Let The Journey Begin

Look out Jeju, here I come.

My big adventure began with the getting there. Jeju is about as far as you can get from Dongducheon and still be in South Korea, so there was a lot of country to cross. Instead of taking the easy way out (plane), I decided to take the KTX (bullet train) and the ferry, because I wanted to actually see the land I was traversing. Besides, I have never been on a high speed train, and as soon as I found out Korea had one, I knew I would ride it one day. After too little sleep and too much last minute packing and repacking, I finally made my way to the subway station.

An hour and a half on the subway to Yongsan and a two hour layover at the train station was completely uneventful - which means I must have just been tired. The ride on the KTX was about three hours, and while it would register as uneventful on the Snelling Scale, the ride was captivating. Nothing takes your breath away like pressing your face to the window and watching the majestic scenery fly by at nearly 300 km per hour............ then WHOOOOSH the northbound KTX passes a mere 24 inches from your face. Forget majestic nonsense, nothing takes your breath away like watching your life flash before your eyes in the reflection of another high speed train. After that happened to me the second time, I decided to forego the scenery and took a nap instead.


I arrived in Mokpo (the south western coast of Korea) with about an hour and a half to spare. There was a sign that said "Mokpo Harbor" and I figured my boat had to be in the general direction of the harbor, so I decided to go walking. Although I had to stop and ask directions, (there are ALOT of places to get on a boat in a harbor) I found my way to the ferry terminal with 10 minutes to spare.

Here are my fellow passengers boarding our ferry for the final four hour leg of the trip. There is also a picture of my "stateroom" on the ferry. Keep in mind it is a Korean stateroom, so I had all the amenities of a floor. Chairs are so overrated. There was a TV in the room, but guess what the odds are for either of the two channels to have English programming. (zip) I spent some time outside on the deck, but it was a wee bit chilly. While chugging along at 20 knots is nothing compared to 300 km/hour, it can still pack a wallop when the temperature is only about 40 degrees.

The scenery was beautiful, and there was rarely a time when an island or two were not in view. When you have islands and rocks, you have lighthouses. At one place, I could count five lighthouses on different islands and points. This lighthouse was the most unusual and one of the largest. I did not see any sea gulls, and that was a little disappointing. Everyone knows a ferry ride ain't a ferry ride without throwing food to the gulls.

I finally arrived on Jeju about 8:30 PM where I my "never met before" friend, Jae Shin, picked me up and took me to my hotel. In the excitemet of trip preparation, I decided I was going all out and reserved a room with an ondol bed - which is an oxymoron, because ondol means no bed. A heated floor and floor mats sounds great when planning, but after 12 hours of traveling, I was beginning to question the wisdom of that choice. Fortunately for me, I was the only traveler and there were multiple floor mats in the room. After I prepared my "bed" it looked more like something from the "Princess and the Pea" rather than anything Korean.

I will leave you with the view from my hotel window: