Jeju-do

As the morning light crept from beneath the clouds, I snuck out onto the Backpacker Hostel's rooftop balcony, nursing a cup of coffee, and watching Jeju island wake up. People dressed in suits and ties sped by heading to relative's houses for the Korean holiday, Chuseok.
Our first day on the island, we found an open air market as we wandered through the small town. Vendors and little old ladies sat selling strange looking dead fish and sea creatures, veggies and fruits, kimchi and beans and slabs of meat hanging in store windows. After exploring and taking pictures for hours we picked up some fruit for the road, rented bikes and took off 2hrs down the coast for a warm sandy beach. The entire southern part of the island is a maze of nectarine orchards and greenhouses situated against the deep blue of the ocean. It is beautiful and rural with rolling hills and mist shrouded islands just off the shore begging to be explored. After two hours on very uncomfortable bike seats, we finally made it to the beach. We napped in the sun in our bathing suits to the sound of lapping waves and laughing children and didn't budge until the sun turned bloody red as it prepared to meet the horizon. Just a side note, Jeju bike seats were not made for the female anatomy or any human anatomy for that matter! When you make a date with a seat you intend to spend hours on you most definitely need to try it on for size, penetration, and cushioning or you'll end up like us at the end of the day, howling at every tiny bump in the sidewalk with our beach towels wrapped around the seat for cushioning and all three of us leaning as far back as possible with our knees sticking out at odd angles trying to un-squish what had already been squashed. It was absolutely pathetic. We literally couldn't sit properly for days! The last day of our stay in Jeju we hiked up Halla mountain, the volcano whose explosion and lava flows created the island. It was an 8hr hike round trip and all told about 15miles. Our 5 days on Jeju were wonderful and we packed a sunburn and sore muscles home with us on the plane.