Jungmun Beach

While Jungmun Beach is one of most beautiful beaches in Korea, it takes about 15-20 minutes to get down to the actual beach.  People have to hike down a cliff to access the beach, but all of the paths have a few stairs to make the way down and up a bit easier. The awesome views make this walk worth it!

 View of most of the beach from a cliff on the northwest side

 One of the paths had a place for taking photos.

View of the entire beach from the east

Here's a video I captured once we reached the actual beach.

Lava Tubes

On the next day we visited Manjangul and Kimnyeong-gul Lava Tube, which is one of the largest lava tunnels in the world. This was originally one cave but parts of the tunnel collapsed at one point, forming two separate caves. While only 1 kilometer of the lava tube is open to the public, it still takes about 40 minutes to reach the endpoint when walking continuously. Bats can be seen lurking in this cave on a occasion. I was hoping to see one, but I had no luck. At around the midway point there is a rock that sort of looks like a turtle. The endpoint has a lava pillar, which is supposed to be rare feature in a lava tube.

 This picture give a good idea of the massive tunnel created by lava flow.

 The turtle shaped rock

The lava pillar accompanied by changing lights.

Since it was difficult to get decent pictures here, I figured a video would give everyone a better view of the lava tube.

The color of the lighting changes much more rapidly for the lava pillar at the end.

Seongeup Folk Village

This is one of the two traditional villages left in Jeju. It is designated as one of the historic locations in Korea.

Seongsan Ilchubong

Along the northeastern part of Jeju Island, we can hike up this volcanic crater. It only takes about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to get to the top. At the peak I took some amazing pictures and video of Jeju City. There is a great view of the crater at the top, but a picture doesn't really do justice on showing this natural wonder.

Hallam Park

This place is a botanical gardens that is located in Jeju Island. In addition to a large variety of trees, there is also a bonsai sculptural garden, a zoo, and a cave. The cave is one of the natural monuments in Korea, Ssaanyong Cave (this is the actual spelling when translated in English).

The entrance to Hallam Park.

 Considering the lack of lighting in this cave, I was able to get a decent shot.

This sculpture is obviously not part of the cave, but looks pretty cool for sure.

Here's a short video of us walking inside the cave.

Walking through the bonsai and sculptural garden

Some animal plant sculptures - The dinosaur ones looked the best.

Views of Namhae

Here are some pictures of the beautiful landscape at the second area we stayed at Namhae Island. I made sure to take most of my pictures during the sunny days.

During the low tide, we can walk almost all the way to the boating dock.

  

The tide can dramatically change on the same day hours. Here is a picture of the same area during the high tide.

 This was one of my favorite photos of my Namhae trip.

 Here is a view of the second boat dock. Notice how the path on the left does not connect to rest of the dock.

I was surprise that many people did not recommend Namhae Island as a nice vacation destination. Not that I was complaining since we were able to relax without having to fight through crowds of people!

Namhae Island Activities

 During the low tide, we can catch fish using our hands and a net.

 This was the first time I ever experienced kayaking.

 We went kayaking for about three hours. I was a little tired after that, but I had a wonderful time and the scenery was amazing.

This was probably the best group of people that I've ever traveled with. It was great that I ended up exchanging contact info with many of them after our trip.

Night Festivities at the Village

 

Here is another video of everyone lighting up their paper lanterns. Each group (of four) wrote their wish on their paper lanterns. After that we would light it up so it would start floating towards the sky like a hot air balloon. We were one of the last groups to get our lantern to float up.

 

Here is the video showing our paper lantern finally making it up to the sky.

Some of the villagers wanted to treat us to some traditional drumming and dance.

Ox Pull

Darangee village

The visit to Darangee Village was a part of my trip to Namhae. We had the chance to see how living was like in the rural areas of Korea.

Although it was foggy when we arrived at this village, the views were still beautiful.

 Notice how the hills are cultivated like stairs. This made the landscape more suitable for farming. It also makes the scenery more unique and appealing.

 This was our first meal at village. All of the food was freshly harvested, making our meal even more delicious.

 Almost all of the roof was ornamented with murals or bright color schemes. It definitely gave the village more character.

 Most of the village roads and intersections were narrow, so it was not very ideal for cars. The village is also situated on the hillside, making it even more difficult for people to drive here. It was quite entertaining seeing some of the drivers attempt to maneuver through here, only to get stuck trying to avoid hitting the walls or other buildings.   

 Another nice view from a hill I was walking down.

It's been a long time since I've seen a rice field in person.