Jeju Island

South of the Korean Peninsula, in the middle of the Korean Strait, is Asia’s "Hawaii". Jeju Island is the honeymoon destination for many Koreans and Japanese. It has recently gained popularity being featured in several Korean television and movie dramas. Our impression of Jeju wasn’t as favorable.

High humidity and smog blocked our view of buildings just a kilometer away. Even with a stiff breeze, we couldn’t see much. Nor was there much hope of the air clearing. Jeju was simply a place we hoped to relax, to spend a couple of lazy days before we jumped back into the real world.

At least that is what Chrissy told me when we planned the trip. In the hotel, she began researching locations around the island to occupy our time. What she found was a simple eight-kilometer hike to a ridge in the shadow of dormant volcano overlooking the rest of the island. The guidebook said that it was an easy hike.

We walked several kilometers to the bus station and then rode to the entrance of the park where we began our hike. The hike was easy for the first 500 meters, and then it came to a two-kilometer staircase. The trail was literally steps. Lumber similar to railroad ties, climbing the forested ridge to a nearly open treeless plateau. Large boulders filled the spaces between the steps, but for two kilometers it was a steady climb.

A quarter of the way up, Chrissy had an audible ‘Holy Cow’ moment when she rounded a corner and saw the next flight of steps. A step or two further brought us into view of a young blonde woman sitting on a bench next to the trail. “That’s the same thing I said about an hour ago. I told the rest of my group to go ahead and to pick me up when they came back.” The young lady was in Korea to teach an English seminar in Jeju Island in the following weeks. We visited for a moment before we continued. She made it clear to us that she was more the type to visit the beach, not the type to enjoy a hike in the mountains. I think Chrissy was thinking the same thing.

A little way further we passed two Chinese men sitting on a platform. They told us that it wouldn’t be too far. One of the men told us that there was fresh-drinkable water four ‘somethings’ away. He also said that the terminus of our trail was only six ‘somethings’ away. I forgot the word he used for the unit of measure, but sitting here now the ‘somethings’ may have been the Chinese word for units equaling half to three quarters of a kilometer.

The pace of mine and Chrissy's climbing is different. I go and Chrissy has always had to deal with a kind of exercise-induced asthma. She has to focus on her breathing as she works out. My presence isn’t always a positive thing when it comes to heavy sweating. As I began to out distance her, we planned to stop at the next platform and eat our lunch. Bear in mind it was about 90 degrees farenheight and 100% humidity. Chrissy was more than happy to let me go on ahead.

The next platform was a kilometer and a half away where the trail leveled off. I stopped and waited ten or fifteen minutes for her to come up the trail. We ate our lunch and then finished our hike to the end of the trail. We both refilled our water bottles at the spring coming out of the side of the mountain. We would refill our bottles again as we walked back down the hill.

As we reached the plateau, the air became a bit cooler. We were about 4800 feet above sea level. We also got above the smog and humidity. We could finally see the mountain we were climbing. The sweat and the cool air felt good and the high mountain terrain gave us a nice respite from our getaway in Asia’s Hawaii.