Jeju Island day 2 - Manjanggul Cave, Seongsan Ilchulbong, Seongeup Folk Village, Sangumburi Crater and Mysterious Road

Yesterday the weather was good. The sun shone quite strong. Temperature was around 1-7 degree Celsius. We booked a Taxi at KRW 130,000 (S$160) for 9 hours trip to any places of your request. If you traveled with more people, it would cost less per pax. If only two persons, them it was quite expensive. But we had no choice since we weren't familiar with the road and wordings although GPS might help.

Manjanggul Lava Tubes in Jeju Island

At 9am we departed from our hotel. First stop, Manjanggul Lava Tubes. It's a 7 km long cave, where only 1 km could be accessed by public. The tube was 23 m high and was created by the lava streams. It was one of Jeju's three UNESCO World Natural Heritage rated attractions. But not many things inside though.

Abalone porridge and abalone Hotpot near Seongsan Ilchulbong in Jeju Island

We hadn't had breakfast yet and my stomach started to rumble. Before climbing up further, the driver brought us having lunch first. We told him that we wanted to have the abalone porridge, one of Jeju famous local dishes. He stopped us at a restaurant and ordered the abalone porridge (KRW 12,000 or S$14.60) and abalone Hotpot (KRW 15,000 or S$18) served with a bowl of rice and local banchan or side dishes such as: seaweed, ikan bilis (small fish), local vegetables etc.

Both tasted delicious. The porridge was good but the abalone was not so much. They cut it into small pieces. The Hotpot was different. They put 3 pcs of abalone,  half crab, 2 pcs of small kinds of crayfish and few pieces of small clams which made the soup sweet and fragrant. Hmmm.... Nyummy! The price was reasonable too. If you come to Jeju, make sure you eat these two items :)

Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) in Jeju Island

So,  we were full then and ready to climb the Seongsan Ilchulbong or Sunrise Peak, a 180 m high tuff volcano where people could enjoy the beautiful sunrise from here. We had to climb over 600 steps, took us about 25 minutes to reach the top, where we could view crate of the mountain and beautiful view surrounding the volcano. This was another attraction that was rated by UNESCO World Natural Heritage.

After that, we went down to the beach just beside the Sunrise Peak. At 1.30pm and 3pm everyday, there would be performance of Jeju women diving into the sea to collect live sea animals such as: octopus, abalone, clams, squid, and seaweed. In olden days, when Jeju's men went for weeks in fishing boats,  someone had to stick around to haul those rocks and put dinner on the table. As rice wouldn't grow in the windy Island, women learned to dive to get those seafood.

Jeju women diver (Haenyeo) performance

These women were so powerful. At average age of 65 (youngest at 55 and oldest at 80s), they dived 10-20 meters depth without any breathing apparatus and even in winter time where the water was icing cold, they were still able to do it. Wow!  Amazing Haenyeo! Really admire them!!! You could see their catch on the photo above. People could purchase it there. They would cut it on the spot and all was served and eaten live, not cooked, served together with a bottle of Soju. It didn't come cheap but worth the value and freshness :)

Snack time :)

After that we took a rest and had some coffee and local snacks ^^ It's their and our favorite pastime :)

Next stop was Seongeup Folk Village.  I thought it's gonna be a big, extensive and full of knowledge kind of places to see. Too bad it's one of the worst place to visit. If you go to Jeju, I wouldn't recommend you to go there. Once reached, a woman who speak Chinese would come and approach you. At first she would bring you around the small area consisting few parts of the traditional house and explaining certain item quite in rush. At the end she would lead you into one room and started selling items such as: Korea horse bone's small round pill medicines which was said good for joints, bones, etc. 1 set cost around KRW 400,000 (S$488) and would be given 2 bottles of health drink liquid for free. She would let you tasting the drink and the medicines in small amounts. When we both said we weren't interested to buy, she started showing her face. Yallama! So you still can visit but seriously there was nothing much to see.

Seongeup Folk Village and Mysterious road

We went to experience mysterious road, also known as Dokkaebi Road, where objects appear to roll and flow up instead of down when the road went into up direction.

Sangumburi Crater in Jeju Island

The last place we went was Sangumburi Crater. The driver recommended us to visit this place. From the top we could see the Nt. Hallasan, the dormant volcano that stood 1,950m above sea level, and many other mountains in the island. There were lots of grasses, beautiful grass, one of my favorites, beautified the place. Their main attraction was the flatland crater.

BBQ black pig with Hallasan Soju

So our tour was over. We went back hotel at around 5.15pm and took a rest. At night we went to Dongmun Market again and had our dinner there. This time we ate BBQ Jeju Island black pig belly with rice, soup, and a bottle of Hallasan Soju. The pig was sold by weight. 100g costs KRW3,500. We took about 420g and costs us KRW 16,000 plus table cost at KRW 10,000 - for the condiments and soup, I guess. My hubby ate until so shiok and a bit drunk. His face was red after drinking the Soju.

Supper ^^

Before going back to hotel, we bought some tteokboki (spicy rice cake), mangdu (fried dumplings), and tempura for supper inside our hotel ^^

That's about it! Hope you enjoyed reading it! :)