Maximus Nostramabus

Nov 27, 20208 min read

Jeju (제주)

Updated: Apr 20, 2022

Resort island formed by molten lava - Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes 1264; Culture of Jeju Haenyeo (women divers) 01068

What and Why

Jeju (Korean : 제주) is located on the island Jeju-do (제주도 ), which the island was formed as a result of massive volcano eruptions. The island is famous for its various geological and volcanic formations, mainly responsible by the main volcano Hallasan (한라산 ). Jeju is scientifically valuable for its extensive system of lava tubes and these natural conduits through which magma once flowed are now empty caves that are some of the largest in the world.

Jeju-do technically has two cities only and partitions the island into north and south. The north is the city of Jeju while the south is Seogwipo (서귀포). All the main UNESCO WHS are accessible from Jeju. Jeju-do is voted as one of the New7Wonders of Nature in 2015 CE.

Toponymy

Jeju means 'the province across the sea' in Korean and was coined in mid-12th century CE.

See

Seongsan Ilchulbong (성산 일출봉)

The icon of Jeju as the main pictured above, Seongsan Ilchulbong (성산 일출봉) means the 'city-hill sunrise peak' in Korean, and is a tuff cone formed by hydro-volcanic eruptions in the nearby shallow seabed about 5,000 years ago located in the eastern part of the island. In fact from the picture above it looks exactly like a drop of solidified molten lava or a crown-like castle.

During the eruption it was estimated that the the seabed sea-level was the same as the current island. Such geological formations are actually quite common in Jeju and are called oreum (오름), a word that came from local dialects, although Seongsan Ilchulbong is easily the largest and the most important landmark.

The crown is around 180 m in height but it is a very easy walk to the top and the top resembles a huge green bowl. Since the volcanic eruption is from the seabed, the soil is very wet and fertile and hence the bowl is now full of grass. The diameter of the bowl on the top is around 600 m.

Climbing the crown does require a very modest entrance fee of KRW 2,000₩ only. The walk takes approximately 45 minutes without sweat, but the climb can be very chilly as the wind in the region is fairly strong.

On the top, there are a number of viewing decks which good photographs can be taken.

Haenyeo

At the bottom of Seongsan Ilchulbong lies the site of another important cultural icon, the haenyeo (해녀 ), meaning 'sea women'. Haenyeo are female divers who do apnoea diving and harvest various sea creatures, especially mollusks and shellfishes from the ocean. Haenyeo is known for their determination and independent spirit and is a reflection of semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju.

Originally looking for food was the job of the male in Korea, especially in the more chauvinistic Korean family structure. However due to war, there was a rapid decline of men during the 18th century CE and slowly women took up the bread-winner job of diving for food. This continued until the 1960s CE when haenyeo fisheries accounted for the bulk of city's revenues. Traditionally, girls started to train to become haenyeo when they just reached puberty and they would become full-fledged haenyeo at the age of 18. The usual dive can be up 30 m deep and many can hold their breath for more than three minutes. The haenyeo gear consists of no more than some basic diving suit, mask, fins, net, buoy and a hoe for digging mollusks.

Clearly this way of fishing has been taken over by industrialised fishing and this is more of a performance than real industry nowadays. Extremely few young women has joined the haenyeo apprenticeship since the 1970s CE and hence most of the haenyeo now are quite old, many more than 80 in age, as picture above. This has however become an important cultural icon of Korea and is now inscribed as an UNESCO ICH.

Manjanggul (만장굴)

Manjanggul (만장굴), meaning '10,000 yard cave', is one of the deepest lava tubes in the world. All sorts of lava features including stalactites and stalagmites, lava columns, lava flowstone, lava helictites, lava blisters can be seen. These formations of course come from the volcanic activities from Hallasan, as below.

Amongst all these, Manjanggul features the world's tallest lava tube, standing at more than 7.6 m.

Hallasan (한라산)

Hallasan (한라산 ) means the one who pulls in Korean, meaning roughly the mountain is powerful enough to pull the world. Hallasan is simply the volcano shield that forms Jejudo itself and while it is still considered an active volcano, the last eruption was more than 5,000 years ago and hence depending on where you research, some consider it a dormant volcano. The volcano is hence responsible for all the volcanic and lava tube features in the island.

The soil of Hallasan is mostly made out of volcanic ash, volcanic sand and lapilli. The organic contents of the soil are higher than any other soil in South Korea, but apparently the soil is not the best for farming. Hallasan are surrounded by a large number satellite volcanoes, as many as 360 of them around the entire Jeju-do.

The most famous landmark of Hallasan, as pictured above, is a crater lake called Baengnokdam (백록담), meaning 'white deer lake', which is almost on the top of the mountain. It is formed by the collapse of the top of the ridge by the movement of magma underground. Legend has it that the name of the lake derives from a otherworldly men who descend from heaven to play with a white deer. The size and depth of the lake changes with time and weather.

Hallasan is re-open to hiking only until a few years ago, when all the trails were closed. We took the most common one which is called Gwaneumsa Trail (관음사 탐방로), which is around 10 km and leads to the summit. We did not go to the summit as we were never prepared for the snow and going to the top, but we did manage to get a reasonably good view of Hallasan, as above. By the way, according to fellow hikers, the hike to the summit is relatively easy, as long as it is not winter. After all Hallasan is only 2,000 m above sea-level but it is the tallest mountain in Korea.

Loveland (러브랜드)

Jeju Loveland (러브랜드) is a taboo-filled outdoor sculpture park focused on a theme of sex and eroticism. It features 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions and also runs sex education films and seminars. It also has other elements such as large phallus statues, stone labia, and many interesting and arousing hands-on exhibits. Clearly not suitable for children, and in fact there is a entrance age requirement.

The park started with a number of art staff and students from Hongik University (홍익대학교, Hongik Daehaggyo) from Seoul (서울 ), who started making nudist sculptures and put them on public display in Jeju, which became an instant hit in 2002 CE. The time also coincided with Jeju tourism boom when there were lots of newly-wed who came for honeymoon and the city became a pseudo-centre for sex education. I shall use a less explicit photograph here.

Jeju Folk Village (제주민속촌)

Jeju Folk Village (제주민속촌 , Jejuminsogchon) is the island’s main tourist attraction where

a total of 117 houses and facilities was restored the scenes of the village to that of the 1890’s CE, from a real village at the site. Amongst them are mountain village, fishing village and Shamanism village.

The site was intensively used in the extremely famous television drama, Dae Jang Geum (대장금), and you will be able to recall a good number of scenes. The problem was that during our visit, we were in heavy snow as above and our visit was not the easiest. Highly recommended though.

Buy and Do

Dol hareubang (돌 하르방)

It will not be hard to find that there are load of rock statues around Jejudo. These grinning statues and phallic in nature are known as dol hareubang (돌 하르 방 ), or grandfather stone, and are considered local gods for protection against demons and fertility, as expected. The statues are usually made from basalt and stand from 1 m to as large as 3 m. Small replicas of these statues are available for sale everywhere in Jeju as it has become Jeju's icon.

Since Jeju is the main city of the island, there are plenty of shops and markets in the city, some very modern. We spent a good amount of time in the local fish markets.

Eat and Drink

Jeju black pig (제주흑돼지)

The single-most important eat in Jeju is clearly Jeju black pork (흑되지, heugdoeji), which comes from Jeju black pig (제주흑돼지, Jeju heugdwaeji). Jeju pork carries a special aroma and taste of its own and is especially good when charbroiled. Besides claiming to be far more delicious compared to its mainland counterparts, black pork is considered special because the pigs are only native to Jeju. Almost ubiquitous in Jeju and almost every barbeque eatery serves the pork.

Anecdote has it that, Jeju black pigs were kept to dispose of human waste and were usually housed in sites built below latrines where the pigs would consume human excrements. From the 1960s CE this unhygienic practice gave way to more conventional and industrial feeding. Many Koreans believe that the change has badly affected the flavour of the meat. Think about it while you eat...

Stay

Jeju is a main tourist destination and there are a good number of hotels in the island. We stayed in a very affordable and comfortable Yeha Guesthouse (예하게스트하우스 ), which was originally designed for budget travellers. The rooms are very clean and good and the guesthouse also holds their own local Jeju tours at a very affordable price. Better still the guesthouse is right next to the bus terminus.

Getting There and Around

Jeju is very well connected by public bus and Yeha Guesthouse is right next to the bus terminal, which has access to all these sites. Travelling between these UNESCO WHS can be a bit challenging as these bus always go back to the terminus, as theses sites are rural, so a bit of planning is required. Jeju deserves at least three or four days of visit.