgae

In Korea, the winter break is the long break and the summer break is a little bit shorter.  I just finished my winter classes and am taking the next month off to study and read.  I'll be staying in Jeju mostly, but might take a little trip if things go really well toward the end of February.

I wish I took a picture of my bus stop, but as I got on the bus at Jeju University on the north side of the island, the snow flurries had just started.  It was so cold! On my way up the mountain, there were cars slipping and sliding on the snowy roads and carnage everywhere. One car slid right in front of the bus narrowly avoiding a collision.  

Once the bus crossed the south side of the mountain, only a 40 minute ride, it felt like another country and another season. The sun was shining and the sea and sky were blue.  We had a great day of top rope tough guy climbing and even met the daegeum (대금) playing monk again!

The climb!

The side view of the Oedolgae climbs. 

You can see the guy with white pants on the top left quadrant of the photo.

I didn't feel so bad taking photos of the monk after he started taking photos of us with his Galaxy Tab!

Arirang

Can you see the monk?

A photo of me for Mama (not climbing)

Sara Oreum 사라오름

Election day holiday!  It would be so nice if America had a holiday on Election day just like Korea!  I took some time away from my studying on this day to take a hike to Sara Oreum (pronounced 'Sah-rah').  It was an incredible day to go.  A cold snap just came to Korea, and it snowed a bit the night before.  I got a bit of a late start and didn't get to the entrance until noon.  I think the timing ended up perfectly though, the light was really nice, the clouds cleared, and the snow and rime still covered the trees.  The trail up Seongpanak is pretty uneven and tough on the knees, but it's nice in the winter when the snow fills in the rocks.  All you need is some mini crampons (아이젠) that strap to your tennis shoes.  You can buy them at the visitor center at the trail head for about 10000 won.

Frozen Crater Lake at Sara Oreum

Japanese Cedar Forest (삼나무)

From Sara Oreum, you can see the summit of Hallasan, or down into Seogwipo City

Once you get to the fork, it's only about 15 minutes to the top of the Oreum

Sara Oreum is in Hallasan National Park, 5.8km up the Seongpanak Trail.  The trail isn't very steep, but the ground is uneven.  Plan 4-5 hours roundtrip. The 5.16 road bus takes you right to the Seongpanak trailhead. 

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지도를 클릭하시면 위치정보를 확인하실 수 있습니다.

One more autumn picture...

Japanese Maple

A Picture from Fall

Fall is over and winter is here but here's a picture to remember the warmer weather!

Great Article about Hiking and Climbing in South Korea

Quick guide to climbing and hiking South Korea
by GENEVIEVE HATHAWAY on SEPTEMBER 24, 2011
http://matadornetwork.com/sports/quick-guide-to-climbing-and-hiking-south-korea/


I stumbled across this the other day.  I'm not one to post many other articles here, but this is very well written.

Eorimok

I went to Eorimok Yesterday for a bit of a hike.  The weather was clear, cool and really quite nice.  The parking lot was full, but the mountain didn't seem as crowded as usual.  The weekends can get pretty hectic up on Hallasan. There's a dusting of snow in between the rocks, but nothing significant yet.

Looking down the Eorimok Valley at Jeju City

Korean Street Food, Odeng (Eomook) 오뎅 (어묵)

It's starting to cool down here on Jeju, so it's a perfect time to eat some street food to warm up!  Surprisingly, one of my favorites is the fish cakes or Odeng.  I'm not exactly sure how to spell it in English, but I gave it my best.  Most of the time, the Koreans seem to call it odeng but it's actually a Japanese word, and if you don't know much about the history between Korea and Japan, the Koreans don't always think fondly on their neighbors to the east.  So some of the time, they'll call it by the Korean word, eomook. (어묵). You dip it in the side of soy sauce mixed with chili peppers and green onions.  On a really cold day, believe it or not, it's pretty nice to drink the broth for a quick warm-me-up!

Some more from the Chuseok Cruise

Sanbangsan

Sunset

Sanbangsan

Chuseok Full Moon

Jeju Weekly 9/21/12: Twenty's a charm

Here's my newest contribution to the Jeju Weekly: 9/21/12 Twenty's a charm A review of the newest Jeju Olle walking course No. 20

Woljeong Beach

David on 마당 (Garden) 5.10c at Squirrel Cave

David on 마당 (Garden) 5.10c at Squirrel Cave

Fisherman's closet

Hallasan, Post Typhoon Bolaven

Tamna Valley

One of the things I've always wanted to do in Jeju was to see the crater lake filled at the top of Hallasan.  What better chance do I have than immediately after a typhoon!?! Typhoon Bolaven came on a late Monday night and passed through early on Tuesday. I just so happened to have the next Wednesday off from work and packed up my bags for an early morning hike up the mountain.  It turned out to be absolutely amazing to pass by the normally dry riverbeds and hear the sound of running water.

I found some amazing lenticular clouds

Utter Destruction at the Summit

Unfortunately, the top was covered in fog!  I couldn't see anything!!!! My 4:45am wake up wasn't seeming so cool anymore. The last few hundred meters of the hike were utter destruction.  Trees were downed everywhere and over the trail.  At the top it was like the mountain got a haircut.  It seemed like every tree that could be seen was shaved down to about 8 feet.  The guard rails, part of the platform trail, and the hut at the top were all destroyed.

On the bright side, I had an incredible solitary hike up the normally crowded mountain where I didn't see a soul the entire way up and only a couple of friendly groups on the way down.  On the way down however, it was just my luck that after about 30 minutes, the skies cleared just enough to see the top. I was way to exhausted to turn around, and it's a good thing I didn't because the clouds came back right away.  Another typhoon, Tembin came the next day, maybe filled the crater even more, but I couldn't make it to the mountain on the weekend.  There's another typhoon coming this weekend though!!!

Hydrangea

One of the signs of the beginning of summer is when the hydrangeas come in full bloom. It looks like I actually took this picture in July.  You can see them in the gardens and along the roadsides.  I especially like to see them as they line both sides of the hiking trails in deep green, blue and purple.

Sunset from Darangshi Oreum

Went to the oreum the other day, it was a pretty nice sunset

Swing Island's First Concert

Here's my first foray into video making.  Last weekend, was the first concert of the swing dance club that I go to here on Jeju.  They always have a performance at the end of each lesson cycle, a kind of 'graduation performance.' This one was on a much bigger scale though.  Instead of being held at the dance studio, it was held on the big statge the Art and Culture Center.  I was really impressed, everyone did really well, and the turnout was fantastic.  It was a nearly packed house!  I hope you enjoy my first video!

Faces at the Heirloom 5 Market

Chantalle with her pottery

The Heirloom 5 market is a place where the Jeju Foreigner Community comes together and shares, sells, and gives their arts, crafts and homemade baked goods.  This weekend was maybe one of the last as Shay, the founder is leaving soon.  It's really amazing to see the resourcefulness of foreigners here in Korea, living in a foreign country.  Because you can't easily get a lot of the ingredients and equipment that you are used to, people really learn how to make things from scratch.  There was some amazing stuff that I tried including carrot cakes, chili, pulled pork, pottery, music, home-brewed beer, honey, and all sorts of muffins!

I came late, so I didn't get a lot of good pics of the market, but here's some friends

Sarah and Shay

Rachael and Lauren

Brad

We got the girls dancing!

cafe may飛 [카페 메이비] [cafe mayB.]

I've taken a long hiatus from playing music publicly and I've decided that it's time to get back at it.  There's a really wonderful and cute cafe on Lee Jung Seop Street in downtown Seogwipo called Mayb Cafe, run by a beautiful young lady, Hyeyeon. Hyeyeon is a very worldly and friendly person so her cafe is a hit with foreigners.  Her sister runs the Halla Flower Shop right next door and it complements the cafe very well, making it a cozy place to hang out.

Last weekend, Hyeyeon held a summer block party mini-concert at Mayb and I asked to play.  It was a perfect night, the weather was beautiful.  About 8 or 9 musicians played through the evening, mostly duets and solos.  I was really surprised with the Seogwipo music scene!  It's really thriving.  The musical quality was high, and most of the groups played at least one or two originals.

I'm pretty critical about myself, so I'll admit that my rustiness didn't show off my talents and Jeju City musical standards so well but have to say that it was really fun to go on stage. I performed with my friend So Young, who sang very beautifully, even though it was her first time on stage!  We'll perform again on the 15th of July at the Festival at Tapdong. See you there!

Mayb Cafe is located in the middle of Lee Jung Seop Street in Seogwipo.

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cafe may飛 [카페 메이비] [cafe mayB.]

416-2 Seogwidong, Seogwipo, South Korea

070-4143-0639

Sunset from Nokkomae

It was a pretty nice sunset from the top of Nokkomae Oreum tonight