Visiting South Korea: Jeju (Cheju) Island

Today, I'm excited to finally share some images with you from one of the most incredible trips I have ever taken in my lifetime. This past April, I visited Asia (parts of South Korea and Japan) for the very first time. It had been on my bucket list for quite a while, as I was born in and adopted from Masan, South Korea at a very young age. For two weeks, I explored, hiked, photographed, and got constantly lost due to my language barrier and lack of direction. It was pretty amazing.

I spent about 3 days on the beautiful island of Jeju and it was one of the most breathtaking locations I've set foot on. I witnessed some beautiful parts to the island (Yongmeori Beach, Cheonjiyeon Falls, Oedolgae Rock), ventured into a lava tunnel (Manjanggul Cave), climbed 600 stairs to the Sunrise Peak for a gorgeous view (Seongsan Ilchulbong), and even got a chance to happily prance through a field of green tea at O'Sulloc.

This was my first time shooting all film on a trip (aside from iPhone + Instagram shots). I'll be sharing my favorite snaps at the end of this post.




I stayed at this cozy little guest house, located on the western part of the island. It cost somewhere around $35 per night and included all of the essentials (a private room with a bed, bathroom, and reliable internet).








Cheonjiyeon Falls (below) was nice to see and the walk to the falls was very easy. Overall, it was extremely touristy with flocks of Asians holding peace signs and their bulky cameras (oh, the irony). If you've got time to kill and are looking for an easy walk to a decent view, I'd recommend it. Otherwise, meh.

I did, however, stumble across the most delicious chocolate ice-cream of all time. Unfortunately, I have no idea of the brand and will probably never find out.



The trail surrounding Oedolgae Rock (below) was a fun one to hike. There were even a few fruit/vegetable stands along the trail, to appease hungry hikers (like myself). I purchased some pineapple skewers at one of them and they were quite the tasty treat.




I couldn't get enough of the endless rows of green tea fields at O'Sulloc.



It took 600 steps (approximately 15 minutes) to reach the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) - shown below. The view was incredible and the photos I took just don't do it justice. There was really no way for me to shoot wide enough to capture the epic 360 degree view of the place. Google "Seongsan Ilchulbong" for an aerial shot.



And... a photo of my mother. She was my travel companion for the majority of this trip. Definitely made for an interesting time.






Lastly, here are couple of my favorite iPhone images from my trip to Jeju. The first snap was taken at the beautiful Yongmeori Beach (my favorite location from the entire Jeju trip) and the second was a snap of Manjunggal Cave. To check out more snaps from my Asia trip, hop on over to Instagram and search #serenatakesasia.

Note: I couldn't have done it without my trusty, lightweight Vibram FiveFingers. Actually, I could have. I just wouldn't have been comfortable and would've spent a lot of time slipping and falling on rocks.




Film scans by Indie Film Lab.